C230 Sport Coup

This where, biching about every little thing while under warranty pays off.
I'm pretty sure, I've had most of the common issues pre-addressed in my car.

At some point, I need to review all the service thats been done.
I do recall, I think they may have replaced that harness.

alpinweiss

I went ahead and installed the wiring adapters myself last week. My sensors are not leaking, so I cannot claim it under warranty. Still, if I can spend a little money now to prevent a huge repair later, I will just consider it preventative maintenance.

Thank you to those of you who posted the part numbers and the procedure.

Cholleman

can the harness be purchased anywhere else besides MB? I checked my wife's 05 a few weeks ago after reading about this and they were clean as a whistle. the car has about 49,xxx on it, but i'd rather prevent the problem if it decides to rear it's head.

Buellwinkle

Can't you dab a little oil on the connector and bring it in and say it's leaking oil while under warranty?

3sonmac

Many times a product's manufacturing (cam sensor in this case) is tweaked without changing the part number. So I cannot agree with your statement that all will see this failure. I assume they identified the manufacturing dates of the parts and identified the vin numbers that might have the bad Cam sensors. But that is just MHO...

capt_paul

I just went to the dealer to get the isolating wires because my SA said my engine wasn't affected by th leaking cam sensors. I get the first sensor connector off and sure enough, it has engine oil in it! I am going to have the two sensors, isolating wires (getting reimbursed for the ones I purchased at $58 a piece) installed next week. What esle should I have checked? I am still under warranty for another 350 miles.

c230K415

The extension/isolating wires are $58 a piece?!?!

electromethod

Definately do this guys. I thought I just had the secondary cat go out on me a while back if you guys remember. Turned out to be oil in the wiring harness. Got it replaced with a month left on my 5 yr/100K warranty, but they couldn't guarantee me that it was solved and wouldn't re-appear. Stumbled onto this thread today and now I will definately look into whether or not these extensions were installed. In addition, on a side note, next week I shall be sending out some ATF for a glycol test just to be safe. Sad we have to drive the cars and be paranoid. I will dig up my invoice for that repair so I can verify the part #'s they changed and perhaps add any new information to this thread. Good luck to those of you still in warranty and hoping it gets taken care of before it expires.

c230K415

Ahhh!! =(. So tonight I ran down to check on the cam sensors (after another week of driving) before heading off to the dealership tomorrow and now...they're leaking. There was very minor oil seepage...only on one cam sensor and it was no more than 2 drops. If this is the case...should I even bother replacing the cam sensor or still continue to just install the extensions since the new cam sensor would leak again? As long as the oil doesn't reach the other electrical components around it...what effect would the oil have on the cam sensor connector?

Also, the people who have replaced the "cam sensor"....is that the actual cam sensor or the connector to it? I am kind of confused between the two.

carson357

it is different engine same issue, this problem first appeared on 111.xxx engines, then also occured on 271.xxx, the cam sensors are the same, only difference is the 111 engine has one cam adjuster and 271 has 2

Kristen

Replace the sensor and order the isolation wires.

The oil in the connector will only look like a few drops cause it leaks slowly. You have to check other connectors to see how far it has spread. The worst offender is the O2 sensors, yet the one to be afraid of is the ECU since its the most pricey part to replace. Check the ECU connector (the furthest one back, there are 2 connectors ontop of the ECU. STF for pics of where they are).

The sensor leaks into the connector, the fix is to replace:
the cam sensors
add the isolation wires between the sensor and the engine harness.

I suppose you could just order the isolation wires, yet do you really want an oil leak in your engine bay? Instead of leaking into the engine harness, it'll drip onto the v-belt and splatter everywhere.

Kristen

Normally I'd agree, yet for the $80 they cost and the $$$THOUSANDS of damage that could occur, I'm not putting any faith into the part being fixed.

Better safe than sorry.

