xcowdoc

At 600+ miles on the odometer last fall our cel came on on our 2014 GLK 250 Blutec. A couple of starts later the Adblue 10 starts left message came on while on the way to the dealer. Dealer fixed problem in about 5 days. We were their first one. In February the cel and Adblue 10 starts left came on with 6000+ on the od. They went out the next day. I did add def to the reservoir, but it only took 2.5 gallons. Yesterday at 8000+ miles on the od, the cel came on again. Car goes to the dealer on Monday. It is a great car, but more problems than I would like. We average 29-31 mpg around town and 35-41 mpg on the highway.

Bob338

At this moment I'm awaiting completion of the A service at dealer. I've had the chance to talk at length with a young service writer that is REALLY sharp. He is totally conversant with the AdBlue system from significant experience with it on Sprinters where there is a significant problem. This dealership has had only ONE problem with the CEL on the 204's and that was one I sent here about two months ago for someone on this forum who had complaints with a nearby dealer. All the problems they have seen are on Sprinters built by Winnebago and coming to the West Coast, and with some used as commercial vehicles.

This guy says the problem is in the float in the AdBlue tank which apparently loses its calibration. They have seen some problems with a bad batch of NOx sensor, but the vast majority is corrected with a recalibration of the float and heating system which apparently share a control module. In our cars this system is common to the fuel tank and it also incorporates a heater with a memory chip that requires the recalibration. There is not another alternative than to hook up a laptop and recalibrate the chip, but he says sometimes a NOx sensor has to be replaced. What he said and what I understand, all makes perfect sense to me. I suppose in the cold weather in the East and North, this heater/sensor can be more of a problem than out here in our milder weather, which is why there are very few problems. This dealership had never had any passenger car come in with the problem but being on the I-80 they've garnered their experience with the Winnebago's being driven out here.

Seems to be a rather simple issue to resolve provided the service people are sharp and understand the problem.

LesF

Bob338 I live in Florida and I've had 2 250s, a 13, and 14 to replace the 13, both had the adblue issue as well as the nox sensors.

Alex Bel

Will you tell us about A service? I understand that you added AdBlue yourself. What was included and how much was the damage?

Bob338

I ended up paying $237 for the A service, which in addition to all the checks, also included a good wash job. The oil was Mobil 1 and together with filter and HazMat disposal fee, was $85, the balance being the fluid checks, tires, etc. Tire wear is listed also on each tire. Tire wear was a bit disappointing as I have 1/3 of the tires already worn. I'm sure that's due to speed, curvy roads, vehicle weight and a heavy foot. At that rate I'll need tires way before 25K miles which I was told was to be expected. We'll see.

The AdBlue which I did before I took it in, cost me $30. Service adviser tells me they charge $65 for the service and $28 for the DEF if they do it, which is pretty reasonable I think. I may let them do it the next time.

Full report of their checks (on 3 pages,) is included. Quite a list!

I came away happy!!

Bob338

Speculation on my part as to weather. But I did opine early on almost a year ago that a bad batch of sensors could be a culprit. I didn't imagine there would be a float and sensor in the AdBlue tanks, but then that makes sense also. Only thing is that the adviser tells me the NOx sensors replacement are just necessary on a few. Apparently the problem has existed in the Sprinters for quite a few years. Never on the ML series! I didn't take notes but he mentioned something about "starting in 2008".

He answered my questions following my inquiry about IL bulletins on the issue. He tells me there have been many and his question was 'which one?' I forgot to pursue it further.

This dealership is right on the I-80 and MBUSA is referring those problems to him because of his long involvement so they see most of them out here. Those Sprinters from Winnebago seem to come West down the I-80 from their factory.

jrct9454

ONE MORE TIME....

We took delivery of our GLK 250 diesel in early January - production date early October. First big road trip was from our home in Vancouver WA [think Portland OR] to Las Vegas for an extended vacation. On the way back, about 3 hours out of Vegas [and out of cell range], the dreaded "AdBlue / 16-starts-left" message came up, with a CEL. Thanks to this forum, I was able to point the home-town dealer in the right direction once we got back.

FYI, the service procedure reference is LI49.10-P-058243 [that second letter is an I - "eye"]. The message appeared at about 1700 miles, and the fix was applied at about 2500 miles.

