C220CDI marathon diesel problem

[samwise]

I have a 2000 model (with 140k motorway miles on the clock and no previous problems) and experienced a problem several weeks ago with a leaky injector, which ended up spraying diesel around the engine compartment and as a result lots of smoke. This was rectified by my garage, and OK for a couple of weeks.

I was returning from a wedding and the EPC light appeared, the engine lost all power and died, and I had to be recovered - it wouldn't even run at 2000 revs. It was taken to a diesel specialist who stripped down and cleaned the full injector system, and charged me £500 for the privilege.

So far so good for a couple of weeks, when it failed again. It was returned to the specialist by my very angry mechanic, and the specialist stripped it all down again. My mechanic then collected the car, only to have it break down on him 15 minutes later. The diesel guys then discovered that the problem was actually caused by a dodgy connector that had cracked after it had been sprayed with diesel after the initial problem – they fixed this and everything seemed fine.

A week later – smoke from under the bonnet again. Back to the specialist and fixed yet again.

Yesterday I was returning from work (which is 5 miles away for home) and got caught with a tailback on the motorway. When I cleared the delay I notice a small puff of black smoke from the exhaust as I accelerated to speed again, and 10 mins later the EPC light came back on and power went again. This time it did restart, and although running normally all the way home it had again started smoking from under the bonnet.

I’m again awaiting my mechanic to look at this, but thought I’d ask for the advice experiences of you guys on this forum - maybe
:sad:

 

[SilverSurfer]

Sorry to hear of your problems. New to Mercedes but I have found info, will provide url if I can find it, suggesting that fitting or tightening injectors in this model can be difficult. I have one and had considered replacing the injectors.

Apparently it is very easy to cause damage to new injectors during fitting and to break the old injector during removal. I will now wait until something breaks.

Mike

 

[Blobcat]

With the very high fuel pressures of CDI engines injectors have to be installed correctly. Any fuel spraying around can ignite on the turbo, this happend to a contractors ML270CDI, only just had time to get out before the whole car went up in flames on the M4. Garage had heli-coiled the injector in when they damaged the head taking the old ones out.
If you have any fuel leak from the injectors, I would want to know what they did to fix the original leak problem. It looks like the fix has been very temporary.

 

[GGB]

This is starting to sound familiar; I have just had my 99T C220 CDI serviced by a specialist who discovered a leaking injector (apparently it looked as though it had been sealed previously with some sort of gunk!).

I bought the car used from MB with 12500 miles on the clock (currently 135K) and have only had it serviced at MB and more recently the same specialist who found the fault, just wondering who carried out the earlier repair? I have phoned around for a quote for new injectors (£205 each plus fitting), apparently the mechanic has managed to extract the damaged one, fit a new seal and re-seat it, fingers crossed this holds however the engine idling is now occaisionally very rough. Any one else had this issue?

 

[mbirch]

Sounds Familiar!

I have a 2000 E320 CDI with 85K miles. I was driving to work 2 weeks ago when the the EPC light appeared, the engine lost all power and died. The car started immediatley but there was a pluffing noise from the engine, which sounded a little like a leaking exhaust. When I got to work (approx 2 miles from where it broke down) I removed the plastic cover from the top of the engine and started it up again. Besides the smell of diesel there was a compression leak coming up passed the side of No 6 injector.

I called a local diesel specialist who said that they could get an exchange injector for £165 (not too bad I thought). In addition they would also need to clean the seat where the injector seal (copper washer) sits.

So I had the car collected on a flat bed and taken over to the specialists shop. After a few hours they called me to advise that the retaining bolt for the injector had stripped the threads out of the cylinder head. This was the reason that the leak occured.

There were only 2 solutions:

1. Find a reconditioned/new cylinder head (£1000-£1500)
2. Send the car to a head specailist for repair (£200-£300)


Solution 2. was the immediate choice. On contacting the head specialist he advised me that he had 3 other Mercedes 6 cylinder CDI heads with exactly the same problem waiting to be repaired.

The fix for the head involves tapping out the holes with a larger thread and inserting a long stud (instead of using a bolt). Once installed the rocker cover is re-installed and the injector retaining plates are fitted over the studs and secured with a nut.

I should have the car back tomorrow and fingers crossed that this modification is better than the current design.

 

[GGB]

Sounds like an increasngly common fault, I am a little surprised that there hasn't been any sort of warning or recall from MB although it does seem to be just high mileage cars that are affected. I wouldn't mind knowing the contact details of the head specialist just in case! (I'm on the south coast). The mechanic I have just used seemed to think it would be ok for now (famous last words!)

 

[samwise]

Thanks guys, if nothing else there seems to be some comfort that I'm not the only one having this problem - I was starting to feel 'picked on'.

My cars is in at the moment, and I’ve been told that they have ordered a new common rail and some retaining bolts. I haven’t had a chance to go into detail with them what the problem is (hopefully was), nor what the financial damage will be, but will put another post on here with the outcome.

 

[mbirch]

Well, got the car back this morning. Seems to be running fine but the bill was a little higher than expected!

Diesel specialist:-
1 x Exchange Injector £165
6 x new injector fuel supply pipes £130 (these should be renewed if they have been removed from the vehicle)
Labour (dissassembly, re-cut injector pocket seal faces on 6 pockets, reassemble and test) £255

Head Sepcailist:-
Drill out and retap holes to 10mm on cyls 1, 3, 5 and 6
Supply new stepped studs and nuts to suit
9 Hours labour
£357

Total £907, will keep you posted if any more problems occur (Fingers crossed)

 

[stargazerplus]

Mbirch... Are you happy with your Diesel Specialist? If you are would you let us know who it is? Might help some of the rest of us in future.

 

[mbirch]

Gents,

Very happy with the diesel specialist. I am based in Aberdeen, the speciaists name is Airylea Motors, Menzie Road, Aberdeen, Tel 01224 872891 (ask for Rob or Fin).

These guys have extensive experience with all types of diesel systems and can supply exchange injectors (incl commrail type) at competitive rates. The also have the appriopiate diagnostic equipment equipment to check and claer fault cosde stored in the EPC/ECU.

 

[GGB]

Just got my C220 back from an independant mech, I got charged £705 for two injectors to be replaced and the other two to have new seals fitted, all in all quite a hefty bill, but from what i understand it is difficult job. The car is now running sweetly again so I can recommend Connelly's from Poole (number available if req'd)

 

[samwise]

Sorry its been a while, but thought I would leave it a month to just really see whether the fault has been fixed - so far so good!

The car has had a new fuel rail and injector retaining bolts installed - none of which I was charged for by the orginal diesel specialist - they obviously realised that the original £500 I had paid, for what essentially was a just a dodgy connector, was credit for not having resolved the whole problem in the first place.

The car has been back in for a totally unrelated brake cylinder problem since, but at least my recovery service is getting a rest - lets hope that I haven't spoken too soon.