The vehicle is at my Indy, I will be swapping the two injectors in the R350 with the GL tomorrow, as you know it has to be done there where the STAR is so the seriel # can be matched to ecu.

Since many on the forum fail to report back after they correct the problem, I will post when corrected additional steps to correct.

Have your Indy check crank and cam signals. My car shows engine speed on tach when cranking and on OBD. The same thing happened on my Jeep Liberty CRD and Ford 7.3 so I’ve been there before.

If the ecu doesn’t see expected cranking speed which is usually done at initial tickover by crank position sensor and then precision injection sequencing is taken over at once on start by cam signal to refine EXACT valve timing, then the high pressure control valve on the CP3 is left open, rail pressure doesn’t build as the fuel is bypassed. Please keep us informed.

Spent day at Indy, couldn't get car to start. Switched the front 2 injectors with the front 2 from my GL that I drove to the shop. The GL wouldn't start and the R wouldn't start. Swapped injectors back and GL started right up. So we are thinking injectors, and more than the 2 that were swapped. I have a line on some used at very good price with guarantee. Should be here next week. Here's the thing, I had the car there two weeks ago for the issue, with it running, and the STAR had no indication of injector problems, nor any other fuel delivery issue and didnt it indicate a problem today, regardless of running or not. Both cars when not starting show same low pressure psi, and the GL when starting had same psi and STAR couldn't capture psi at start.

Joe, forgot to mention i just replaced the timing chain week and half ago, heard the sound on start up. The tensioner wasn't fully extended as viewed from the oil fill but since I'm expecting another 100k miles out of this car, I thought it prudent andcouldn't hurt, it might even, as you thought, solve the problem.....It didn't. Same as before on hard starting and occasional stumbling, but it did improve other performance measures and how I knew the compressions were all consistent within range.

Well keep us posted. So did you see a cranking rpm when attempting to start or not...agree now injectors are likely but..just saying, especially with this new news of a cam chain swap, I’d sure as heck wanna see crank position trigger and cam position trigger working.

Ok gentlemen, I think this problem is solved to a very large degree. I received the injectors in mail today and immediately drove to my Indy and installed and programmed all six. After a couple of cranks to bleed line and SHAZAMM, it started. Turned off and started with no hesitation, then restarted and quite a bit of smoking and the burning smell of all the crap in the cylinders and probably soot from 2 months of runing with 2 really fouled injectors. Eventually the smoke cleared from exhaust and the firing up on start is immediate and strong. The LP psi is at 76psi, at start it briefly hits 233psi the fires and goest to 4K+. So the hard starting issue is solved with six used but bench tested injectors at a cost of $600 delivered and $200 for the few hours of my indys time to program the injectors and help problems solve, not to mention allowing me to do my own removal and installation and the storage of my non running vehicle. Total cost $850.

Now the bad news and new problem, the DPF regen frequency CEL if popping of every 15 to 20 miles. I hope this will clear after a few more high runs with regenerations to clear any buildup. I notice there is a little "chugging" at low speed a few times but it starts fast and runs very well. My Indy is a liqui molly shop with the spray can and can do the DPF but we did this month ago when I had the bad injector, hard starting problem, and it didn't help at all. I'm thinking that I'll give it a chance to clear on this tank of fuel and if it doesn't stop throwing a CEL, we'll do another L-M treatment. If it fails, I'm either deleting DPF of getting another car and selling this one.

Amen! I think it’s working on clearing the dpf , engine is running better each day and the CEL for dpf frequency is stretching out few miles after each reset..

I hope this has helped anyone with the hard starting diesel, where it takes several cranking cycles before actually firing up the motor. What sucked is that nowhere, no how did it show on any diagnostic tool including the dealer STAR device.

As a full time diagnostic guy and dyno tuner of motorcycles exotic, I run into this same issue CONSTANTLY. Just last week a bike with 2 totally dead stick coils and one firing intermittently at best...NOTHING using dealer diagnostic or our third party software indicating a failure of any sort. Needless to say strapped on dyno my infrared thermometer and spray bottle told no such lies. Replaced all four coils...ran perfectly afterwards. Bottom line, no matter what level diagnostic tools you have access too, they border on useless for some things and priceless on others. If my new brakes, pads, wear sensors, and ABS sensors ever arrive I’ll be hooked back up to iCarSoft on my W211...oh, steering angle sensor while there since it seems to be a recurring fault, will trying cleaning and re teaching first but if that doesn’t do it, another $170 is getting thrown at it, simply gotta have my cruise control back eventually and with ESC fault it hasn’t worked for 2 years and 45k miles now.

My my thoughts are pretty irrelevant on a lot of these things however, I’m the idiot that bought a very nice 04 Audi A8L yesterday with nothing apparently wrong with it and AudiUSA verified service history with 151k miles on it for $3k. I needed that car like I need to get shot again, something about the big über sedans though, and access to the full 4.2 TDI swap kit....

Never. I’ve lived a charmed life and there have been points that if not for bad luck I’d have had none at all. Poor life decisions have consequences, you either die or learn from your choices.

I thought I would give another update on the replacement injectors and recent DPF regen frequency CEL/DTC. I posted the DPF story in another post today with the details of the shops actions so I won't rehash that. The shop had a drop-off DPF baking/cleaning service for $450. I now have a clean DPF, quick starting and zippier running 2010 R350BT. I just put the DPF on today but didn't have time to readapt a clean dpf to ecu, if it's even needed, but will do on Monday. I will update again as I see if the oil consumption and poor mpg are abated and the vehicle starts to perform like my 08 gl320 and the 08 r320 it replace. My gl320 just recorded 23mpg as a combined city/highway, and it has 284k miles on it, original timing chain, DPF, turbo. Problems with it were oil seal, duh, and the torque converter issue. It's amazing how well the interiors and ride hold up. This R350bt has been a disappointment so far, mechanically, but if I have solved it's issues, it's interior and ride are exceptional and at 172k now, I expect another 172k as a minimum. But any of the oil consumption and poor mpg, this vehicle will be for sale, even with a new TC, DPF, and injectors, and I will be trying a glk250bt. For the. First time.