On another note, I should say that this is our 18th Mercedes since 1968, and I love this car, notwithstanding the AdBlue fix. We had a gasoline '10 GLK350, so I'm not entirely new to this body style, and it's my 6th diesel, though none in the last few years. What's not to like [besides the spare tire issue]? It's quiet, comfortable, quick enough, easy to use, and we consistently get 35+ mpg at 75 mph. Our overall average for the 4800 miles to date is right around 32 mpg. Even suburban running around, with multiple stops, yields 29-30 mpg - the '10 GLK350 struggled to deliver 18-19mpg under these conditions.

UPDATE: We now have nearly 5000 miles on the car, and no further problems. For all of you dealing with incompetent service departments, you have my sympathies - start with the service procedure mentioned in my original message. Find a dealer who will read the available documentation, if you can. Yes, MBUSA should be ultimately accountable, but the dealer body is the source for delivering the product. Our dealer in Portland OR was easy to communicate with, applied the fix in a timely fashion, and sent us on our way.
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John R.
Vancouver WA

2014 GLK250 Diesel

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Bob338

THANK YOU!!!

Taymour

Bought a glk bluetec 2 weeks ago. Driving in peace today and suddenly the engine began to smoke. Not happy at all. Only 612km on the odometer. Anyone experience this? Was it resolved? Help please...

bytemaster0

Can you please clarify? Where did you notice the smoke? Or was it just a burnt smell? If the latter, it's the diesel particulate filter regeneration procedure that runs every so often. It is completely normal, but should not "smoke" at all.

Taymour

you're absolutely right. That's what the service dept said: Regeneration. They said it usually happens when you drive and you won't notice it; but because the vehicle is so new the excess factory lubes and waxes git burnt off. My mind is at peace now. Thanks for replying.

jbarntish

+1 to bytemaster0 for this. Just purchased my GLK 2014 250 5 days ago and noticed the burnt smell for the first time. Freaked me out a little.

Hopefully I will dodge any of the AdBlue issues, but will definitely post here if anything comes up.

Taymour

I have had white smoke come out as well but once I speed up it stops. I think the regeneration kicks in and clears itself out. I took it for a good drive at higher speeds and it stoped. Seems fine..but the white smoke is scary; the engineers said they have come across this befor and it'll pass. New car and all... I hope their right!

Alex Bel

Today on my 2014 GLK250 with 9,200 miles CEL light came on. So far there is no AdBlue countdown yet. The error code is " P229F NOx Sensor, Bank 1 Sensor 2 ". This Tuesday the Service A was done ( with my own Oil change and DEF), but I think the error has nothing to do with this, but they did some "calibration" as part of Service A.

Set up appointment on Monday.

Just to add some more information - in November 2013 with 1,700 miles the problem with CEL and AdBlue was fixed and my Invoice shows that test LI49.20-P-057619 was performed and Temperature and BOTH NOx sensors were replaced.

So, we will see what happens now.

LesF

warranty work, not uncommon, I had it too. A bad bunch of sensors I'm guessing.

PBenz32

Taymor
How did it get resolved? I took delivery of my 2014 GLK250 on Feb 11, '14 and have approx. 4,000 miles on the car. A couple of weeks ago I stood at a traffic light and I saw white smoke coming from underneath the car. First I thought it was the car in front of me, but at the next light I had nobody in front of me and it was still smoking. I was only about 4 miles from my MB dealer and went there, however car was not smoking then, took long test drive with head mechanic and nothing happened, was told to bring it back if it happens again. Yesterday, pulling into my driveway after a 40 mile trip and car was smoking again. This time I noticed that it was not coming from the engine, but rather it was billowing out from under the car by the front drivers door and passenger door. It lasts for about a few minutes and then stops, and yes it has a burning smell to it. Unfortunately, taking it to the MB dealer while its not smoking doesn't make sense.
So how did you resolve this issue, please let me know.

rick8560

I have 2013 and had a similar problem when after I put about 4k miles on it. Got a dashboard warning the I had a certain number of starts left. After calling the dealer and them squeezing me in for an appointment, they first filled the ADblue tank and that did not fix the problem. Then they had to replace the sensor and update the software and it seemed to fix the problem. This all happened around November of 2014. Hope this helps you fight your battle with the dealer?

