Blue Efficiency injector recall?

[Oldchap]

Thought I would just post my story on here about my C250 early 2010 model. I’ve just had an injector failure at just under 30k miles. As the car was out of warranty I had my auto technician take a look at it, he quickly identified that number 1 injector had failed. He made a number of calls and established that these injectors are only available from Merc dealers and come as a set of 4 at £860 + VAT, so ordered them.

Not being happy about injectors only lasting 30K miles I emailed Merc customer services and asked whether they could give an indication of the life of the new ones we had ordered. The next day my Auto Technician went to pick up the parts from the dealer to be informed my car had a recall against it and that they would repair my car free of charge with modified parts. This was carried out the next day and the car now has solenoid injectors and a solenoid type ECU unit, I also think the filter has been changed with one with an extra connection.

The car has now been sorted at no cost to me and early indications are the fuel consumption is has improved and the engine is much smoother than it was. Performance seems to be about the same, but I’ve only done 200 miles since it’s been done, so probably a little early to say. I’ve a 3000 mile round trip through Europe shortly so will be able to offer a better overall opinion of the differences after that.

I was a little distraught when this failed and wondered if I would have to consider buying something else, I mentioned this n my email to Merc, but I have to say that Merc certainly responded very positively in my case.

 

[E270 Owner]

Hmm 1st post and he right up MB's buttocks on this issue lol...................

 

[Oldchap]

Really!! I thought it was good customer service. We will have to agree to disagree.

 

[grober]

Interestingly the OM651 solenoid replacement injectors are made by----- Delphi! The faulty piezo injectors offered the prospect of better fuel efficiency but failed to deliver in terms of reliability. Piezo type injectors live on in a different form I believe in the direct injection petrol engines [ aka CGI =stratified charge gasoline injection]- albeit at vastly lower injection pressures! So far I haven't heard of any problems with them??

 

[Fix my Injector]

Aftermath of injector recall last year..

I posted in April of last year that my c250 cdi had all the injectors replaced as part of the recall during its routine service. I did notice a reduction in power but accepted it after Mercedes telling me the car was fine.

Just over a year on and I'm driving to the gym with my friend and all of a sudden the power goes. The car begins to choke a little and then all the lights come on. The steering wheel becomes impossibly stiff and I only just manage to pull up safely. I'm just glad this didn't happen on a motorway.

Then the car failed to start and the red warning message appeared saying Check Coolant Level. The car had been serviced at Mercedes independent just days before. I was fuming. Called roadside cover and they collected the car and dropped it off at Mercedes the next morning.

I called them first thing and straight off the bat the guy I spoke to was a bit of a wise guy. Being a Saturday morning he told me I would need to wait til Monday as there were no technicians, to see 'what I've done to the engine'. I let that one slip. He then called back half hour later and said the car had been looked at, which was strange and there was work needing done.

I told him I was raging that after a recall, a car that is barely 3 and a half years old can do something so terrible. He said its nothing to do with the recall and that I didnt service the car at Mercedes. I didn't have to as the car was out of warranty and opted for a Mercedes independent. So we had a little argument on tthe phone and I explained I knew very well the injector and Coolant related issues related with these cars. I told him I would happily write in to the garage with the statement Mercedes made about the issue.

He called back and said Mercedes will cover the costs of repair even though the car is almost 8 months out of warranty. Turned out to be a water pump. All the Coolant had leaked. I had to fight for that but honestly, although the car is great I just don't know ow what will happen next. I had to fight for that.

Sorry for the long message. Has anyone else had any more issues? My car has now done 46k

 

[6cyl]

FMI - sorry to hear about your predicament. What coolant issues are you referring to ?
Thanks

 

[Fix my Injector]

Sorry I should have said coolant related issues. The coolant was leaking out basically. Last year's recall saw some kind of housing or tubes replaced and this time it was the water pump.. I did ask for some documentation which they said they will post out to me so I haven'tseen eexactly what they have done yet

 

[mmerc]

November 2011 220cdi sport are my injectors ok or how do I know what to look for under the bonnet your help is appreciated service at indie 20000 miles only no problems with running or economy .

 

[E270 Owner]

Oldchap

Never posted again !!!!












.

 

[Oldchap]

E270 is right of course I haven't posted again until now! Having just traveled through Europe and covered 1450 miles at an average of 71mph and 48.5mpg over two days, I feel I'm now in a position to give a better opinion of the new solenoid injectors on my C250. The engine in my opinion is a little noisier whilst accelerating but I think quieter at cruising speed. The torque is a little less up to about 2000 rpm but the performance is slightly better above 2k rpm, so overall I would suggest if it where timed it would produce similar figures. It's worth mentioning that a friend of mine has just purchased a new BMW 320d which I would say is not as quiet as my Merc!

Whilst reading about this problem it became apparent that most manufacturers had suffered reliability problems with piezo injectors on more powerful Diesel engines, the various forums are awash with comments about BMW's and the VW groups diesels. As I understand it and as confirmed by my auto technician manufacturers use common ECU's and injectors from either Bosch, Delphi or Siemens so these issues manifest themselves across most manufacturers. When I asked him what is the most reliable high performance diesel currently available he said, in his opinion, they are pretty much all on a par because of the commonality of components used.

