C Class 180. 2009

[QUTSELL]

Warning light on the dash,Engine fault,drive the car back home,appears to be missing on one plug,but still running ok,home after couple of minutes,i lift the bonnet,and sounds comeing from the n/s made me think its bad,so switch off and leave it,call an indi,who looked at it yesterday,pluged in Snap On to find the answer,(from previous experience Snap On will not show all faults),anyhow he tried to re`start the engine,obviously no start,he seems to think it can be the Camshaft sensor,but as in the past that's just chasing,in other words fit a part, if that is not the cure try another,such as the Crankshaft sensor,and so on,so I will let him fit the one part,then stop,if that is not the fix,obviously then call in a mechanic with the Starr.

 

[BlackC55]

does it only not re-start when its hot?

 

[QUTSELL]

does it only not re-start when its hot?

Hi.It will not start at all,after I got back to the driveway,i switched off engine,as I thought no more damage,i never tried to re`start after that,so engine cold,and turning engine over it shows no start at all.

 

[markjay]

Your C180 will have the M271 engine which is prone to premature timing gear failure.

I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the issue in your case... but worth eliminating before investigating further.

 

[QUTSELL]

Your C180 will have the M271 engine which is prone to premature timing gear failure.

I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the issue in your case... but worth eliminating before investigating further.

Indi thinks it is possible that Mumsie put Diesel in the tank,(all previous Mercedes she has had have been Diesel)as he turned engine over and it tried to start,so checking fuel tonight.
Mark if I drove the car aprox 1/2 a mile to home from when it started to seem like it was missing on one plug,would the engine have failed and then stopped running ?.
He again tested for faults with the Snap On,result,no faults showing.

 

[Martin 1]

Hi, bad luck there. Testing for diesel is easy, you can smell it with the filler cap off.

 

[Trickythemerc]

If the car has been filled with diesel it would be smoking its head off and you would smell it in the filler neck. Snap on will show no faults or codes if non are present.

 

[clk320x]

Indi thinks it is possible that Mumsie put Diesel in the tank,(all previous Mercedes she has had have been Diesel)as he turned engine over and it tried to start,so checking fuel tonight.
Mark if I drove the car aprox 1/2 a mile to home from when it started to seem like it was missing on one plug,would the engine have failed and then stopped running ?.
He again tested for faults with the Snap On,result,no faults showing.

Diesel filler won’t physically fit into petrol filler neck

 

[HITECH]

OUCH ! JEEZO if its that then that would explain "sounds comeing from the n/s..." If you have any doubts at all then drop all the fuel out of it. Or if it wasnt say like over £20s worth , double it up with more petrol. Like if u put £20 quids worth of diesel in it. Chuck in £25 worth of petrol on top of it. Personally myself I would dump all the fuel out of it. As said before u will smell the diesel very easily. It might not be smokey because of the cat and the emission system. Ur cat will suffer if this problem turns out that its a wrong fuel problem. GOOD LUCK m8!

Your C180 will have the M271 engine which is prone to premature timing gear failure.

I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the issue in your case... but worth eliminating before investigating further.

 

[QUTSELL]

Hi, bad luck there. Testing for diesel is easy, you can smell it with the filler cap off.

Agree.I remembered that I filled the tank, whilst Mumsie went and paid,plus the pump nozzle for Diesel will not fit,in the filler hole,in reverse you can pump Petrol into a Diesel tank.

 

[QUTSELL]

If the car has been filled with diesel it would be smoking its head off and you would smell it in the filler neck. Snap on will show no faults or codes if non are present.

Correct,he stated he would take the car to another Garage to have it checked,i stopped that excersise,as I know the outcome £££££££££££ added to the bill.

 

[QUTSELL]

Diesel filler won’t physically fit into petrol filler neck

Sorry I replied before reading your comment.

 

[QUTSELL]

Just one thought comes to mind,on one of our previous Mercs (Diesel) it had basically the same problem,it would not start,a check showed that no 1 injector controlled the system,after a mobile mechanic finaly gave up,it was the injector that was the problem,once changed all ok,but as pointed out, its call in a tec with Starr,hopefully he will find the problem.

 

[QUTSELL]

OUCH ! JEEZO if its that then that would explain "sounds comeing from the n/s..." If you have any doubts at all then drop all the fuel out of it. Or if it wasnt say like over £20s worth , double it up with more petrol. Like if u put £20 quids worth of diesel in it. Chuck in £25 worth of petrol on top of it. Personally myself I would dump all the fuel out of it. As said before u will smell the diesel very easily. It might not be smokey because of the cat and the emission system. Ur cat will suffer if this problem turns out that its a wrong fuel problem. GOOD LUCK m8!

