Mercedes 5 cylinder 2.7 CDI engines

[reynardracer]

Looking to upgrade to a used motorhome and fancy something with a Merc 2.7 CDI engine as i need a
bit more 'grunt' to tow my race car and trailer. I have heard that this engine is pretty bullet proof and want to hear from anyone who can give me an update on how these engines perform later in their lives.

Thanks
Peter

 

[Just smiffy]

I have an 06 sprintshift and I've done nearly 6k since we bought it this year.

Drives really well and has lots of grunt and acceleration when needed... goes well on cruise control and without me being anorak about the fuel it does about 28-30mpg
Downside it seems a bit noisy when pushed....

I'm happy with it but then again I haven't really driven anything else..

 

[Speve]

Had a 2004 316CDI ON Autotrail Cheyene lovely engine pulled really well I could only get about 23 mpg out of her though but that was all the time.
Didn't find it noisy at all and had loads of power just purred along.

 

[Enword]

Love ours About 21mpg with the trailer, less when we had it first but a long time sprinter owner asked are you driving it like your 310? I was just short shifting like the old one, he said stick it in auto & see what it revs to, they like a few more revs, much to my surprise it was better on fuel, I don't mean rev the nads off it but had to change how I drove it, compared to the 310 we had for 6/7 years. about 25 + mpg with out the trailer

 

[JeanLuc]

We have a 3.8 tonne 2003 Hymer on a 316 chassis. 2.7 CDI with a 5-speed full auto (torque converter). It has now done over 70,000 miles and goes really well. I have managed just under 25mpg since we bought it 9 years ago.
The engine is generally regarded as very robust, but not quite as bullet-proof as the predecessor 2.9 litre 5-cylinder version. Having said that, many of the 2.7 engines have done well over 200,000 miles without any problems.

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[pickeringar]

I had an '06 Hymer automatic based on Merc 416 2.7l engine and it certainly drove easily considering it had a empty weight of 3.2tonnes and gross of 4.6tonne. As others have said can be a bit noisy, particularly when compared with the 3.0l V6 based on Merc 519 I now have. Fuel consumption on the 2.7l was around 22mpg.

 

[two]

Motorhome miles are unlikely to reach the lifespan of the intended base vehicle. The 2.7 sprint shift should provide plenty of grunt but grunt will cost fuel. Driven more considerately, I got over 25mph from mine.

 

[Robin McHood]

Our 2006 6T RMB has this engine with the Sprint shift 120,000km on it and still going strong, other than normal oil changes etc its never required other attention, passed MOT with flying colours.

 

[Jaws]

So what 5 cylinder lump from Merc was it that kept on cooking number three piston ?
I remember a spate of incidents that left motorhomers stranded all over Europe ! ?

 

[Rapido666F]

We have a 316 (2002, 65k) and it goes very well: sometimes I have to "take on" cars coming off roundabouts etc if I know that there is a short stretch of dualcarriageway and a lorry ahead, and it does pretty well. It returns 25mpg almost irrespective of the driving conditions (just done NC500 and got 25.3mpg).

My only niggle is that sometimes the turbo cuts out: a well-reported phenomenon on Merc forum, caused by an electrical short-circuit which can be difficult to trace. It's happened to me 4 times in 10y, most recently as I climbed out of the Tyne Tunnel in July (ALWAYS seems to be on a hill!) Find a suitable spot, switch off, switch on and away we go. TBH, the normally-aspirated power is not too bad and it was only the acceleration away from traffic lights which confirmed the problem.

It does have a large sump, so expect to pay a little over the odds at service time - Gordon

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[Glandwr]

616 cdi powering 6 tonne. No complaints, circa 19-20 mpg, 2 injectors replaced in 130k kilometres, no other problems. Keep the fuel filter clean and be aware manual towing is 2000kg but auto is only 750kg.

Dick