I like some others here having been thinking about the reliability of my Merc going forward and whether I should change the car. The question is, if I change it what do I buy that's as comfortable, as economical, more reliable and with a similar performance?

 

[seiko78]

I have a December 2010 c220 cdi elegance and got a recall on both the coolant loss and the diesel injectors free of charge when i recently got a service of a main dealer. I was loosing coolant and this has been fixed with the recall. The injectors which were ok on mine, but had nearly 90k miles on them were also replaced, i have noticed an improvement in mpg as a result. I recently done a journey of nearly 200 miles and i was at one point getting an average 64mpg at a constant 55 - 65mph, with the original i would be lucky to get average 53mpg. I hope this helps

 

[PenelopePitstop]

I was told today, than injectors in my SLK 250 CDI were replaced due to re-call. Car had 2nd service about 2 months ago and no one ever mentioned anything about this recall.

I just searched internet quickly and I'm a bit surprised as car is from mid 2012, so not sure if it was affected at all by the issue. I haven't seen any posts about it on SLK forum and CDI engine is very popular in UK.

 

[chrisaaaaa]

Is there an actual list of affected engines - do we have to create one?

I thought MY12 cars were ok.

 

[grober]

All I can tell you is that the changeover to solenoid type injectors on the OM651 engine FROM THE FACTORY began mid to late 2012. If you take into account a car's build date does not correspond to its registration date this makes it difficult to pin down which 2012 cars will have the older piezo type injectors. The good news is that provided the car is within warranty the upgrade will be FOC. Its quite comprehensive as it involves replacing the injectors, their wiring loom, fuel return pipework and ECU. Where things get difficult is with cars equipped with piezo injectors that are out of warranty. I believe it's Mercedes policy to merely replace any faulty piezo injector with the same [ albeit an improved design] and not upgrade the system. However that may have changed and may depend say on the cars service history with a mercedes agent?
There is no readily available listing of engine numbers liable for upgrade except from Mercedes. You can check if you have piezo injectors because they have no return fuel pipes AFAIK. If you have piezos and the car is within warranty then you will be due the upgrade would be my guess. This is definitely a situation where the phrase "check with your dealer" applies

 

[PenelopePitstop]

In that case my car probably qualified. It was first registered Sept 2012 and produced a few months earlier. I'm just surprised that MB never mentioned it to me and car had 2 services already.

I'm not sure how extensive was the upgrade because dealer was very sparse with words. Only replacement of injectors was mentioned. Dealer didn't even bother calling me and telling when the car will be delivered back, just dropped it during the day. I think I will have to switch to another dealership with C63.

Any opinions on Guildford or Epsom?

 

[Oldchap]

In my case, once No1 injector had failed at 30k and the car being over 4 years old, I sent MB customer service an email to ask them if they could give me an indication of the service life (mileage) of replacement piezo injectors, at this stage the car was recalled for the modified solenoid injectors and ecu, at MB expense.

 

[chrisaaaaa]

I took the covers off and had a look, I think mine is good, but can someone say if these are the good injectors.

 

[grober]

You have the solenoid injectors ECU= Solenoid injectors also fitted -- so you are fine.

 

[mvobmg]

Advice/Info Needed - Re: Which Type Of Injectors I Have

Hi all, first post and need some advice if possible.

I have recently (Aug 14) purchased a 2011 Reg. E250 CDI Blue Efficiency Avantgarde Saloon from Mercedes Benz at Balsall Common (ex Mercedes Benz Direct I think) on MB Finance. I do c£25k mile p.a. (mainly motorway) hence the purchase.

Happy generally with the car and the service to date BUT concerned over the historical injector issues as I don't want big bills after the 12 mths warranty is out. On this note, I had my first mobilo experience when the EML came on and the recovery agent took the car from home to the MB main dealer in Coventry who diagnosed and repaired FOC a throttle valve issue under warranty.

Whilst with them I took the opportunity to ask about the injectors and was told that my car has received two (2) separate sets of injectors since new as part of the recall programme, the first being on 9/11/11 for recall 4367 and the second being on the 28/9/12 for recall 4400. I asked them to confirm if the latest injectors fitted were the solenoid type and the lady said she could not access the system to tell what type they were ONLY that they had been changed out.

I have a meeting with the sales manager on Monday concerning the car and ideally I would like to keep the car BUT with some extended warranty or similar, alternatively I may look to change to a C200 CDI with the old solenoid injectors as I must have reliability.

Could someone give me an idea if my car will have the solenoid injectors and ECU and also could anyone confirm that the C200 CDI has the solenoid injectors?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[grober]

AFAIK the lower powered C200 single turbo DIESEL always had the solenoid type injectors. Open the bonnet - remove the engine cover and have a look at the Injectors and ECU. Going by the age of the car and the date of the last recall its likely you had the full upgrade to solenoids. To be certain visual inspection is necessary---- see the thread for details for what to look for.