Need Help! Car engine keep dying...

[Zegna]

Does anyone faced this problem before? Engine keep dying every 2-3 mins after restart. Already restarted like 7-8 times after driving out of carpark, and now don't dare to do it anymore, drove back to carpark. Engine warning light lit up the whole time. But no warning message that says engine oil low.

 

Left the car 4 days in carpark, went overseas for short vacation, come back faced this problem... Car is W204 oldest model. Car just had 60K servicing 2 months ago, very strange something like that happen. Is this common for W204?

 

Now car cannot even drive to workshop. Would appreciate if can recommend me affordable towing services as well. Thank you for any advice!

[Sinnedmal]

I had same experience but just my guess it might be the fuel pump issue. Wats ur mileage and have u ever change your fuel pump.

[Khel]

check ignition coil

 

googled Island Recovery Services 9182 8211

[Zegna]

Thanks gents for your reply. The engine keep shutting down problem turned out to be a total nightmare.

 

It was diagnosed to be the engine controller unit electrical faulty though the error code pointed to crankshaft senor electrical fault. Waited an entire afternoon at the workshop only to find out entire singapore no stock, only one supplier has stock and jerked up price to over 40% more to around 3K just to replace this motherboard. I was told this is like one of those walking time-bomb common problem in the pre FL W204, other than the green-key problem. It beats me why Mercedes and CnC not activating recall since this is such a common problem resulting in country-wide shortage of parts and posing an even greater concern on safety. Imagine driving on 1st lane on expressway and suddenly engine shut down... @##%@^@  

[Zegna]

And worst, CnC don't even bother to keep stock since its such a common problem. Told me it is at least a 10 days wait if germany got stock or might take a few months if no stock.... blood boil...

[Darkseid]

Common problem bro. I replaced my ECU last year.  Waited a month, c&c charged close to $8k

 

Dont go outside workshop as they try to sell me a re-con unit that kept failing and i had to sue them (outside workshop) in small claims tribunal to get full refund.

[Zegna]

Common problem bro. I replaced my ECU last year.  Waited a month, c&c charged close to $8k

 

Dont go outside workshop as they try to sell me a re-con unit that kept failing and i had to sue them (outside workshop) in small claims tribunal to get full refund.

 

Thanks Bro for your advice! Please allow me to pm you on couple of further questions.

[Zegna]

Does anyone knows for W204 model, lets say if car is being driven on 1st lane of expressway and suddenly engine shut down, is it possible to quickly shift to neutral gear and let car roll as far as possible with the momentum while signalling to filter to road shoulder to avoid accident? Or is it such that when the engine shut down, gear cannot shift and speed will suddenly dropped fast to 10-20km/h? 

 

If it is the latter, then its very dangerous. Which mean while waiting for the ECU part to be available in Singapore for who knows how long, cannot drive at all.

[Darkseid]

Hey bro i replied to your PM but i will also share my sad experience below with the bros here so i cut and paste my reply for the bros;-

 

 

"Hey bro, first make sure we are talking about the same defective part i.e. ECU i.e. Engine Control Unit. This is basically the motherboard of the cars obc and regulates power delivery, BHP, etc.

 

I am driving a c300 v6 so ECU will not be the same for a smaller cc 4 cylinder car.

 

This is where the problem starts as most w204s in singapore are 4 cylinder 2liter cars.

 

c&c say replacement cost was close to $8k and there was no stock so there was a 6 week wait time. I was recommended by a forumer to an outside workshop. Cant remember, think it was called Techniques auto

 

This shit workshop quote me half the price and tell me no problem they will sell me new unit. The car strated dying after installation. After the second "repair" attempt at the workshop FAILED i took it back to c&c pandan loop

 

They showed me pics and informed me the fucking workshop sold me a recon used ECU and the ECU could not fit my higher cc w204. It was a MB ECU but it's not meant for v6 3liter engine.

