2013 e350 oil in wire harness m276
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
I did replace all 4 magnets and all 4 position sensors and stuck a QTip in the plugs on both sides of old ones and connectors and they came out clean. But I just learned yesterday that in 2019 just before I bought my 2013 S550 from a dealership in January 2020, the previous owner had it at the dealer where I bought it and they had to replace the harness, 02 sensors, injectors, computer, pretty much everything was shot from the oil that got into the harness. I'm guessing thats why the guy traded it in and then a few months later I bought it from the dealer. So I'm now in talks with the dealer of what we're going to do to prevent this from happening again because aparently Mercedes Benz didn't make any precautionary measures to prevent this on the M278 engine. They did make pigtails for many other engine Models 164, 171, 203, 204, 207, 209, 211, 212, 216, 219, 221, 230, 251, 463, 272 and 273 but not for the M278. They knew this happened on my car just before I bought it from them and they said nothing about it or warned me it'll happen again. I'm pissed and may be looking into the Lemon Law unless they can come up with a precautionary measure for the M278.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
Hello forum contributors.
In the spirit of the e550 oil in wire harness posting from last year, I want to inform everyone that I discovered oil in my wire harness for the m276 engine.
During the recent preventative camshaft sensor replacement job that I did in January, I noticed that there was some residual oil in the connector of the camshaft sensors and at the ECM connector. Thought that was an odd find and proceeded to clean the connectors with contact cleaner and reassemble. Never had any codes.
A few weeks later, I stumbled upon the service campaign 2012070002 and noticed that the camshaft solenoids were affected on other engines but not the m276.
https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...2012070002.pdf
So, I checked my camshaft solenoids and discovered residual oil, as well, and replaced all four with new.
By the way, the part numbers for the solenoids and sensors have been superseded. Which leads me to believe that there have been design revisions to the part.
I have reported this to NHTSA and MB USA and requested that they increase the affected engine model numbers for service campaign 2012070002. MB USA gave me a weak reply to the effect that I had to bring it in to a dealership to have it official documented. Never did that. However, I was speaking with the shop supervisor two week ago at one of our local MB dealerships about the oil in harness and he shared with me that they had a m276 in the shop right now for the same problem. They have implemented checking the ECM harness as a proactive inspection.
Check your harness if you have a m276 engine and report it to MB USA and NHTSA as soon as possible.
Thank you for reading this thread.
Roger
In the spirit of the e550 oil in wire harness posting from last year, I want to inform everyone that I discovered oil in my wire harness for the m276 engine.
During the recent preventative camshaft sensor replacement job that I did in January, I noticed that there was some residual oil in the connector of the camshaft sensors and at the ECM connector. Thought that was an odd find and proceeded to clean the connectors with contact cleaner and reassemble. Never had any codes.
A few weeks later, I stumbled upon the service campaign 2012070002 and noticed that the camshaft solenoids were affected on other engines but not the m276.
https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...2012070002.pdf
So, I checked my camshaft solenoids and discovered residual oil, as well, and replaced all four with new.
By the way, the part numbers for the solenoids and sensors have been superseded. Which leads me to believe that there have been design revisions to the part.
I have reported this to NHTSA and MB USA and requested that they increase the affected engine model numbers for service campaign 2012070002. MB USA gave me a weak reply to the effect that I had to bring it in to a dealership to have it official documented. Never did that. However, I was speaking with the shop supervisor two week ago at one of our local MB dealerships about the oil in harness and he shared with me that they had a m276 in the shop right now for the same problem. They have implemented checking the ECM harness as a proactive inspection.
Check your harness if you have a m276 engine and report it to MB USA and NHTSA as soon as possible.
Thank you for reading this thread.
Roger
Last edited by s550hollywood; Nov 4, 2022 at 10:08 PM.
