Glyn M Ruck

There was a factory bulletin but it was kept very quiet for obvious reasons. We had a family car that had 3 new heads. Early 2004 car. Our dealer kept replacing the head with the old design one because MBSA had not distributed the bulletin. @ssh----XX@%@!!

I must say in SA since 2005 the M271 has been pretty darn reliable apart from a few cam chains & tensioners failing & the odd cam magnet leak.

derecklouthood

does anyone know the best site to get o2 sensors for both of.. dealer quoted me 900 for 2 of them.. out of their god damn

derecklouthood

bump

ncmudbug

I would try rmeuropean.com

amanonfire

Any US site is going to be much cheaper than anywhere in Canada. I share your pain living north of the border - don't ask the stealership what they want for a new MAF - you'll cry.

derecklouthood

Yeah i got quoted 2800 for the o2(both), cps, prevention plugs and wireharness with labour.

The garage is optomistic that the ecu it still intact, i'm just scared that i'm going to dish out this cash, then once they start taking things apart, it's gonna cost me another air mass, maf or a big list of other things.


you guys have any input on this?

amanonfire

https://mbworld.org/forums/5025156-post10.html

$210 and you're good to go. Anyone can do this, no need to have a shop do it.

aobnitas

I'm afraid that this might be a stupid question...

The Oil in Harness, Cam Sensor Leak issue does happen to C320 (M112) as well?

jnjrowland

I am pretty sure that this is unique to the 1.8 engine. I have never read or heard anything about this particular 'design feature' on any of the other MB engines.

Boom vang

Actually this situation does not happen to any of our engines you must be mistaken...according to MB Canada

samaritrey

Well in the USA you never have to change your transmission fluid strange how in ROW it is every 39K

amanonfire

It happens to the M111 (2.3L) engine and is more catastrophic as the oil leaks primarily into the ECU until in the M271 where it leaks primarily down to the O2 sensors.

Its also been found to happen on many MB engines, including the M-class. On some the leak is not as bad due to the orientation of the cam sensors. On ours gravity helps as the connector is pointed down.

derecklouthood

Just found a new harness from Tehcnician off mbworld for 215 shipped... So i saved myself a feew bucks there...

Now they showed thermostat issues... could this possibly ruin the motor if it was open as stated when it is defective??

LILBENZ230

It's not good for the engine not to be able to reach optimum temp but it's not engine-ruining right away. Still, cheap fix.. get it done.

derecklouthood

Well i think ti's fine but i'm going to have they look at it when they replace my harness next week.

My temp is always never pass 80, or half way mark, and heat works fine...

when i'ts minus 30 it's understandable it could take a little longer

LILBENZ230

It should be above 80. Proper temp is between 87-90. Heat working makes no difference. If it never passes 80 it has absolutely malfunctioned and stuck open and must be fixed.

derecklouthood

well it starts off at 0, and moves it way up.. it's not stuck on 80 it does go past,, but never at the top...

derecklouthood

Just wanted to leave a note.

If anyone is in Ottawa, Ontario (CAD), I took my car to have the wire harness changed along with some seals.. Great job, had my car back and everything.

It was Young Street Garage in Ottawa. Great shop, Great Service.

Kurt is the one who helped me out.

amanonfire

I wish I had seen this before, I would have recommended going to Four Seasons Auto Service. They used to be right behind the Mercedes dealership off Hunt Club, and are now off Merivale.

Hatchman

Got oil in my harness, cam sensor leaking, both of them

Called up my dealer and my 2005 had been added to the 2009100001 campaign.

It's going to take two weeks until they can get me in, but at least it will be free.

SunnyRayToronto

Just a thought,....

I'm wondering does anyone know how these cam magnet sensors actually work? Are they there to just sense the speed of the cam spinning? Or the position of the camshaft going towards the front or back relative to engine.

