Wow, talk about great service!!!

[Rebel]

Okay, to cut a long story short, I live in Peterborough (Cambs) and because I have the MIL warning light return (after having all the fault codes cleared) I took my car to the local MB dealers today

Anyway they diagnosed the fault and quoted me £1475 to rectify it :shock:

Having read the forums I know the fault is not exactly uncommon :shock: and is a known problem with oil getting into the ECU from wiring to camshaft adjuster solenoid bringing up the fault code relating to lambda sensor, and it is caused by the oil getting into that part of the ecu circuitry that deals with lambda control.

Anyway they have given me a parts list which according to them needs to be replaced consisting of an engine harness, and engine ECU a Camshaft magnet plug adapter harness and a new upstream Lambda sensor, as I have only had the car since last september (I bought it off a motor trader, so have no comeback even though I got a full service history when I bought the car) I was a little upset to say the least.

Thats when I did something extremely sensible (for a change) and phoned Ian Walker of 124works.com (I found him through these forums) wow! this guy is so helpful its unreal, He couldn't have thought he was going to get my business, after all I am nearly 200 miles away, and as I am disabled, thats a heck of a trip, but he went into detail as to how to fix it without going broke in the meantime, and told me what needs to be done to solve my problem, as against what MB want to do and the cost is about 1/5th thats right ONE FIFTH of what MB dealers wanted to charge me!!!!!

The only thing Ian got wrong was the fact he didn't expect to get any business from me, the 400 mile round trip is a big problem, but its a problem I intend to solve, I want to meet a guy that is this honest, this helpful and goes out of his way to help people.

This thread is a blatant plug for Ian and www.124works.com , because anytime someone goes to this much trouble to help out a stranger he deserves thanking in public.

PS I don't post on these forums a lot, but this post had to be made.

 

[SG CL500]

...and because I have the MIL warning light return ...

Blimey, a Mother In Law warning light as a Merc optional accessory .. gotta get me one of those whatever the retrofit charge

Well done Ian - and thanks for posting.

 

[GrahamC230K]

I'm not going to defend a main dealer, they will certainly try and throw new parts at a problem more so than any reasonable independent in my experience.

However. So far you have the diagnosis of the problem from a dealer who has inspected the car and the opinion of an independent that hasn't.

I am not sure what car you have, Ian's experience with your car or the diagnostic equipment Ian has for your car, but I really hope he's spot on as 400 miles is a long trip.

With the nicest possible intention, I'd be more comfortable if I read your post and had seen a little less confidence and a little more caution.

Sure go go to the independent, travel the distance if you feel it's worth it, but I wouldn't set my heart on the trip on the basis of the best case account given, but fingers crossed.

 

[television]

I hope that Ian knows that oil in itself does not damage the ECU, it can be washed to prevent any long term damage, as all national grid transformer running on 600k volts are full of oil, as are ignition coils.

On another forum on the same argument I had a running Sky box on the bench (do bare in mind that they only just manage to work on their own) and filled it with oil and it carried on working as normal, these things have 6 individual clocks running.

It is only MBs policy to replace just incase

 

[Rebel]

@ Television
Malcolm you have just said exactly what Ian told me on the phone, ie the oil is unlikely to have damaged the ECU or the wiring loom, and the fix is to clean both of these then fit the loom adapter harness modification to prevent it happening again, and replace the components that have failed as a result (lamda sensor, Camshaft magnet, plug) as specified by the MB dealership.

@ graham, thanks for your words of caution, I appreciate what you are saying, and obviously I need to be careful, however the dealership have given me a list of components they want to replace together with relevant part numbers, and the parts that make up the bulk of the cost are the replacement ECU and replacement wiring loom, so I am hopeful.

PS The car is a CLK 230K (w208) first registered in March 2001

 

[television]

Thanks for posting back, I think that I have spoken to Ian sometime back on this one.

All one needs to do is to wash it out with lighter fuel (refinned petrol) and dry it out with a warm air gun, better if you take it out of the case

 

[Ian B Walker]

Malcolm and Rebel, thank you for your votes of confidence. I spoke to Rebel for an extended period of time and asked all sorts of questions. Yes Graham a diagnosis over the telephone is difficult in the best of times, but given the level of information received, it was obvious that someone somewhere wanted to take advantage.

 

[television]

Thinking about it you could wash the loom with an engine degreaser and let it dry, there will be nothing wrong with it, then wash out the plugs with lighter fuel