 

Fast forward n to make a long story short, I sued the outside workshop in the small claims tribunal and GOT ALL MY MONEY BACK

 

I then had the car repaired properly at c&c pandan loop. Its running smoothly again.

 

For intricate core engine parts, u cannot trust the outside workshops."

 

 

Thanks Bro for your advice! Please allow me to pm you on couple of further questions.

[Darkseid]

Bro, i dont think u should drive with a faulty ECU.  When my failed, the ECU lamp lit up, and even when i start up the engine, u can feel the engine is not smooth. 

 

I am told that for safety reasons, the OBC puts the car in "limp mode".  This means even if u revv the car RPM 2 above 2000 the car will only move at say 30kph. And when car is not moving in a traffic light in idle mode the engine can die. This is a safety feature that allows you only to drive the car to a safe place to park and await tow truck.  

 

For me, i had a tow truck come and send the car to c&c pandan loop.  I go back there as its a full equipped workshop that has all the diagnostics to test and trouble shoot the car.

 

FYI it took me over 3 months before i resolved all the issues and had the car running smoothly again.  And without c&c's technical findings report, i would not have been able to successfully sue the outside workshop to get my money back.

 

To be honest with you, compared to PML,  c&c is much much better.  They r not cheap but they usually get the job done.

 

 

Does anyone knows for W204 model, lets say if car is being driven on 1st lane of expressway and suddenly engine shut down, is it possible to quickly shift to neutral gear and let car roll as far as possible with the momentum while signalling to filter to road shoulder to avoid accident? Or is it such that when the engine shut down, gear cannot shift and speed will suddenly dropped fast to 10-20km/h? 

 

If it is the latter, then its very dangerous. Which mean while waiting for the ECU part to be available in Singapore for who knows how long, cannot drive at all.

[Zegna]

Thank you so much bro Darkseid for the detailed info and wise advice! I am so very grateful to you.

Will definitely take heed of your advice.

 

For my case, the actual error code is crankshaft position senor electrical fault. Which means it could be the actual senor faulty or the cable connecting the sensor to the motherboard faulty or the soldering of the cable loose or worst ECU motherboard itself faulty.

 

Workshop said this is one of the most common problems with W204 since it is using the same old engine from W212 which were plagued with this issues years back. And for 100% of the cases they have seen where owners chose to change only the senor, the engine warning light will usually lit up again with engine shut down problem reoccurring after 4 days to 2 weeks, as the root cause is usually the ECU motherboard. But problem is, motherboard no stock as its a controlled part which needed "coding" and some kind of online activation/personalization to be done before can be use.

 

So in the end, I asked for the sensor to be change and have the workshop constantly monitor stock situation for me. Its been two days of driving since the sensor replacement and the engine warning light have not lit up. So fingers crossed it is only the sensor that is faulty. But still, the what-if nagging and not knowing if this is truly the root cause leaves me wanting to prepare for the worst case scenario. But its a relieve to know that as long as car is not idle, it will not shutdown but rather remained in limbo state when engine warning light is lit on.

 

I guess its the "waiting" to see what happens next without a peace of mind that is troubling me. It's just sad that after spending so much money on a mercedes, once after warranty period is over, not only small problems begin to occur but now have to face this kind of walking time bombs. 

[F&F]

Is there a way to diagnose this problem early? and anyway to prevent it from happening? you mentioned "old w212 engine" which means E class engine? Any idea about the YOM or all W212 are the same? 

[Zegna]

Is there a way to diagnose this problem early? and anyway to prevent it from happening? you mentioned "old w212 engine" which means E class engine? Any idea about the YOM or all W212 are the same? 

 

Workshop said its the old 2006 W212 engine that got place into W204 (mine is pre-FL. Not sure about FL model though). No way to diagnose or prevent this problem early, both workshop and CnC SA said "electrical fault can happen as and when with nothing to trigger it". This is like those green-key problem, walking time-bomb. I was checking with a MB stockist and he told me the same that he used to sell alot of W212 motherboards many years ago before MB classified it as controlled part.

