Are W211 diesels that bad?

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philiggy

Active Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
449
Location
Yorkshire
Car
C180 Estate & C220 CDI
I'm was looking to update my trusty V plate W210 3.0TD. by about 5-6 years.

The mechanic who has looked after my Mercs for years tells me the 211 is very unreliable, and that lots of 320 diesels came in for injectors after 70k and they have all sorts of expensive and irritating problems. He says they are very unreliable and expensive compared to my 210 (with SA built c class even worse!).

He advised me to wait and go for a post 06 car and if I had to change get something else for a while.

I know he looks after them everyday but are they really that bad ?
 
If he thinks the W210 is a 'better' car than a W211, I'm afraid there's no hope for him (and I do like W210's).

Is this mechanic a Mercedes or German specialist?
 
Welcome back to the forum.

The 300TD is bomb proof properly, but an I6 E320cdi, I5 E270cdi and I4 E220cdi pre and post facelifted are very reliable.

The injectors are a dog apparently to remove on a 300TD.

There are occasionally issues with the I6, the I5 and I4 with Mafs, the odd injector but as engines go, these are damned reliable.

The V6, well, it makes up more forum space than the others for both good and bad reasons....
 
My 2004 s211 320 CDi was faultless.
 
I've a 211 E270cdi for the last 18 months put 20000 on the clock, mostly stop start driving in east London and apart from the usual service items not a thing has gone wrong with it and everything still works. Good cars
 
W211 E280 V6 CDI here, I've done approx 27,000 miles in almost 4 years and no problems really worth mentioning.
 
I had a 2003 W211 E320 CDi.

It forced open a large hole in my pocket and drained my wallet repeatedly. In hindsight I wonder about the genuineness of it's mileage.
 
Hi Guys

Thanks for that, he's German specialist but worked for Merc previously.

I thought they couldn't be that bad I've had e class diesels for a long time now and and fancy a 320CDI, as I like the straight 6.

I'll start looking and see whats about, no doubt I'll need advice as usual!

I'll probably keep the 300td as a second car though as its only done 150K, the body's still ok and its probably not worth a lot now.

Phil
 
I had an E270CDi for a 10 months and 12k miles. Bought it with a rear door module faulty (£52 to fix fitting myself) and needed to replace a front transverse arm (very rattly!) fitted for £75. Other than a service, that was it.

Father has had a 2004 E320Cdi IL6 from new. A few niggly problems (mostly sorted under warranty), a front spring went overnight and had both transverse arms replaced (warranty). Other than that, no issues.
 
+1 for the I6 E320Cdi

Very little to fault it since new and currently 136K miles :)

Ditto. 144000 on mine. Door locks, a couple of front ball joints, and recently an alternator regulator are all the faults I can think of. I6 engine will pull your socks off, and the rest.

I got mine 'Starred' on Friday and was discussing it's replacement with the techie. Couldn't think of anything that came anywhere near it.

If it's an early 03 model you need to check the history for the dreaded Valeo radiator change and it would be a big bonus if the SBC brake unit has been replaced.
 
Thanks for that, he's German specialist but worked for Merc previously.

Whereabouts are you in Gods own county? I'm in Doncaster if you want to have a look/drive of my W211.
 
Hi thanks for that I'm near York

My wife has been looking at C classes to confuse the issue!
 
My E270cdi was by far the most unreliable car I have ever owned. I had it for 3 years/60k miles from new and seemed to have endless problems, mechanical and electrical.

It was one of the very first W211's in 2002 though. Definitely go for a later model car when they had resolved most of the issues.
 
Had an '03 and '07 220 and they both did over 300k miles each in less than 4 years with no major issues whatsoever. Just routine servicing and basically that was it.

I suppose you could say they were reliable based on that :thumb:
 
fdfff
 

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