Hi,
am new to the forum, but maybe someone could help me.

I have my 2003 - C320 coupe at my local dealer for service today (the A-service). When I picked it up, I drove for 10 min when the lamp for High oil level went on. Turned back to the dealer, and half why there the "check engine" light went on.

At the dealership they took it in and sucked some of the oil out, and said it was nothing to worry about. Got the keys and drove from the dealer. After 100 meters, the "check engine" light went on, and lots of smoke came out from the exhaust pipe.

Stoped the car and ran back to the dealer. They picked it up and drove it back to the service center. Hooked the "data reader" up, getting error codes for ME-SFI 2.8 - Motor electronics 2.8. The error codes where P2050, 2051 and 2052 (all Misfiring, Damages DWC (see currently valid STIP) (P0300, P0301 and P0304). After having the car at the dealer with the engine on for 10-15 min it was still smoking alot.

Can anyone tell me what this means, and advice me what I should demand from the dealer? My understanding is that it is caused by them filling up too much oil in the engine, but what damages can be caused? Are damages common (e.g. how much does it take to damage the 3 way cat?) and what parts should I demand them to replace/extend the waranty on?

All your responses are welcome!

Thanks in advance

CJ

 

Wow.
You say dealer. An MB main dealer? Where do you live
?
Basically the engine oil has been overfilled. MB engines are sensitive to this and therefore even have a warning system for overfill.
This system sometimes malfunctions but on this occasion I don't think this is the case.
Excess oil (no excuse on the part of the dealer) can do quite a bit of damage to seals, gaskets etc but the cats / O2 saensors are the biggest problem. They don't like oil (sulphur) and they are VERY expensive to replace.
Action to take is to ensure you have the problem documented and witnessed. Your problems may not show up for some time.
Get the oil level reduced, reset the codes....if they won't reset then they are indicating the sort of damage already sustained....and run the car for a while.
dependent upon where you live insist it goes to a real MB dealer.
Ensure that you have no oil leaks and that the emmissions are OK....not just OK but well in spec. If not then start demanding new cats etc.
ENSURE you get it documented and witnessed!!

I suspect that your dealer is not an MB dealer. There are wise to this problem

Stuart

 

Thanks.

No it was the locat MB dealer in Kitchener, ON, Canada (Victoria Motor)..... It is just great, because they bill you per liter of oil, so ofcause the fill it up... Was a long time since I was that angry.

So you mean that the error codes will remain in the "history" even thou they remove the surplus oil. When I spoke to them, they said that the only way of getting the oil out of the system was to drive, but I did not think that was on option to drive a smoking car, with the engine light on - what if something happened?

For gaskets etc, how much oil does it take to damage them (does the oil stay on the gascets for a while even after they have lovered the oil level)? My intention is that they will write a guarantee where they take responsibility for future damages that could have been caused by this, but maybe I should tell them to replace the cat/o2 sensor instead. I is like you say, it can take some time before the error is noticed. The only thing I am sure of is that this is not extending the life of the engine!

Carl

 

Well it looks as they are incompetent.

If they were competent they should be falling over themselves and offering to do all that i have suggested at zero cost to yourself including peace of mind.

The gaskets etc give trouble because the pressure in the crankcase can cause them to rupture and then leak.
If you only drove the car a limited amount before the oil was removed it is unlikely that any real damage has been done here.

The codes in the memory remain until they are cleared either automatically (not all) or by reset. If however the fault remains the fault code DTC will reappear again even after it is forcibly reset.

If oil has gone down the exhaust the only way to clear it will be to either wash out the exhaust....got no experience on this....or run it till it no longer smokes. The problem is that the sulphur in the oil poisons the catalyst and it will no longer work as it should. That is why I say get the emmission levels checked and be somewhat critical of the results.

Good luck,

Keep us informed.

Stuart

 

Thanks. I will keep you posted.... I will see what they offer, but I think I will have to fight for it... From what they said, the only way was to drive it until it stoped smoking. However replacing the o2 sensor or the cat is expensive, and I doubt they will do that without me having to fight for them to do so.

CJ

 

The P2050,51, and 52 codes say that there was a redundant injector with open, low, and no connect (wow) happening, and the P0300, P0301, and P0304 say that you have had misfires in the number 1 and 4 cylinders.

I would make a point of getting the codes noted at the dealership, put this is writing as to what happened, and keep it. You may have had oil blow back into an injector or two - I had this same thing happen with a race motor (331ci Ford motor- sorry all), overfilled the crank (bad counting), and put oil into a cylinder through the blowby in the ring and back through an injector. Needed to replace the injector(s) fairly soon, and I would keep an eye on the O2 sensors as well.

Good luck,

Andrew

 

Thanks

what does this mean? "redundant injector with open, low, and no connect (wow) happening, and the P0300, P0301, and P0304 say that you have had misfires in the number 1 and 4 cylinders." I am not an engineer....

The MB dealer called today and said "everything is ok". I said how do you know, he said because it drives ok and the sparkplugs looks ok. The only thing they changed was the oil level meter. He had not even done an emission test.

I told him that he had to take it for an emission test, and we would go from there. Would I be able to tell from that Test if the O2 sensors etc would be damaged/close to not working properly? How do I know that I do not need to replace the (fuel?) injectors and is this something that will show soon if need be?

Its sad because I like the car, but MB is not doing their job right now...

Thanks

 

Redundant injector circuit - there are two circuits that fire some injectors - you should get the car scanned out if the check engine light comes on again -

The P0300 is a misfire code
P0301 says a misfire has occured in cylinder 1 etc

O2 sensors are susceptible to contamination - blow by and oil can cause one to go bad fast - simple replacement, but still a hundred dollar part (each) - make sure that the dealership knows that you have had an oil overfill so they do not charge you if your O2 sensor goes bad (if it does - may not - all of the newer ones have heaters to help clean the sense element). An emmisions test would probably reveal nothing at this point, if there was contamination on the element, it would shorten the life of the sensor, but would not cause an immediate failure - they get "weak" over time.

I have had nothing but positive esperience with my dealers - MB is a great company and tends to have good dealer service. You should put your experience in writing to the dealer and to MB - they should cover you - they are great to me.

Andrew

 

Thanks,

just spoke to the dealer. The emmission test did not show any damages to the system (the value was 3, with the limit 150). Guess that is a good thing. The dealer would write a letter documenting what happened.

Think the only thing is to get the car and drive, to hope that nothing will go wrong... Any comments?

Thanks for all advice!

 

If one thinks positively all may be OK.
If some damage has been done this will not cause the car to let you down. It will just manifest itself as an oil leak etc or possibly in the worse case a failed emmission test.
If the yellow engine light comes on again straight back to the dealer but this COULD come on for non related reasons.
I guess all may well settle down and this has just been an unfortunate event.

Get the incident documented and of course I would expect the charge for the oil change to be waived under the circumstances under the heading of good relations.

We are all human and unfortunately these sort of things can and do happen. It wasn't (I assume) in anyway premeditated.

As the garage says drive away and hope that that is the end of it.

Any damage which POSSIBLY could have been done is of course repairable when and if it manifests itself. It is purely a matter of who pays.

Stuart