Mercedes Benz problems

Mercedes Benz C250D

My experimentation on my Mercedes Benz C250D started after I was totally and utterly disappointed by the lack of commitment and utter incompetence displayed by a "diesel mechanic" who came highly recommended —by my brother of all people. When I initially bought the C250D she started with difficulty, besides the  injectors were a bit noisy. This wasn't too huge of a problem, because once she started, she would continue to start and drive perfectly normal throughout the day. However, if left overnight, air would somehow seep into the fuel line and the struggle to get the engine started resumed the following morning.  To alleviate this problem, I went and bought a can of "Spanjaard Quick Start" spray for diesel engines; in order to get the engine started for the "first start of the day"... everyday!   It's what I needed to do and was willing to do, to overcome her "morning sickness".

Spanjaards Quich Start Spray

 My dad had a fleet of BMC diesel trucks for several years, so my elder brother who subsequently qualified as a diesel mechanic and I were assignment with the responsibility of fleet maintenance.  As such, I was exposed to truck and car engines and general mechanical repairs for several years, in fact throughout my high school career. During this time I learnt much about the internal combustion petrol engine, indirect injection diesel engines, injector pumps, injectors, spill timing, glow plugs and working of the Otto engine and so much more. 



 However, even though I understood mechanicals fairly well and was pretty much able to do all my own repairs; I disliked always smelling like oil or fuel and detested that my hands and nails always looked dirty, even after I had cleaned them thoroughly. I therefore preferred outsourcing my mechanical work to a qualified mechanic or two. Always thinking that they could or rather would do a better job than me. But boy, was I wrong!

The replacement set of injectors with complete threads

One day, whilst driving  my Mercedes Benz C250D I got the very distinct smell of diesel inside the car —which definitely wasn't normal. So I popped the bonnet; and on further investigation found a pool of diesel inside each of the "Injector wells". The  "Injector well", closest to the firewall was almost completely full whereas the amount of diesel in each of the other four, varied towards a lesser amount. I suspected the leak-off pipes had become brittle or had reached their end of life hence not seating properly. Ostensibly the cause of the air leak that prevented the engine from starting in the morning. 

The injectors that were in the engine. Look at the rightmost injector
- the treads are all damaged with only 4 left as opposed to 7

I really didn't fancy doing the the job myself,  so I consulted by brother  who suggested I should take my Mercedes Benz C250D to this "highly recommended diesel mechanic"  mentioned above. My elder brother was my first choice to do the repair and he could quite easily have repaired it for me. However he had fallen from a scaffold onto protruding bolts whilst working on a ship and permanently injured his spine. He therefore couldn't do any physical work in a bent over position.  For the sake of brevity, I'll call the mechanic Joe.

My initial contact with Joe was somewhat moronic. After I explained about the "morning sickness" and the diesel in the injector wells and the noisy injectors, he gave me a song and dance about having to remove the injectors. Adding that they would have to be serviced, and that they needed to be pressure tested, blah blah blah and the repair cost would be R5500.00. Ending off  that it would take four days. I felt he was a a bit expensive but since Joe didn't know that I knew exactly what needed to be done, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and the go-ahead. Especially considering that he was one of my brother's fellow diesel mechanics. 

Engine with replaced Injectors

I later came to realize, it was the mistake of my mistakes. I might as well have distributed my cash among the street beggars because I would at least have felt that I had gotten more bang for my buck than the flack I received in return from Joe. Four days later, I went to fetch my car and it wasn't ready. His excuse was that Mercedes Benz agents only had 3 copper Injector Heat Shield Washers in stock and that he needed 5, promising that I could get my car back in within a week. I eventually got the car back; and the very next morning the C250D wouldn't start —and in the process I drained the battery. Some  "Spanjaard Quick Start" spray later and a jump start got  the C250D going once again.

Slightly pissed, I took the car back to Joe. Enroute I smelled diesel as before and stopped along the road, only to see that my black plastic rocket/cylinder head cover wasn't replaced and that each of the wells were partially filled with  diesel. I was furious, because in exchange for my payment, at the very least I expected Joe to fix this problem, as well as the no cold starting problem and he did neither. Joe wasn't in that day, so I dealt with his son Abe. He asked me to leave the car with him and that he would relay my complaint to Joe. Three days later I phoned Joe to get a progress report. I was told to collect my car the following day. 

On my arrival and in Joe's absence, Abe told me that the C250D wasn't done because the local Mercedes Agents didn't have the required thickness leak-off pipe in stock and that they needed to fetch the correct thickness from the Mercedes Benz Agency in Somerset West. Three days later I got the car back and it appeared that the leak-off pipes problem was fixed. However the no cold starting problem persisted which I only came to discover the following morning. Once again, I took my back and when I arrived that Joe's workshop they were in the process of moving to a alternative premises. Joe then asked me to give him a few days to settle in and bring my car to the new business premises. 

