Ninjadom

Hi guys,

I'm brand new to the forum. I only signed up last week.

On Saturday 15th, I travelled 140 miles to buy a lovely C63 AMG, late 2011. It has the facelift, the colour dashboard/instrument cluster and seemed very clean with a full service history, 2 year warranty. 83,000 miles.

Test drive and demonstration went absolutely smoothly and I bought the car.

Now I noticed that the car was using Reserve Fuel and I knew that it wouldn't make the 140 mile journey home so I filled up at the closest petrol/gas station. Now they only had two pumps, Unleaded & Diesel. So, of course, I used Unleaded (95 RON).

On my drive home I noticed the Yellow Engine Light was on. So I stopped and called the dealer. I was about 60 miles away. The dealer had closed after my sale but answered the phone and said it's probably the fuel I put in, drive it home and call the warranty company on Monday.

The car drove perfectly, with the Yellow Engine Light on. No loss of performance, or strange noises at all, no warning messages. The car got me home, but all weekend the light has persisted to stay on.
I'm booked into my local mechanic on Thursday, but not being able to drive my sexy 'new' car is so disappointing. I've also ordered an OBD 2 scanner to see if I can diagnose before Thursday.

Anybody got any thoughts on what it could be?

skratch77

Could be anything from them clearing codes before you biught the car to open gas cap.

Ninjadom

I’ve totally retraced my steps from buying the car. Opening and closing the hood/bonnet lid. Tightening and unscrewing and re-tightening the gas cap.

atikovi

There are thousands of OBD2 codes so until you get the scanner, anything is just a guess. Was the car from a Mercedes dealer with a CPO warranty? If not, I might assume it only covers internal engine problems and these repairs are on you. Many sellers will reset the CEL and it will stay off for the few miles of a test drive but will come back on after you buy it and drive it more.

Ninjadom

Thanks for that. No it was a secondhand "luxury" car dealer. The warranty is with a third party company called 'Handler Protect'. They've told me to take it to any local mechanic/garage and get the car assessed. Luckily they cover for...

atikovi

The CEL is rarely for a hard part or else you would notice it on a test drive, like an engine miss, rod or bearing knock or timing chain noise. More likely an emission problem like the EVAP system which can be a pain to diagnose and expensive to repair if the parts are hard to reach.

Ninjadom

Update: I plugged in the OBD 2 scanner and got two errors.

P2187 & P2189.

I believe it was the 95 RON fuel I put in when I bought the car. I’ve run it down to halfway and refilled up with 99 RON. Gonna put some octane boosters in too.

I hope there’s no long term damage. My OBD 2 scanner can’t clear the codes. It fails when it attempts to do it.

roadkillrob

Those are lean codes both banks, quality of fuel should not matter for AFR, mostly likely suspect is the intake manifold leaking air at the seals, happens to all these cars eventually - betting they cleaned them and then they cam back after you drove for a while and now they can make the warranty company pay for it.

Ninjadom

Is that a big job to fix?

BLKROKT

Not really. Just removing the manifold and replacing the gaskets. Book labor is probably 4hrs, parts are <$100.

If it’s the manifold itself that is leaking due to a crack, well that’s expensive.

Ninjadom

Thanks.

I feel like I've been conned. Is it worth finding another OBD scanner and attempt to clear the codes before seeing if they come back?

Really hope to isn't the manifold itself. Looking at the online car parts stores, the manifold itself is out of stock everywhere. I can tell this is gonna be draining for me.

Warranty company will charge me a 40% repair contribution due to the car being over 80,000 miles. Plus a charge to make the claim in the first place.

BLKROKT

Welcome to AMG life

Ninjadom

I wouldn't mind if I'd had the car a while but I only bought the car on Saturday...from a dealership.

Aaaah!

fflmlf

Where are you located? Depending on the country, you have implied warranty and can hold the selling dealer accountable for fixing the car. Agree with previous post, they likely cleared the codes and made it your problem.

Ninjadom

I'm in the UK.

Odd thing is the car was only serviced less than a month ago (I have the invoice). Air filter, oil filter and oil change. In car computer says that the B Service is due in 350 days.

roadkillrob

So the simple things first, if it was just serviced, check the air filters are on right and the clamps to the rubber thing behind the airboxes are tight and not leaking. Lean means air getting in after the MAF's. Next step to see if the intake manifold is leaking externally either with a smoke test or some people spray carb cleaner around the gaskets - I like to use a propane torch unlit to just add a little propane around the gaskets to see if idle changes, a little safer than carb cleaner which can ignite if you get it on the exhaust.

To clear codes, you will need something like an icarsoft or foxwell mercedes specific scantool.

Celicasaur

Did you buy it from Bradford or somewhere like that?

Anyway, I'm pretty sure you have 30 days of 'Lemon Law' protection when you buy from a dealer in the UK. Look into it...you might be able to get a refund.

Ninjadom

Not Bradford, Birmingham. A dealer though, not private sale. I did look into the rules of getting a refund so I'll keep an eye on how the car performs.

Interesting update...Got a second OBD reader and plugged it in. It threw up the same two codes, P2187 & P2189.

I tried to reset the codes, the OBD reader gave an error and said codes could not be reset. Started the car, yellow engine light goes out. It doesn't stay on. Ran the car for 15 minutes, just stationary. I didn't drive anywhere as I couldn't leave the house. Car sat idling fine. So far, the yellow engine light hasn't come back on. Strange...but good, I suppose.

Another quick question, my C63 is the 125 model, it has a USB port in one of the compartments but that port doesn't seem to charge an iPhone. It starts charging then stops. Any ideas?

Celicasaur

Damnit, I first typed Birmingham, but deleted it and kept it to Bradford.

For what it's worth, it probably isn't anything sinister (ie lean enough to actually do any damage) but I think on principle, if they've tried to screw you, then that's not cool. Could be plain bad luck though....more investigation will be needed.

Keep us posted and good luck with the issue/the car.

roadkillrob

Generally clearing the codes will just cause it to come back after you drive a bit so wait and see

TPete19

When my IM gaskets were leaking I got P0171 and P0174 codes. While your codes may be indicating a similar issue, I wouldn't start throwing parts there without confirming that it is the issue.

Lean could be too either much air, or not enough fuel. I would start with checking the intake system from filters back and making sure everything is installed correctly and not leaking any unmetered air. Then I'd clean the MAF sensors. After that, smoke test (or spraying around with carb cleaner) to look for air and vacuum leaks. Someone on the BenzWorld forums solved it with a new fuel filter and new MAFs, while another found a cracked intake manifold.

Here's a thread from the w203 forum with some potential solutions (despite being a different engine): https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/454463-fault-codes-p2187-p2189.html.

Dogtag114

with the reader, what are your long term fuel trims?

I have had manifold leak errors that I've cleared years ago and never returned.

Ninjadom

Update: So it’s been over 24 hours. Today I’ve driven about 10 miles. No engine light. So far, so good. Tomorrow is the test, I’ll be doing about 50 miles or more tomorrow.

Ninjadom

Too good to be true. Engine light came back on after 25 miles today. I’m now booked in to get it seen on Wednesday.

Slow_c63

iTrader: (1)

have you tried any of the above suggestions? All good?