OUCH ! JEEZO if its that then that would explain "sounds comeing from the n/s..." If you have any doubts at all then drop all the fuel out of it. Or if it wasnt say like over £20s worth , double it up with more petrol. Like if u put £20 quids worth of diesel in it. Chuck in £25 worth of petrol on top of it. Personally myself I would dump all the fuel out of it. As said before u will smell the diesel very easily. It might not be smokey because of the cat and the emission system. Ur cat will suffer if this problem turns out that its a wrong fuel problem. GOOD LUCK m8!

OUCH ! JEEZO if its that then that would explain "sounds comeing from the n/s..." If you have any doubts at all then drop all the fuel out of it. Or if it wasnt say like over £20s worth , double it up with more petrol. Like if u put £20 quids worth of diesel in it. Chuck in £25 worth of petrol on top of it. Personally myself I would dump all the fuel out of it. As said before u will smell the diesel very easily. It might not be smokey because of the cat and the emission system. Ur cat will suffer if this problem turns out that its a wrong fuel problem. GOOD LUCK m8!

Phone call just now from mechanic .He seems to think the timing chain has jumped ? as noted by Mark,so just waiting for the chap to show up with the Starr,although the mechanic seems to think we are wasting time and money with the check ?.

 

[markjay]

If the timing chain jumped... and the engine no longer starts... chances are you are looking at (at least) 4 bent valves, potentiality also damaged piston crowns and bent connecting rods... and realistically a replacement second-hand or reconditioned engine. You may be lucky and there's no damage to the valves or pistons, but if I'm honest your chances aren't very good.

In this case, the 'misfiring on one cylinder' that you described, will be down to loss of compression due to bent valve.

Removing the cams cover and chain cover will reveal the condition of the timing chain, tensioners, and sprockets.

A simple compression test will prove if the valves are bent. Though it might me more prudent to inspect the condition of the valves using a borescope camera or by removing the head.

 

[markjay]

Incidentally... what is the mileage on the car, and what service history does it have - has it been serviced regularly using MB 229.3/229.5 oil?

 

[QUTSELL]

If the timing chain jumped... and the engine no longer starts... chances are you are looking at (at least) 4 bent valves, potentiality also damaged piston crowns and bent connecting rods... and realistically a replacement second-hand or reconditioned engine. You may be lucky and there's no damage to the valves or pistons, but if I'm honest your chances aren't very good.

In this case, the 'misfiring on one cylinder' that you described, will be down to loss of compression due to bent valve.

Removing the cams cover and chain cover will reveal the condition of the timing chain, tensioners, and sprockets.

A simple compression test will prove if the valves are bent. Though it might me more prudent to inspect the condition of the valves using a borescope camera or by removing the head.

Ok Mark.finaly got a compression testing gadget (Draper),but when it arrived its the wrong size,as Mercs have a very small plug thread,anyhow.I removed all the 4 plugs,1 and 2 dripping in oil,now I know why the sump was virtualy empty of oil,so on asking around,it seems that something called the swirl (butterfly) thingies open and shut on the inlet manifold,they break,and down the intake they go buggering the bore,and the piston,or in this case two of them,apperently Mercs know of the problem,and later engines have been modified ?.question is what year was that ?

 

[markjay]

Ok Mark.finaly got a compression testing gadget (Draper),but when it arrived its the wrong size,as Mercs have a very small plug thread,anyhow.I removed all the 4 plugs,1 and 2 dripping in oil,now I know why the sump was virtualy empty of oil,so on asking around,it seems that something called the swirl (butterfly) thingies open and shut on the inlet manifold,they break,and down the intake they go buggering the bore,and the piston,or in this case two of them,apperently Mercs know of the problem,and later engines have been modified ?.question is what year was that ?

As far as I am aware, swirl flaps are only used on Diesel engines, while your 2009 C180 will have the M271 petrol engine.

 

[markjay]

Also, if your engine burnt all or most of the sump oil... it would have produced thick blue smoke over a period of time and you would have noticed it.

 

[markjay]

Oil on spark plugs can mean that your oil scrapper rings on the pistons are worn, or that you have a blown head gasket that allows oil into the combustion chamber (this is not how head gaskets typically fail, usually the breach affects the coolant, but it can happen).

Having two adjacent plugs affected points more to the direction of head gasket failure (though I don't know specifically if the M271 engine has any oil passages in this area).

Also, you can consider something similar to this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01COQZAWK/?tag=amazon0e9db-21