Two weeks later I took the C250D back and told Joe about the original no cold starting problem which he then said he would fix. Following day I got a call from Joe, saying that he checked every connection and that would have to replace all the transparent pipes at a cost of R1500.00. He assured  me it would solve the problem, so once again I gave him the go ahead. Three days later I got the car back. I then checked on the repairs that were effected, only to discover that the transparent diesel pipes looked like they weren't replaced. So I called Joe to inquire why he had charged me R1500 and didn't replace them. He replied that the transparent pipes were replaced, but with a "good second hand" set. 

I wasn't really unhappy because I was under the impression that I was paying for a new set of pipes. The following morning, the no cold starting problem was back. In fact it was never fixed, so once again I relied on the quick start spray  to get the engine going so that I could take it back to Joe. After haggling over the age of the car and the unknown pressure of the injector pump, Joe suggested that he fit an in-line electrical fuel pump to siphon the diesel from the tank, making it easy for the injector pump to get to the required pressure. All I can say is that I paid another R750.00 for the in-line electrical diesel pump and labour and it didn't solve the problem.

Electric fuel pump that wasn't needed in the first place

Whilst driving the car, I could hear a very high pitch whistle emitting from the engine but couldn't initially identify it, but after seeing the top of the engine was wet with diesel on switch off, I knew it had to come from some where. I then dried the top of the engine, covered it with brown paper, started it  and monitored it.  After a few minutes, I saw the oily marks of the diesel appear through the brown paper above the injector closest to the firewall.  I found that there was a very aerosol-like fine spray squirting from the injector well. On closer inspection, I heard that the high pitch whistle was coming from the injector and realized it was caused by the spray escaping from the cylinder. So looking down the well, I saw the bottom of the injector well covered with a wet black coal-like crusty substance, and knew I had it had a case of "black death".  

This problem commonly occurs with  Mercedes diesel engines when one or more of its injector seals leak. This "black death"  problem can arise when an already used heat shield washer is fitted or inserted upside down (wrong way round) or the injector isn't sufficiently torqued or the injector seat is damaged. As a result, uncombusted diesel and exhaust gases escape past the injector seal, or rather forced out of the cylinder by exhaust compression. This forms a black coal-like hard to remove crust in the injector wells , which will only get worse if not remedied. Installing heat shield washers upside down can damage the injector seat causing it to leak. The only way to correct this problem is to ream out the injector port with an injector seat cutter, insert a new heat shied washer the correct way and torque it to recommended tension.

The 5 heat shields and their used counterparts- correct way up

The 5 heat shields and their used counterparts- wrong way up.

This revelation required me to take the car back to Joe because they had removed the injectors and refitted them. By implication, this was plain bad workmanship. A week later I got my Mercedes Benz C250D back. There was no evidence of "black death" but  two weeks later it returned. By that time I just had enough of Joe because he had my car for a total of 84 days and my C250D was now in a worse condition than when I initially took it to him. I then decided to take my  car to another mechanic who was willing and eager to fix the problem but when I related my woes and told him about my misfortune with Joe, he was hesitant. Apparently he knew Joe fairly well and said they often loan one another's specialized tools, then added he doesn't have the specific spanner for my injector and therefore cannot do the job.

I always knew that if you want something done properly then it best to do it yourself. So that's exactly what I decided to do. I went online, found the requisite injector spanner and ordered it on e-bay, and it was delivered within 40 days. It is described as  1/2" drive, 22mm Diesel Injector Socket Tool For Mercedes Benz OM604 OM605 OM606 ... 1993–1995 W202 C 250 D. 

Assembled engine with replacement injectors.

Within two days, I had the injectors out and replaced them with another set, taken from a complete C250D engine I subsequently bought. It didn't take me long to identify the air-leak that initially caused the morning sickness. I turned out to be a hairline crack in the diesel pre-heater so  swoped it with the pre-heater from the other engine. Now that the fault that plagued me all the time was fixed, I discovered Joe and Abe left me with a new one. They had stripped the tread of the injector closes to the firewall because after I replaced the injectors the high pitch whistle was back. 

MERCEDES BENZ W203 C180K OVERHEATING

Mercedes Benz W203 C180 Kompressor

My wife is a merchandising agent and needed a larger car or at least one with larger boot space in which to cart her display boards; so I bought her a 2004 Mercedes Benz  W203 C180 Kompressor Estate with 180 000 km on the clock.   It was exactly what she needed, inconspicuous gun metal grey with light grey seats that folded down giving her the space she desired. Cosmetically, the car was in pretty decent condition and according to the seller, he had just forked out a ton of cash for parts and labour. He had replaced the timing chain and the A and E sprockets and even gave me the invoices for that job, but was selling the car, As Is. It was fitted with new tyres, the rims had been re-epoxyed and the interior was recently valeted. 

