Hi,

I own a 2014 E250 2.0 petrol M274. The car has only done 15000 miles but due to partial service history it is not covered under warranty.

The check engine light came on and the car had delayed starting. I took it round to the mechanic who told me that the camshaft sprockets needed to be replaced which I duly got changed however the problem still persists.

Now he is saying that the chain may have stretched. The parts are not even available at the local mercedes dealership and I am having to wait for 1 month for the parts to arrive directly from Germany. Has anybody else had this kind of problem at such low mileage. The car has no drive problems just delayed start.

The exact error message is as follows:

P001685- The position of the intake camshaft (cylinder bank 1) is implausible relative to the position of the crankshaft. There is a signal above the permissible limit value.

any help would be much appreciated!

I would take it to a dealer and have them put it to computer. It is very hard to believe 2014 e250 has problem like it. The car is rock solid generally.

Well the dealership here is good for nothing. They require 1 month time for the tensioner and timing chain that pretty much sums how good they are.

The error message posted in my initial message is the actual diagnosis done by the dealership. Just wanted to know if someone has had a similar problem on this model so atleast I can be sure what the problem is. I have replaced sprockets and tensioner and now looking for a timing chain personally as nobody seems to stock it.

Thanks

can you elaborate more on this?

this problem is most likely caused by low/old engine oil. what happened prior to CEL?

All the services have to be done by Gargash the main dealer of mercedes for the warranty to stay intact but the guy i bought it off owned a garage so he did the services himself hence the dealer is not treating this repair as a valid warranty claim.

Yes i have been told that this is most probably caused by poor quality engine oil. I am hoping that changing the timing chain will resolve the matter.

Prior to CEL the car started missing a bit and the next day CEL appeared and it started to take longer than usual to start. After getting the sprockets replaced the car is back to its normal seld and drives perfectly however the CEL is still there and the delayed starting problem is still there.

Thanks

has anyone suggested replacing the solenoids? i may be wrong and dont quote me on this but these things (solenoids) should go first before the sprockets or the chain.

EDIT, so im guessing the warranty, how ever long it has left, is already null and void coz of what the previous owner did?

Don't all new Mercedes vehicles come with at least the 1st maintenance included ? I don't understand how vehicles have these problems so early.

Good luck and i hope you get your car up and running.

i thought M274 are petrol/gasoline engines.

I stand corrected. I just saw the E 250 part, i shall retract.

^all good, no harm done.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the timing chain is stretched after only 15000 miles. That chain will probably NEVER stretch unless it runs un-lubricated wearing the pins and if that would happen there would be some other engine parts failing from lack of oil before that.


If there is a cam shaft position error I would look into the position sensor first.

What happens is the tone ring on the camshaft shifts the parking pin in the phaser rounds off inside the sprocket the chain stretches and the tensioner gos bad can be caused by a bad alternator pulley or oil pump solenoid going bad