I mean it's not like the Crankshaft Position Sensor that sense the teeth of the of the crankshaft,.... and thus have an idea of the speed. The part of the camshaft that the cam magnet sensors surround is a perfect hollow cylinder without any tooth,... thus it would be difficult for the cam magnet sensor to pick up the speed of the camshaft. But the camshaft does move forward and backward relative to the engine,... relatively freely,.... if that's the case, then the cam magnet sensor would just pick up how deep the camshaft is into the the cam magnet sensor,... and it really wouldn't matter which way its connector points,..... notice the two cam magnet sensor are interchangeable,... even though they point differently, there isn't one specifically designed for driver side and another one specifically designed for passenger side.

The reason I'm wondering,.... since the oil leaks out from the connectors of the cam magnet sensor,.... and those connectors are pointed down at the 4:30 location for the driver side cam magnet sensor,.... and pointed down at the 7:30 location for the passenger side cam magnet sensor,.... and since these cam magnet sensors are bolted on using 3 bolts spread out evenly,..... it's very simple to just rotate these cam magnet sensors such that the connectors will point straight up at 12:00. And when the oil seal at the connectors get weaken over time or mileage,... then gravity is your friend,... and the oil should not be leaking out the connector,... or if it does, then the amount of oil leaking out would be minimized,... especially compared to what's happening now with the cam magnet sensors pointed downward at 4:30 and 7:30 position.

Has anyone installed their cam magnet sensor with the connectors pointed straight up at 12:00?

SunnyRayToronto

Risk for my above suggestion of having the cam magnet sensors point straight up,... is that it'll encourage water to get into the plug,... remember its right in front of the engine where spray of water can get into the engine bay. Even though the plug has rubber seals,... well, if oil can leak out, water can leak in!

SunnyRayToronto

Ok,... we all know that the cam magnet sensor will leak eventually,... even the newly replaced cam magnet sensor will leak oil,... eventually,.... Personally, I always hated the idea of that pig tail extension wire being bunched up over the belt,... and leaking oil onto the belt which will also flick oil all over the engine bay.

Being totally ****,... my solution was to get two sets of pig tail extension wires (aka adapter cables, isolation wires Mercedes Bens part#: 271-150-27-33 (271-150-27-33-05)). Instead of using just one per cam magnet sensor,... I used two per cam magnet sensor and join them in series,.... that way the extra long pig tail extension wire will loop around that fabric air intake guide. From the cam magnet sensor plug, the extra long pig tail extension wire goes UNDER the fabric air intake then then loop over the top of it before it connects to the main wiring harness. This way if oil leaks from the cam magnet sensor,... the oil will drip off the lowest point of the extra long pig tail extension wire which is directly below the fabric air intake guide,.... and over a completely rubber covered air buffler. A much better option than having oil leak onto the belt.

jcnash

Hi all....so I was doing al oil change on my car today, and found oil leaking near the front of the engine. Sure enough its the cam sensor leak. Theres quite a bit of oil leaking from the bottom joint where the cam sensor body shroud meets the engine and theres also a bunch of oil in the brown connector where the harness is connected. Upon unplugging the harness from the brown connector, I found a bunch of oil in the harness terminals as well...and flowing down the harness loom.

I havent seen any mechanical symptoms so far...no loss of power, engine stalling etc.

What should my next steps be? Replace the cam sensor and get the pigtail loom that MB sells as a fix? Replace only the pigtail loom and let the cam sensor be as is? Any other checks I should perform?

From reading other threads, it seems the original cam sensor and the new one that replaces it are built exactly the same? So how will replacing it shop the leaks?

Im confused...any help or info is much appreciated.

Cheers!

jcnash

SunnRay...I think this answered one of my questions in my previous post. Is that because of a design flaw? You would think that now that MB knows the problem, theyd find a way to design around it.

So if the new cam sensor is going to leak eventually, whats the point of replacing the one thats leaking now? It makes sense to add the pigtail loom...to stop the oil from getting to the ECU etc., but why replace the cam sensor?