Alex Bel

Today (September 28, 2015) I have the Check Engine Light with the same error code "P229F NOx Sensor, Bank 1 Sensor 2" as a year ago. Now my car has 20,300 miles and still on warranty.

Second time the same error?!

I'll go to the same dealer tomorrow and will post update later.

OC07

I purchased a pre-owned 2014 glk250 last weekend. THREE days driving it, the check engine light came on. The dealership is saying it needs a new NOx sensor after the catalyst, didn't have it in stock and told me to come tomorrow.

So clearly it looks like other people are having NOx sensor issues. Some even had it replaced for the second time within a year.

Is MB going to do something about this?
Im very disappointed and afraid if i have to deal with issues with this car on a regular basis.....

It only has 17,000 km on it!

Bob338

The issue has mostly been resolved, and it's not peculiar to only Mercedes. Truly there didn't seem to be that many problems though like you, when the problem occurred for the few, there were justifiably loud complaints from those few. The problem is common to diesels and not only Mercedes. Trucks running Cummins engines have had plenty if you check posts in their forums. Use of DEF is a relatively new technology and has had a steep learning curve. It's exacerbated by the relatively unknowledgeable people servicing the cars and manufacturing the sensors. A competent dealer with experience can usually resolve the issues the first time around. I've not had any problems in my '13 and I've just had the 30K miles service. Never a 'check engine' light and I expect to acquire another diesel, GLC, as soon as they are available.

Be sure your dealer is competent. I know one poster here had multiple problems until he went to the dealer I used. His issue was immediately and permanently resolved never to be heard from again.

formerjeepguy

I agree completely that the problems span all Diesels using urea injection and Diesel Particulate filters. You can read about issues spanning from passenger cars to 18 wheelers.

How is one to know that the dealer service is competent before going to them with an issue?

It was my experience with multiple CEL and a blocked DPF at 18k miles that this new diesel emission gear is not ready for prime time. My dealer service center followed a script and threw parts at the problem without looking for a real cause. Sure they replaced the expensive DPF under warrant, but they did nothing to find out why a part that should last well over 100k miles failed at 18k miles. And had I been out of warranty this expensive part that seems to have to come from Germany it not covered by the emissions warranty so it would have come out of my pocket.

All in all the new diesel emissions equipment is complicated, expensive and not well covered under warranty when compared to gas engine emissions. From my perspective, it is not ready for the general consumer and I will not be buying another one in this decade and perhaps not the next.

I fully expect that consumer grade diesel passenger vehicles will virtually disappear from the market in the next 10-15 years at least in North America.

LesF

The NOx sensors have been known to fail as I've had 2 of them go bad. The dealer fixed the issues without question with just over 2600 on the car.

Since the repair I now have 23k miles on the odometer and no further issues with the emissions control system.

I think part of the issue was the sensors being suspect as so many have gone bad. A secondary cause may have been the software especially if your car was model year 13 or early 14. I have not heard of any 15s with the issue.

.

Diabolis

Well, they also didn't investigate where the drywall screw that punctured my tire that was supposed to last for 60,000 miles came from. It must be incompetent service. I was fully expecting them to send out seventeen search teams to closely examine the entire 143 km of road surface that I drove over in the last day in order to find out the real cause of this tragedy. Furthermore, pneumatic tires are obviously not ready for the general consumer, and I fully expect that they will virtually disappear from the market in the next 10-15 years...

Vote with your wallet and don't buy another one if you're not happy (or even better, sell it now and get rid of the cause of your misery immedaitely).

formerjeepguy

I traded it for a new 350 several months ago. It was immediately after realizing the dealer did not care or know how to service the diesel emissions systems properly.

OzarkGLK250

Well I can attest to it affecting the 2013 model. I've had 50,000 trouble free miles out of my blutec until last month.. No low def warning this time, it went straight to a 10 start countdown. Turns out def was low but never received the initial warning. Filled def myself & then to the dealer to reset & remove the start countdown. 2 weeks later it's back in countdown mode & def is full. Dealer calls back saying they used up all the countdown starts & don't know what's wrong with it. Warranty or no, I'm not paying a bill for what is clearly a defective product according to this thread.