M271 Horror story

[KevS]

Hi all

I'm new to the forum. I'm having a horror story with my 03 reg C180K and having looked through plenty of threads on timing/cams I haven't found the answer I need! Sorry in advance about the length of this post...

To cut a very long story short, I bought the car in August 2010 and it ran fine until May 2012 when it began to misfire and the engine management light came on. My local independent garage repaired the damaged coils/seals/followers/rockers and gave me the car back but the fault returned within days.

It then spent 18 months at the garage! Whenever they thought they'd solved the problem the management light kept returning with a variety of fault codes related to cams sensors and timing issues. Work done included new cam position sensors, tensioner and timing chain with no success.

They gave it back to me twice supposedly fixed but with no improvement. It still had a lag in accelerating and a rough idle. On the second occasion they told me that I could drive it for a few weeks until they had time to re-examine the car... And a fortnight later a valve broke and cracked the cylinder head!

After a total of 18 months in the garage and £1800 (not counting what they tried charging me for a replacement cylinder head which I firmly believe is their fault because they assured me it was okay to drive!) they returned it supposedly fixed after finally sending it for repairs to the wiring loom.

The same day the fault returned. I have no faith in the first garage so took it to an independent Merc specialist. Again, they followed the fault codes - cam sensors, crankshaft sensor. The timing was spot on but the fault wouldn't stop coming back. They replaced the wiring loom (insisting the "repairs" the previous lot did were pointless and botched) and still no improvement.

Eventually they passed the car to Mercedes dealer for more diagnostics. They have now been told the fault is that the inlet cam gear is intermittently sticking. On top of the £1600+ for the work done already its going to cost another £600 plus labour to replace the cam gear.

So before I decide whether to get the work done or write it off as a bad experience I have a couple of questions...

Has anyone else had a problem with the cam gear sticking?

Is replacing the cam gear likely to fix the problem or am I wasting my money?

 

[television]

Hopefully one of the indies will explain about this 271 engine and its problems

 

[KevS]

I hope so... Both garages have tried to find all the usual faults with this engine - timing chain, solenoid etc.

This problem with the gear is something I've never read about before!

 

[Alex Crow]

No, I have never heard of a cam gear sticking on these.
Possibly it is actually fine, and fault free, and you actually have an oil pressure supply problem to the mechanism (it needs good oil pressure to actually operate the mechanism).
Why would you have an oil pressure supply problem? Possibly a new fault, if the previous work was indeed botched, as has been suggested.

 

[coventryslk]

Hi all

I'm new to the forum. I'm having a horror story with my 03 reg C180K and having looked through plenty of threads on timing/cams I haven't found the answer I need! Sorry in advance about the length of this post...

To cut a very long story short, I bought the car in August 2010 and it ran fine until May 2012 when it began to misfire and the engine management light came on. My local independent garage repaired the damaged coils/seals/followers/rockers and gave me the car back but the fault returned within days.

It then spent 18 months at the garage! Whenever they thought they'd solved the problem the management light kept returning with a variety of fault codes related to cams sensors and timing issues. Work done included new cam position sensors, tensioner and timing chain with no success.

They gave it back to me twice supposedly fixed but with no improvement. It still had a lag in accelerating and a rough idle. On the second occasion they told me that I could drive it for a few weeks until they had time to re-examine the car... And a fortnight later a valve broke and cracked the cylinder head!

After a total of 18 months in the garage and £1800 (not counting what they tried charging me for a replacement cylinder head which I firmly believe is their fault because they assured me it was okay to drive!) they returned it supposedly fixed after finally sending it for repairs to the wiring loom.

The same day the fault returned. I have no faith in the first garage so took it to an independent Merc specialist. Again, they followed the fault codes - cam sensors, crankshaft sensor. The timing was spot on but the fault wouldn't stop coming back. They replaced the wiring loom (insisting the "repairs" the previous lot did were pointless and botched) and still no improvement.

Eventually they passed the car to Mercedes dealer for more diagnostics. They have now been told the fault is that the inlet cam gear is intermittently sticking. On top of the £1600+ for the work done already its going to cost another £600 plus labour to replace the cam gear.

So before I decide whether to get the work done or write it off as a bad experience I have a couple of questions...

Has anyone else had a problem with the cam gear sticking?

Is replacing the cam gear likely to fix the problem or am I wasting my money?

Solution, break the car for parts to get some money back, then buy a Nissan (promote british industry) or a quality renault and forget about engine problems

 

[sl63amg]

Hi there, I have recently seen a vehicle that had been repaired by a engine specialist following the same problem you have, and when we got the vehicle yes the inlet camshaft adjuster was sticking, we replaced the adjuster and this sorted the problem.I do have to say that when the vehicle has been somewhere else it can be difficult because you can end up righting other things also, but you have spent a good chunk of cash anyway so spending a bit more to get it good again might be worth it.just out of curiosity is the vehicle at Mercedes Benz Sheffield now?

 

[KevS]

sl63 - That's useful to know. It was at MB in Sheffield over Christmas & I don't know if the indie has collected it yet so may still be there now.

I'm tempted to have one last try at getting it fixed. It would be useful to know what I could expect to get for it as scrap for parts compared to value if it was repaired.

 

[WG M-B]

Well that's one hell of a carry on!!!!!!!!
Could the balance shaft be worn????

 

[sl63amg]

Balance shaft issues where a thing for m272 v6 engine, 271 has 2 lanchester balance shafts running from the separate oil pump chain so would not effect basic engine timing.

 

[sl63amg]

But yes what a carry on, good luck.

 

[MotardMan]

Any news?

 

[KevS]

The indie called me today - the repairs are done and after doing about 70 miles testing it's running smooth & no engine light...

Sounds promising. Picking it up Thursday so fingers crossed it's finally fixed!

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

I take it you mean the variator the cam sprockets attach to? If so, then yes I have and I have replaced a few myself. Sometimes it these that sieze causing the chain to stretch in the first place. Usually you can see this by eye when turning the engine over by hand, it will try and pull the chain tight and then the exhaust side becomes slack. You can actually see chain lift off the top of the sprocket.

 

[KevS]

Over a hundred miles now, no engine mgt light and running better than ever. I won't believe it's actually, finally sorted until it gets through the next few weeks but so far so good!

 

[grober]

Those early Mitsubishi /Chrysler/Mercedes design engines were a nightmare!

 

[kth286]

Is'nt the moral of this story - to always take a Mercedes to a Mercedes specialist and not a general garage because general garages do not see many Mercedes and are not familiar with them.

 

[television]

As I read it the car went to two indies first, perhaps they are not members here

 

[KevS]

This is my first Merc so I've learned the lesson about taking it to a general garage the hard way!

As for the 2nd indie, it is a Merc service & repair specialist but he still had to get the dealer to diagnose the fault in the end.

 

[jaymanek]

So what was the final solution the last garage tried?

These engines are a nightmare...We have replaced several recently.

 

[SL63 Mark]

Hopefully that has sorted it, fingers crossed.