Buellwinkle

I think the $58 price you got was for the pair of cable adpaters (271-150-27-33). They list for 28.50 and trademotion has them for $22.23. The cam sensors are also cheap (271-051-01-77), $37.50 each list price or $29.25 discounted.

capt_paul

I would show you the invoice but I don't have a scanner. $58 each at FletcherJones Imports in Las Vegas; unfortunately the only MB dealer in town. I tried to look up online for cheaper part but search with part number wouldn't work for me. Anyways, going to the dealer on Monday to have the sensors and wires installed. Hopefully nothing more bad has happened.

Buellwinkle

Fletcher Jones is just one of many dealers that inflates their prices way beyond list price. Sometimes, knowning what list price is you can negotiate to list and if they don't, I've walked away and say nevermind, I can get online for half that price. Just do a google on trademotion mercedes, the first one that comes up is a dealer in Ft Lauderdale. While their discounts are minor, when you compare them against what some dealers are charging, it's a true bargain. I know I can go to Hoehn in Carlsbad, CA and pay list and it's on my way to my office so I typically buy from them. You can't reward dealers that rob customers by buying from them, it's just wrong. Same with my local Ford dealer, they also inflate prices way beyond list price.

AFhockey31

just found out today that mine need to be replaced... hope my non benz extended warranty covers this

LeifW

Okay, I'm a little confused. I looked at the pictures of the fixes for slammer111 and carson357. The wires looked like they're attached differently in the shots. Was one done incorrectly?

slammer111



carson357


Thanks,
Leif W.

Kristen

Its just tie-wraps, the techs that installed chose to tie-wrap them differently. Mine are tie-wrapped differently than both of those.

LeifW

Ah, okay. That would explain the difference.

Oh yes, Does anyone have a copy of the TSB regarding this problem?

Thanks,
Leif W.

Kristen

Just go into the dealer, most will have seen enough by now to know what you're talking about when you say "oil in cam sensor connector".

This is not an obscure problem the dealer will not know about, its becoming a common issue.

I do not think the FSB has been posted, I only saw it at the dealer when I was told it did not apply to my engine. I hope MB fixes the FSB to include all engine builds of the M271, installation of the isolation cables is only done if the engine build is on the FSB.

slammer111 as indicated had to request the cables be installed, since his engine build wasn't on the FSB. There's 20+ engine builds for the M271.

LeifW

Okay. I was hoping to read the TSB myself, but I'll just bring it up with the dealer. I checked my connectors yesterday. No leaks! I'm due for a service at the end of this month. I'm going to have the cables installed at that time. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Leif W.

AFhockey31

anyone forsee this as a future campaign issue??

mine isnt bad now, but id prefer not to dip into the extended warranty and pay anything if it may be covered in the future

Kristen

No. MB has known about this on the M111 for years and not fixed it.

You can wait till it leaks, and unless you check these every month, you won't notice till you like a L/qt of oil or your O2 sensors are fouled. By then, that 1L/qt of oil will have leaked into all the sensors and the ECU.

The repair is to replace the engine harness and O2 sensors IF NEEDED. Thus if everything appears to run fine after replacing the engine harness, they only clean the connectors of the sensors and ECU.

The oil remains in the sensors and ECU, and further down the road who knows what problems you'll encounter.

So you can cheap out on $60 and wait till oil is in a ton of sensors and the ECU, that MB won't replace, or you can spend $60 and 10 mins of your time and insure yourself against any problem.

If you bought the extended warranty for $2-3K, another $60 for peace-of-mind cannot hurt.

If that didn't work, think of it this way. If they do leak, and you're not checking it, the O2 sensors will slowly degrade their output causing the engine to run rich. Your gas mileage will increase and you'll probably spend that $60 on extra fuel costs and topping up on leaking oil.

Anyways, do as you wish, yet from someone who's suffered huge problems out of warranty due to this, I think you're taking an unnecessary risk

AFhockey31

oh i plan on getting this resolved quickly. i already have an appointment to get it looked at.

i just wondered if MB was eventually going to cover this..

Buellwinkle

Only if enough people bring it up to the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. Report it on their website http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/