New Motor NOOOOOOO! 5 year old Interstate

[jacdimarco]

I got an answer from MB. They said no go. It is out of warrantee. They will not cover my motor. I am going to think twice again before I buy another AI. I wanted to upgrade to the Atlas next year. That is not going to happen.

[crispyboy]

If you're planning on an upgrade in the future then find a used engine, a quality remanufactured engine or someone who specializes in rebuilding them have it installed. Keep using it or send it down the road - this happens every day with vehicles. There is a certain point when you stay away from a dealership. Think out of the box and get this fixed.
Since you have a well taken care of AI and a running engine you should have no trouble selling it.

[Foiled Again]

Empathy.

Sympathy occurs when you see someone get seasick and you feel sorry for them. Empathy happens when you see someone who is seasick, and you turn green and run to a bucket!

That is bad news from Mercedes Benz. That fine German craftsmanship is starting to make USA products look better and better.

Good luck finding a new engine.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by jacdimarco

I got an answer from MB. They said no go. It is out of warrantee. They will not cover my motor. I am going to think twice again before I buy another AI. I wanted to upgrade to the Atlas next year. That is not going to happen.

Recommend you call Dennis at LinDen Automotive & Engineering. He is probably the most knowledgeable Sprinter guy in USA. He can recommend sources for a replacement engine.

https://www.lindenautorepairgoldenco.com/home/

[switz]

Mercedes is probably facing a class action at some point over the chronic issues with the 3.0L V6 turbo diesel. They have called the engine different “numbers” by changing the programming for power output. But their efforts for emissions was to run the engine at such high temperatures, that gaskets in the back of the valley would fail at around 75,000 miles.

The repair cost was over $3,500 two times for my 2007 Mercedes ML320 CDI (built on October of 2006) at 75,000 and around 150,000. At 205,000 miles I saw the symptoms coming out again. The car was worth less than that repair cost so it was economically non-repairable. My wife’s 2009 Mercedes E320 CDI had 75,000 miles and the symptoms were showing up. That car was a “regen” model before the DEF fluid later in the model year. We had many engines trouble codes many times with one $4,500 bill that did nothing for the issues. We traded the car off rather than throw good money at so many repeating chronic engine issues.

We had dealership maintenance every time. Penske bought our local Scottsdale dealership and changed to a different and cheaper oil. They only have to worry for the 50,000 mile warranty.

And we changed engine oil every 5,000 miles versus the suggested 10,000 mile interval in the manuals. The last two years of the ML the repairs were over $15,000. As I said before, talking with a factory trained mechanic who spent years working on Sprinters and cars, the engine has been a disaster. Our local HVAC service company tried a Sprinter fleet, but could not afford the continuous outrageously expensive repairs after the warranty expired. They drive different brand vans now.

I would avoid any Mercedes chassis based campers that have the 3.0L V6 turbo diesel.

[GetawA-S]

Wow. I had considered a Sprinter van for the AWD and ease of loading our bulky recumbent trikes. No regrets that we stuck with the Ford brand. The previous TV F150 had 130K with no out of pocket maintenance beyond oil, tires and one brake job.
My sympathies. MB used to stand behind their vehicles.

[switz]

The only product that John Deere did not stand behind was the manure spreader. Wondering about Mercedes.

[Greenjeans]

You might consider selling the vehicle “as is” and seeing if a market exist. I had almost the same issue your having with a Chrysler 2006 diesel truck that I purchased new. In 2012 the engined seized, 104K miles, coarse I was expecting 300-400K To make a very long story short, I found that there were mechanically inclined people willing to pay a very fair price, blown engine & all. My wife and I had been Jeep people for many years before that, hence the truck. We haven’t considered buying a Chrysler named product since, after the shabby service I received from the dealer & the corporation.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Greenjeans

You might consider selling the vehicle “as is” and seeing if a market exist. I had almost the same issue your having with a Chrysler 2006 diesel truck that I purchased new. In 2012 the engined seized, 104K miles, coarse I was expecting 300-400K To make a very long story short, I found that there were mechanically inclined people willing to pay a very fair price, blown engine & all. My wife and I had been Jeep people for many years before that, hence the truck. We haven’t considered buying a Chrysler named product since, after the shabby service I received from the dealer & the corporation.