Overheating 

My wife took the car for a test drive and was impressed by its performance, however the very next day we started having problems. So much for buying a car in condition "As Is". The car overheated, steam blowing from beneath the bonnet and leaving large pools of water behind. After I diagnosed the problem, it was just a sticking thermostat that needed replacement. The thermostat housing is positioned below the timing chain sprockets and I surmised that the mechanic who fitted it, tightened it at an angle and in the process bent its plunger. Obviously thinking the worse, its owner probably wasn't prepared to pour money into this beast, so he sold it off at a bargain price. 

A week later my wife complained that she had to add water daily since the  the "add fluid" signal triggered repeatedly an alarmed her.  I knew there had to be a water leak but couldn't find it, until she phoned me to tell me that the garage attendant said that there was oil in the water. On later inspection, I found a layer of oil in the water expansion tank, but when I opened the oil cap, there was no white sludge in the oil. I was certain it wasn't the head gasket that blew and I suspected that the Oil Cooler had rotted internally. My thinking was that the oil pressure is much higher than the water pressure, and oil could therefore seep into the water but not the other way round. Besides, A and E sprockets, timing chain and Oil Coolers are common problems associated with the M271 engine.

The oil cooler, part no A2711880001 rots inside allowing the
higher oil pressure to seep into the water.

Oil Cooler

The Oil Cooler has four holes in it. An inlet and outlet for water and an inlet and outlet for the oil. Each running through seperate and intermingled veins inside the Oil Cooler. As such the water manages to cools down the oil. However it the veins corrode and the separation is breached, the oil finds it way into the water expansion tank. The Oil Cooler sits in such an obscure place on the W203,  that it would probably be easier to replace a cylinder head gasket than replace the Oil Cooler. To save myself the frustration, I took it to my mechanic who confirmed my suspicions and subsequently replaced it, but two weeks later. Apparently the Mercedes Benz agents didn't have any in stock because it sells out very quickly, hence we just had to wait. We hardly got the car back and the boiling continued. My thinking was that the Oil Cooler was the cause of the problem but it wasn't. It was probably also the reason the previous owner sold the car, knowing that the oil was mixing with the water, drained it and replaced it with clean water before flogging it to me. 

W203 expansion tank 

After a thorough diagnosis, I found that the expansion tank outlet under the hose clamp was leaking and that it had been Pratley Puttied by someone. So I bought a new tank and replaced it, thinking it would solve the problem but it didn't. After replacing the expansion bottle cap which is sold as a separate item, the problem was  finally solved. Ever since the car has been going really well for about four months. Occasionally the started slipped  when attempting to start the engine and I knew it was just a matter of time  before the bendix would have to be replaced.  

Continued here!
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W203 doesn't start, does not crank. / Mercedes won't start. / Merc W203 starting Problem. / How to remove starter motor of C180 kompressor W203./ Mercedes benz starter motor problems. / Fixing A Mercedes-Benz That Won't Start./ Engine won't crank over with the starter. / Why is My Mercedes having a starting problem? / Mercedes Benz starter motor problems. / Mercedes Benz starter problems. / W203 mercedes benz won't start. / Mercedes Benz W203 chassis:- 203.040 / 203.052 / 203.054 / 203.056 / 203.061 / 203.064 / 203.065 / 203.076 / 203.081 / 203.084 / 203.087 / 203.092 / 203.261 / 203.264 / 203.281 / 203.284 / 203.740 / 203.747 / 203.764. Essentially Mercedes Benz W203 C-Class C180, C200, C230, C240, C280 and C320 year models ranging from 2000- 2008.

MERCEDES BENZ W202 C-CLASS C250D

MERCEDES BENZ W202 C-CLASS 250D 

The Internet without any doubt, is the world's largest data repository of information. It sports information of every kind and virtually topic. Yet, I find it very surprising how little useful information it actually contains. I'm not trying to be facetious, but that is just the reality of the situation - It is what it is. Much of this "information" is however duplicated, often copied from the same sources, regurgitated,  blogged, forumed and re-echoed by millions of websites in virtually every language.

Out of the tens of billions of web sites globally, there is truly very little origination, containing genuine helpful details that unselfishly assists others, expecting nothing in return.  Virtually every website out there is trying to sell you something online. Ranging from services to physical products to vapour ware. Some trying to scam you with things ranging from snake oil to overpriced trinkets. Others entice you to register with their sites  that deliver porn related pop-ups of  naked females and sex toys. There are even some with links and pop-ups that promises great wealth. Not forgetting those that spam you with junk mail, Trojans and viruses that hijack your browser. All of them shouting credit card very loudly.

