update on blown engine in spain (1 Viewer)

[JockandRita]

totally different to when i had the vacuum pump begin to fail in austria, found an iveco dealer, they diagnosed the problem, seals leaking letting engine oil fill up the cavities, reducing space for the vacuum,
offered to let me source another pump and fit it my self/find another garage to fit it (it's only 3 bolts and a pipe), no charge for the diagnostics, which was amazing considering they had the van for almost an hour over the pit, on the brake rollers, and faffing about with the vacuum testers at the servo to eliminate the servo being the problem.

or for them to fit new seals, or fit a new pump, new one was half the price of one in england, and having new seals fitted was half the price of the new pump... which amazed me, as labour to strip the pump and replace seals must be more than labour to replace it... we're only talking about 150 euros here for the new pump with fitting.

so i opted for the new pump.

they let us stay in their carpark overnight (like most iveco garages, they are open 24 hours, so we werent locked in)
pump arrived at 5am, they let us sleep till we got up at about 10, then they fitted it, spotted an oil leak whilst doing it and replaced the seal for the power steering pump whilst they were in there,

and gave me a bill cheaper than what i had origionaly been quoted, along with the old pump, and to my amazment the vacuum resovoir, all in a heat sealed thick plastic bag to take home with me, or offered to dispose of it if i didnt want it.

they had ordered a new vacuum resovoir just incase that was part of the problem, it wasnt but they fitted the new un anyway, and didnt even charge me for it, as i haddent asked for it,

Now that does sound like good service Gazz.

Lucky you. :thumb:

Jock.

 

[Braunston]

Hi, Ken

In the circumstances I think you did the right thing, piece of mind is worth having, hope you have some success with Mercedes UK, but even if you don't you know the old saying you can't take it with you, I just hope you can enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Have a safe journey,

Braunston

Thanks again for your input. I tend to agree with you all. But my wife is the worrying type and feels happier with a complete new engine for peace of mind. Like others have said, I have now lost faith in Mercedes. Okay, I know things happen and sod's law comes into play. My mechanic friend in the uk did ring round for me but could'nt come up with a suitable engine at a better price given the time constraints. Bare in mind that the price of 11,000 euros includes the VAT out here and all the work they have done trying to find the problem. If I can get some money back from Merc H.Q then it will soften the blow somewhat.

ken

 

[jacken]

Just as an aside to my problem. The person that I bought the motorhome from some 2 years ago felt so bad about the engine blowing. He offered to give me £1,000. I declined because he is a genuine nice guy and we see him quite offen, pus it was not his fault. So there are some nice people out there.

ken

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[Tony Santara]

I was always a fan of Mercedes especialy the Sprinter engines. but reading this thread I'm having a change of mind
Hope things get better for you Ken

 

[JockandRita]

I was always a fan of Mercedes especialy the Sprinter engines. but reading this thread I'm having a change of mind
Hope things get better for you Ken

I have to admit too Tony, that I thought that they were bullet proof, and the dogs doo dahs in modern light commercial engineering. :Blush:

So that's the Sprinter as well as the X250 of my list of replacement prime movers. That only leaves the Ford Transit, Renault Master, and Iveco Daily. :Sad:

Jock.

 

[scotjimland]

I was always a fan of Mercedes especialy the Sprinter engines. but reading this thread I'm having a change of mind
Hope things get better for you Ken

Me too, however, until the cause of the failure is established I will reserve judgement ..

I'm not a diesel mechanic, but my thoughts are that failure may have been due to

a) Faulty piston.
b) Piston hitting valve .. don't ask me how that's possible without another component failure.
c) water in fuel, can't be compressed and damages piston and or rings.
d) large amount of lub oil reaching combustion chamber due to failure of oil scrapper rings.. as c)
e) wrong engine oil
f) overfilling engine oil.

or maybe a combination of events..
anyone have other thoughts ?