..what happened to your engine? What did it do?

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by jacdimarco

I got an answer from MB. They said no go. It is out of warrantee. They will not cover my motor. I am going to think twice again before I buy another AI. I wanted to upgrade to the Atlas next year. That is not going to happen.

That small cid engine is working very hard to move that high profile vehicle...I wouldn’t want one..

[jacdimarco]

I contacted Tom for his advice as suggested by someone on this forum. I am guessing this is something he sends to everyone. Interesting:


I’m sorry it’s taking me longer to respond to people. I assume you’ve read about the Diesel Fraud case. This has mushroomed into a bigger problem than I ever imagined. People contact me after reading the article I wrote about the BlueTec diesel issues and problems. Now that Mercedes has admitted to most of the things I’ve written about for years, there’s no reason to pull any punches. The agreement says the Federal Court handling the case will ask for a neutral third party to help the Court understand the position of the EPA and Mercedes-Benz. The Court found me the same way you did. The Court will need a lot of my time. They said I can continue helping owners. However, I’m already overloaded with requests and I need to cut back. Owners were paying $200 to my Grandson’s 529 College Savings plan. I normally spend a few hours explaining their specific situation over the phone. I prefer to do it that way because there’s so much technical information. People need a verbal introduction to the technical information. The information I send is unique to your specific situation. I send you Mercedes Service Information with notes that explain how this applies to you and what you need to do. After they admitted guilt, Mercedes released a lot more information they’ve been hiding from the EPA. It seems like I’m never going to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole. As I keep reading the recall court papers it appears this is not what it appears to be. I need to really cut back. I’m sorry, but I must raise the fee to $500 going to my Grandson’s 529 account.



Whatever your problem is, I can get you the answers that will save you thousands in wasted repairs or preventable failures. I talk to so many new Sprinter owners who tell me their dealer never told them anything about the great new features in the 2019 and 2020 Sprinters. Dealers actually don’t understand the BlueTec for the same reason Mercedes was hiding information from the EPA. The Owner’s Manual doesn’t explain most of the important changes. This is stuff that’s already there and doesn’t cost you anything. Somebody just needs to explain it. These are not incidental things. Ask your dealer if the high pressure fuel system is covered by the warranty? If they say yes, ask them to write that on your sales contract. Mercedes has a global service bulletin that explains their problem and how to protect the fuel system. Mercedes USA has two bulletins that tell you to ignore what the global bulletin recommends. Who’s right? I’m sure your dealer can explain. Or you can wait until you have a $17,000 failure and argue about it.

People with older models think the fraud recall will fix all the problems they’re having. I’ve attached information that should help explain what’s going to get fixed. The recall is not what you expect. It’s absolutely worth getting, but there are strings attached. Heaven help you if you deleted your emission system. You’re not going to like this. Mercedes also has 3 years to implement the recall.



I need to rewrite the article you read. In their effort to hide what they did Mercedes withheld a lot of technical information from the EPA lawyers. Now they’ve been forced to release the information. I’ve often told owners the BlueTec story is a lot like ripping all the pages out of a novel and erasing the page numbers. Hide 20% of the pages and try to figure out the story from a pile of loose pages. It’s still that way, but at least now we have all the pages. From what the Court told me, the pages are still mixed up. They need someone who knows what the story is and put the information together so the Court can understand it. From what they’ve given me, I can tell the EPA and CARB do not have the complete story. I’ll attach more information from the Court and a basic overview of the technical issues at the end of this email.