Member
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 169
Likes: 76
2013 E550 sedan
How do I report the oil in harness issue to NHTSA? This happened on my 2013 S550 with the M278 engine a few months before I bought it from the dealer that dealt with and repaired it. They then sold me the car and never said a word about it. Now they are telling me there is no fix for my car to prevent it but they mentioned they will look into it. I figure it'd might be best to file a report to help them look into it. There were several dealers who told me this was not a problem with the M278 in my car but yesterday I learned it happened to mine just before they sold it to me. I bought the car with 68k miles and the work was performed 3 months earlier so that gives an idea of when it happened mileage wise.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
My M278 had this issue, but from what I've read the "new" whole harness replacement, which was actually just the wiring harness for MY '16, fixed the problem. Mine was done with this updated harness, and I don't worry anymore. Sounds like yours was done late enough (by the dealer, as was mine) that you don't need to be chasing this non-existent ghost at all... There's plenty of other things you might want to chase on your M278 S class, say the timing chain and tensioners leak down, for example... Enjoy the ride, I'm sure you got it for a great deal less than the first owner paid...
Member
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 169
Likes: 76
2013 E550 sedan
Member
Joined: Dec 2021
Posts: 144
Likes: 72
From: Calverton MD 20705
2013 W212 E350 RWD
I did replace all 4 magnets and all 4 position sensors and stuck a QTip in the plugs on both sides of old ones and connectors and they came out clean. But I just learned yesterday that in 2019 just before I bought my 2013 S550 from a dealership in January 2020, the previous owner had it at the dealer where I bought it and they had to replace the harness, 02 sensors, injectors, computer, pretty much everything was shot from the oil that got into the harness. I'm guessing thats why the guy traded it in and then a few months later I bought it from the dealer. So I'm now in talks with the dealer of what we're going to do to prevent this from happening again because aparently Mercedes Benz didn't make any precautionary measures to prevent this on the M278 engine. They did make pigtails for many other engine Models 164, 171, 203, 204, 207, 209, 211, 212, 216, 219, 221, 230, 251, 463, 272 and 273 but not for the M278. They knew this happened on my car just before I bought it from them and they said nothing about it or warned me it'll happen again. I'm pissed and may be looking into the Lemon Law unless they can come up with a precautionary measure for the M278.
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 253
Likes: 72
From: USA
2013 s550
I got to thinking since so many are having to deal with this issue which Mercedes Benz Germany should have fixed long ago, we should start filing complaints with Germany’s transport ministry to force a recall. Complaining to dealerships in America and the NTSB does absolutely nothing and when I hear dealership management telling me this is not a widespread issue or it didn't happen on certain models or that certain parts are not failing when we all read or experience the horror stories ourselves and vent on these forums of it happening to our cars, Germany is the best authority to reach out to since Mercedes Benz is headquarter there. Here is the contact form to file a complaint with Germany’s transport ministry. Mercedes Benz made the pigtail harness to address the cam magnets leaking oil into the harness on older engines but they've done nothing to address the same exact issue of cam sensors and cam magnets on the M278 which is just wrong.
Go here and file complaint, tell them what model engine you have and tell them if your cam sensors and cam magnets are leaking oil into the main wiring harness on your car. This needs to be addressed by the manufacturer as its a manufacturing defect.
https://www.kba.de/SiteGlobals/Forms...tml?nn=3825088
Go here and file complaint, tell them what model engine you have and tell them if your cam sensors and cam magnets are leaking oil into the main wiring harness on your car. This needs to be addressed by the manufacturer as its a manufacturing defect.
https://www.kba.de/SiteGlobals/Forms...tml?nn=3825088
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 214
Likes: 66
From: SoCal
2020 E450 4matic wagon
... NTSB ...
Go here and file complaint, tell them what model engine you have and tell them if your cam sensors and cam magnets are leaking oil into the main wiring harness on your car. This needs to be addressed by the manufacturer as its a manufacturing defect.
https://www.kba.de/SiteGlobals/Forms...tml?nn=3825088
Go here and file complaint, tell them what model engine you have and tell them if your cam sensors and cam magnets are leaking oil into the main wiring harness on your car. This needs to be addressed by the manufacturer as its a manufacturing defect.
https://www.kba.de/SiteGlobals/Forms...tml?nn=3825088