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[Geo]

Injector Fault, Air leak weak/incorrect mixture, they havent said if its a burn or impact damage But I would suspect the formeroh:

 

[olley]

Hi just been talking to Simon the boss of Landspeed, he agrees that merc don't do recons but they are available from recon specialists in the UK, he estimates around £2500 plus £2000 to fit, he didn't say but I reckon that's for a short block recon. ie. block, pistons and crank.

And he wouldn't advise fitting only a one piston as its likely to unbalance the engine, can't say I have ever heard that said before, but maybe Merc pistons come as a matched set?

Olley

 

[pappajohn]

Hi Pappajohn,

Yes, we do have breakdown insurance with 'Comfort insurance' and they have been wonderful. The RAC Europe ring us 3 or 4 times a day. We are in a hotel at present, paid for by the insurance. But the insurance states that if the vehicle cannot be fixed then they will get you and vehicle back to the UK. It also states that you can go to any garage of your choice but we are in Spain and know nothing so you tend to play safe and go with their reccomendation.

kn

well that clears that up then.....i was just curious as to why you didnt get it recovered back home:thumb:
as it has to be repaired anyway i suppose it doesnt matter which country its repaired in really.
only problem i can see is warrenty on work undertaken, its a long way back to spain or is it a main dealer?

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[Losos]

So much for Merc reliability !! - Recently when I was trying to decide if I could afford a Merc. as a base vehicle I asked a Sprinter drive who was parked next to me at a services if he had had any trouble with his van which had done 100K miles and was fully expecting a 'No never been any trouble' answer.

But, what he actually said was "oh yes, at 80K miles I had to have a whole new set of injectors fitted!!!!!!!!"

Now, of course there's much more to this story, he may have been using crap fuel to (supposedly) save money, and there could be other reasons.

Still it made me think, maybe Merc are just as prone to mechanical failure as any other engine.

 

[Bulletguy]

How the hell is he supposed to get a 1/2 ton engine back to the UK in a motorhome?

Ever heard of trailers?
Plenty of folk on here towing bloody cars around stuck on the back of their mh's. 1/2 ton of engine is nowt!

 

[Geo]

I know the guys spent enough but Id buy a box trailer to get the lump back
theres proberbly 3Ks worth sat there when fixed

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[gazznsam]

erm... 80k miles on a set of injectors is about right, they dont last for ever, some need replacing at 60k,

on the old mechanical injection diesels, having the injectors out and their break pressure, spray pattern etc checked was something anyone who cared about their engine did every few years, as with getting the injection pump re-calibrated,

that means a lot of people never did this, and just replaced the parts when they eventually wore out, at about a grand for a pump, 35 quid each for injectors etc, i do my own servicing, so it's part of my scedule.. as with checking and adjusting the pump timing every year,
seems that's not part of garage service scedules, so people just replace injectors when they fail the emmisions test, or replace the engine when the pump overfuels it badly.

i pay 80 quid for my pump to be calibrated, and a tenner for my injectors to have the pintles lapped and then re-calibrated to the correct breaking pressures. i do that every 2 years,

btw, a weak 'mixture' on a diesel results in low performance, and a cooler running engine, a rich 'mixture' (over fueling) results in increased heat, black smoke, and eventually a holed piston,
one of the reasons the first gauge to fit if your playing with fueling on a diesel should be an EGT gauge (exhaust gas temperature)

i'd guess that the holed piston in the OP's engine was caused by a faulty injector overfueling that cylinder, maybe that's whey merc are so keen to replace the engine and hide the evidence.

i remember when the sprinters first came out, their then new 5 cyl engine had a serious problem, thousands of em needed replacing with modified engines under warrenty,
i cant remember what the problem was, it was a fair while back, i just remember recovering a load of them to merc commercial vehicle garages, where they kept the modified sprinter engines in stock,

for a motorhome to have done 50k miles, then have the engine go is something merc should investigate, the fit for use thing comes to mind,
but that's easy for us to say sat in england at the computer, the poor op is in spain, being held to ransom by a spanish mechanic.