Electronic fuel pump that leaks.

Be that as it may, when you have automotive trouble and the "automotive technicians" or service agents wants to charge you an arm and a leg to fix it, its time for DIY, especially if you have nibble hands.  However, when you get stumped and need a little assistance, it would really be nice to know that an Internet search would produce credible and helpful information and not fictitious, overused and worthless nonsense. My search on the subject I was interested in, delivered hoards of YouTube videos, flaunting mostly superfluous information. 

Their creators being more interested in potential advertising revenue that can be earned from those overbearing adverts prefixed to their video instead of actually creating content that will really help a fellow car owner. Here, I'm specifically eluding to information on the Mercedes Benz  C-Class 250D Sedan W202 phase-I 1993-1997 which seems to be in extremely short supply. Not even the Mercedes Benz service agent have any form of on-line help worth mentioning, considering the car in question is just about  20 years old.  But allow me to digress for a moment. 

My wife had endless trouble with her 1989 Mercedes Benz 124 230E, to the point that she threw in the towel because she just couldn't battle the constant high cost of repairs any longer. These cost didn't  even include the cost associated with its regular upkeep.

Her troubles started out with her car overheating which turned out to be a leak in the radiator which caused the cylinder head gasket to blow. The temperature warning light only came on when it was already over 120 degrees. Since the car already had more than 350 000 km on the clock we decided on a complete engine and radiator replacement, which came in at quite a cost. Shortly thereafter a leaking steering pump was replaced because she found it impossible to steer when the hydraulic fluid ran low. What a mission, the intake manifold and the steering rack had to be removed to replace it.



 Months later, the starter bendix started to drag and the starter was replaced. Thereafter the complete right front hub was replaced along with the knuckle because of two wheel nuts that broke off in the hub, that just couldn't be removed. Drilling it out and re-tapping the holes invariable was going to cost more than a complete hub, so new hub was fitted. Then the battery gave up the ghost and shortly thereafter the alternator died which were both replaced along with two new tyres.

Somehow after the steering rack replacement, the car just didn't perform well,  even though wheel alignment was done. For some reason the front wheels would shudder when driving over an expansion joint on bridges.  Thereafter the car suffered from intermittent switch off and had difficulty starting. Several weeks later the starter gave up the ghost a second time due to extended cranking. Hardly was the starter replaced when the sound of metal rubbing against metal alerted me to the fact that the brake pads were at end of its useful life. Front and back break pads were replaced, only to find out that the handbrake engaged but didn't stop the car from rolling. So it needed brake shoes as well. Meanwhile the car still switched off when getting to stop signs and had difficulty starting it again.



This turned out to be a stretched timing chain causing the distributor timing to change every so often. The gear driving the distributor  every so often slipped a tooth or two because of the slack in the timing chain . After battling to get the chain tensioner  bolt and spring out and removing a link, the chain was too short and the link was put back.  At this point we just had enough because the car had started to rust. We decided to scrap the 230E and went out to buy a slightly newer Mercedes Benz that we could afford, because it is the only car that my wife ever drove and couldn't drive stick either. Our choice was the Mercedes Benz Elegance 1996 C-Class 250D W202 which was in a relatively nice condition considering she just turn 20. The best part, she was within our budget.

However, within  months we started having problems  with the C250D. The speedometer stopped working yet my wife continued using the car until the mailman delivered a traffic fine for speeding. So I went out a bought an instrument cluster. After replacing it ,  it still didn't work. It looked identical, the plugs were identical, each having the same number of pins. The difference was that the diesel version revved up to 6000 RPM whereas as the gasoline instrument cluster revved up to 7000 RPM. The rev counter behaved like  the speedometer and the fuel guage just climb towards full even though in reality there was less than a quarter tank showing on the original instrument cluster.



Shortly thereafter the the gearbox died which was due to a faulty radiator/oil cooler that allowed water to enter the gearbox through the oil cooler / radiator. Considering the W124 and the W202 use the same gearboxes, we fitted the W124 gearbox after swopping over the tail pieces. 

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Hardly was the gearbox replaced, when the Merc cranked with difficulty in the morning, and she smoked profusely when it eventually idled after several attempts to start her.  Somehow thereafter she would start every time and drove perfectly normal for the rest of the day.  Restated, the first start of the day often ran the battery down.

To Continue.... 
I intend to outline how each of these repairs were affected with pictures to assist those Mercedes Benz  250D W202 owners who are experiencing similar problems with Mercedes Benz C250D W202, 

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Mercedes Benz C250D.