Here’s the basic problem with the recall. The EPA and CARB are only going after Mercedes for tampering with the NOx (Nitrous Oxides) emission violations. They’ve ignored the soot and DPF issues. You can’t solve the NOx problem without solving the soot and DPF problems. This is what the Court and owners don’t understand. Mercedes is trying to avoid a gigantic financial loss. Mercedes doesn’t want to fix both parts of the emission system. As far as owners are concerned, these problems can be fixed. If you paid for a repair that Mercedes is forced to recall, you will get a refund. Save you receipts. In fact, I encourage owners to get the repairs at their dealer. It may take a while before you get the recall notice. If you wait, you can easily have bigger problems that Mercedes won’t pay for. This recall only applies to 2009 to 2016 OM642 and OM651 BlueTec diesels.

I’m 75 and I’m not sure how much time the Court will need. Money is not the problem, it’s time. Time is more important to me than the $200 or even $500. These hidden documents are discouraging. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the BlueTec diesel. These new documents fill in a lot of blanks. However, there are so many documents that I still haven’t had time to go through them all. Many people think they haven’t seen too many big problems, "why should I spend a bunch of money for something that may not happen?" I’ve stopped trying to convince people this is in their best interest. You either get it or you don’t. I know $500 will be too much for many owners. I’m sorry Mercedes has done this.

Let me know if you want help and PayPal will send you a link. You need a Gmail account. There are so many large pdf attachments other email servers have a limit. Gmail works 100% and it’s free. I’ll need your phone number, which engine you have, climate, how it’s driven, maintenance history and how much mechanical experience you have?

[jacdimarco]

Originally Posted by suncoasteng

Is your engine same as these?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fatal...tom-robertson/

Yes, same one.

[Magnet18]

http://www.stephensservice.com/bluet...ssuesproblems/

The Mercedes bluetec has some pretty fundamental issues it seems. A quick google shows you are far from the first to have an otherwise perfectly good engine sieze.

Basically it seems the engine oil is used to cool the turbo and overheats, breaking down the oil till it's not useful anymore, partially since Mercedes refuses to admit they can't live up to their stupid 20,000 mile oil change recommendation, and partially because the turbo is insufficiently cooled and will glow red hot, and possibly because they spec the wrong oil to start with (but that's a topic of much debate)

There is debate about how to fix the issue or extend the engine life, but you're past that unfortunately

There have been some warranty extensions, I'd push very, very hard on Mercedes, they know the setup is flawed by design.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

http://www.stephensservice.com/bluet...ssuesproblems/

The Mercedes bluetec has some pretty fundamental issues it seems. A quick google shows you are far from the first to have an otherwise perfectly good engine sieze.

Basically it seems the engine oil is used to cool the turbo and overheats, breaking down the oil till it's not useful anymore, partially since Mercedes refuses to admit they can't live up to their stupid 20,000 mile oil change recommendation, and partially because the turbo is insufficiently cooled and will glow red hot, and possibly because they spec the wrong oil to start with (but that's a topic of much debate)


There is debate about how to fix the issue or extend the engine life, but you're past that unfortunately

There have been some warranty extensions, I'd push very, very hard on Mercedes, they know the setup is flawed by design.

Many older Diesel engine turbos would glow red , especially after pulling a pass..never bothered them....they lived

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by tjdonahoe

Many older Diesel engine turbos would glow red , especially after pulling a pass..never bothered them....they lived

Using thin oil designed for a gas engine that boils when entering the turbo and only gets changed every 20,000 miles?

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Using thin oil designed for a gas engine that boils when entering the turbo and only gets changed every 20,000 miles?

..look at the new synthetic oils for diesels..5-40....0-40... 10-40...I have used it in my 6.7 cummins...these new oils don’t break down...they use up the additives....and get dirty...I change my oil at 4000 miles..most of the exhaust temperatures at the turbo are below 950 degrees..probably around 600...my little v8 cat would pull 1400 on a hard pull...never had any problems..the oil temperature isn’t boiling..it runs 20 degrees more than water temperature..your older trucks had pyrometers..and all the gauges,