 

[Bulletguy]

i've heard similar incidents happening in spain, was talking to the owners of the iveco scrap yard in doncaster a few years ago,

an iveco based motorhome in spain had it's gearbox fail, towed to the local garage (didnt say if it was an iveco one or not), box removed and stripped down, few bearings seized due to running dry, didnt hear why it had run dry, bloke was told only option was a new gearbox at 4 to 5 grand,

he said he couldnt afford that, phoned up the iveco scrappers and was aranging to have a second hand box shipped out to him for about 500 quid, mechanics told him they wouldnt fit the box he got shipped over, it had to be a new un, pay up or you dont get your motorhome back,

He tried arguing with them, but they wouldent budge, he either paid 5 grand and drove his van out, or he never got to use it again!! no option to have the box repaired, or to pay for the work already done and the van moved somewhere else for him to sort out fitting the box he could get for 500 quid,

he had to borrow the money, and asked for the old box back as he wanted to get it repaired in england and sell it on, but they wouldent let him have it back.

Unless the price quoted was on agreement that the Garage kept the original gearbox, then thats blatant theft. They cannot take possession of what does not belong to them....they have no legal right.

This seems very much like the Garage had some kind of deal running with a supplier that enabled them to get a 'recon' gearbox (but sold out as new), for considerably less than a new replacement. Why else would any Garage want to keep the old gearbox? One things for certain.....it was not being scrapped!

 

[Bulletguy]

I know the guys spent enough but Id buy a box trailer to get the lump back
theres proberbly 3Ks worth sat there when fixed

Couldn't agree more. I really feel for this guy. It has to rate as the most horrendous misfortune i've come across on this board. A blown engine after just 50k miles. Little Fiestas or Micras are more than capable of double that amount.....and at a fraction of the price too!

If Merc UK show no interest in recompense which i suspect they won't, then doing something like this will make them think seriously;

Rover's revenge: Furious driver dumps his £50,000 Range Rover outside showroom... emblazoned with a list of its 'faults' | Mail Online

Best bit of all was the Garage had no power to move it as the owner had legally parked it on the road! Brilliant!

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[Braunston]

Hi, Ken

You should read this link as it may directly affect your situation its apparently a recall notice from Mercedes or VOSP on a Engine Control Unit which from the thread appears it may cause the sort of problem you have had

Hope it helps

Braunston

MotorHome Today

Sorry Jim I know its on another site but I do think it could be helpful to Ken

 

[Road Runner]

This is putting me off taking my RV abroad as I could no way find half of eleven grand.

Find this a very sobering story

 

[scotjimland]

This is putting me off taking my RV abroad as I could no way find half of eleven grand.

Neither could I John, it's your worst nightmare.. but tens of thousands go abroad each year, including many hundreds of RVs without incident .. or breakdown, it's an extremely rare occurrence, have good breakdown recovery insurance and go and enjoy yourself..

Jim

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[vwalan]

i think its thousands JIM, agadir alone used to have about 3,000 just in tagahzoute,when you take in maroc ,spain, portugal. all paying maybe 50 quid on there ins. or recovery schemes its alot of money. but why would anybody get recovered home for a clutch the cost to scheme 1,000/2,000.doesnt make sense. local repair should be ok . i think in this case a rebore n pistons tec .should have been the answer . op doesnt need all the ancilaries. maybe pump,inj check. but there we go ,could be more space in the winter if people put off travelling. we have all got too tecnical n made it difficult for roadside repairs. its awake up call for many.

 

[Braunston]

Hi, Have any of you read the link I gave earlier only while it may not be for Kens specific model the recall does seem that it could cause a similar situation to happen, I have PM'd him with the link as i do hope he reads it before he leaves Spain as he may need the old engine as evidence

what do you think ?

 

[vwalan]

he definately needs to bring the engine home it cant be too difficult its in bits. without it he doesnt have much leverage with mercedes. by way of contrst i had a recall from mercedes about my 9yr old mitzy canter to have a handbreakpawl fixed (merc /mitzy same crowd)wouldnt think recalls after 9yrs.

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[scotjimland]

Hi, Have any of you read the link I gave earlier


what do you think ?

Hi

Thanks for the link but you need to join in order to read .. do you think you could copy paste the relevant information ?

cheers

Jim

 

[Braunston]

Hi, Jim

I'm reluctant to copy the thread as the chap who actually posted it is a moderator for the site albeit he is also a member on here, but I have searched for recalls and while as I have said I don't know Ken's actual model etc here is a link to a recall that may have some similarities e.g pistons being damaged on Sprinter vans

Link Removed

I note that this recall in from Australia it does seem very similar to the recall that I have shown the link to

hope that helps

 

[vwalan]

course if it was an australian van we could understand the problem. if we want to be australian we have to stand on our heads . in vehicle form it would upset the lubrication. but as it seems its not might be worth mentioning the fault is common in australia if he talks to mercedes here.i know its not funny really ,dont want it to happen to me .its bad news for everybody.

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[Bulletguy]

We have all got too technical n made it difficult for roadside repairs. Its a wake up call for many.

Afraid 'roadside repairs' are virtually a thing of the past due to some pretty potty technology.

My van is just a basic simple Transit. Old model, so crude, simple, and easy to repair. Throttle cable snapped once. Got home using a piece of string fed through the bulkhead!

My mates got a later model Transit camper. No throttle cable.....it's 'fly by wire' so if the electronics go down, tough tits......you are stuck.

 

[Bulletguy]

I don't know Ken's actual model etc here is a link to a recall that may have some similarities e.g pistons being damaged on Sprinter vans.

Kens mh is a 53 plate so the latter half of 2003.

Unfortunately the link relates to vehicles manufactured between 4 January 2006 and 28 June 2007.

Pity.

 

[vwalan]

when i first visited africa it was in a t2 vw built for africa spec .with the aid of a small trolley jack n a handfull of tools most engine probs could be fixed anywhere .we did carry spare crankn brgs rings 1 barrel n piston.now i want more space n miss the old vans really they went every where,1600singleport ,points ign. but not as much poweras you would have liked in the sand. it was nice to be young n adventurist . now prefer comfort at a price .could get a tow by anything then ,never needed it . the thing today is people forget the strain on vehicles it was an adventure to go abroad but now everybody just does it. never had breakdown services if you couldnt fix it a man in a backyard shed could. now even the dealers cant.

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[jacken]

I think I need to clear something up. My original quote for a complete new engine was ---- wait for it------- 14,000 euros. The garage then told me that Merc would not take the old engine but they could sell it out for me and give me a 3,000 euros allowance. Please bear in mind that as I said earlier, the RAC Europe man tried to get a better quote and my garage in the Uk tried but to no avail.

ken

 

[Braunston]

Hi,

That does seem a pity as while that recall was in Australia the one on the original link to MHT looks like a similar recall here in the UK, but that also looks like a later vehicle than Ken's which as you say is a real pity.

Is there a Mercedes users web site as it may be worth checking if anyone has had similar problems with a vehicle of the same age as Ken's.

Sorry Ken false hope it seems

Braunston

Kens mh is a 53 plate so the latter half of 2003.

Unfortunately the link relates to vehicles manufactured between 4 January 2006 and 28 June 2007.

Pity.

 

[chesterfield hooligan]

:Sad: Hi I am sorry to hear of your problem firstly where are you in Spain as I have a friend in Malaga who may be able to help to return your old engine to the UK for you.secondly you will not find a second hand engine in Spain as in the breakers send the whole vans go back to Russia for some reason if I can help let me know yours Hooligan

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