[steven77]

Workshop said its the old 2006 W212 engine that got place into W204 (mine is pre-FL. Not sure about FL model though).

If YOM is 2006 then cannot be W212 as the W212 series was only introduced in 2009.

[Zegna]

If YOM is 2006 then cannot be W212 as the W212 series was only introduced in 2009.

 

Seriously? In that case it seemed the workshop is also not reliable in what they said... hmmm...

[steven77]

I suspect the workshop was referring to the E class W211 model which had the Kompressor supercharged engine.  The same engine is found in early W204 models.

[Zegna]

I suspect the workshop was referring to the E class W211 model which had the Kompressor supercharged engine.  The same engine is found in early W204 models.

 

Was that the predecessor of W212? As in 2006 model? 

[Zegna]

Really unfortunate, the engine shut down issue came back again after last few days of smooth driving. Everywhere also no more stock and even CnC will need to wait 2-3 weeks... damn...  

[Zegna]

Looks like I might have found a temporary fix to the problem while waiting for ECU part to have stock.

http://www.sgmerc.com/topic/4850-reset-ecutcu-steps-for-your-throttle-response/

[Darkseid]

Hi all, bro Zegna has been telling me his grievances in private msg and i share below my msg to him and my own bad experience so the bros wont end up like me.  I cut and paste my msg below;

 

"Sorry for late reply bro, recovering from sundown so i did not login for afew days.

 

For this kind of delicate diagnostics, i wont go ourside workshop anymore. All they want is to charge you the diangnostic fee of afew hundred bucks and use your car as a guniea pig. You may also end up with a recon defective ECU which may coz further damage to your car.

 

Which service center do u send your car to? Use the Pandan loop service center, they have full diagnostic equipment there.

 

You can also ask for Zainal, he helped me out afew times and assisted me in my case against the outside workshop.

 

FYI the ECU failure is quite common. My fren also drives a c300 in Malaysia and the ECU also failed and the repair cost at c&c KL also came to approx the same price as all the original parts are purchased from Germany.

 

The other issue is that ECU is not one size fits all, unlike tyres and rims and brake pads and air-con etc. Each ECU is tuned to the specific cc and bhp of your merc. And some of these parameters are FACTORY SET and cannot be altered. What i suspect the outside workshop did is they took an ECU from a c200 4 cylinder 199bhp and try to fit this in my c300 v6 which has 230 bhp and they try to force and override the factory settings.

 

The other thing the outside whorkshop did which was shown in the c&c technical findings is that each ECU has a 10 digit serial number that c&c uses to match the ECU to the right make and model. They went to scrub of the last 4 digits so c&c could not determine from the serial number if this was the right ECU for my car.It was very obvious in the picture they used something to deliberately blank of the last 4 digits and these were the specific digits needed to match the ECU.

 

Its very dishonest. And fyi when c&c ask them to return my old ECU for testing and calibration purpose against the recon unit they sold me, the workshop try to charge me a $2k "parts retrieval fee" which i did not pay.

 

I have all this evidence on whattsapp and pics as well as a formal Technical Findings Report so when i filed my case in the Small Claims Tribunal it was basically open and shut case and they had to pay me back ALL OF the money."

[steven77]

Was that the predecessor of W212? As in 2006 model? 

Spot on....2006 model is W211 series

[F&F]

Just had this exact same problem and ECU had to be replaced. Damage: $3k+. Sigh... Saw another W212 being towed in just as I left... with the same issue!

[Zegna]

Just had this exact same problem and ECU had to be replaced. Damage: $3k+. Sigh... Saw another W212 being towed in just as I left... with the same issue!

 

Did you went back to CnC? How long was the wait? 

 

For my case it has been a total nightmare with CnC. I am now more determined to sell off this car and done with CnC once and for all after the repair is finally done.

This just reminded me why I have been so reluctant these couple of years to go back to CnC ever since warranty was over. And I'm sure many of you here felt the same.

[F&F]

 

Did you went back to CnC? How long was the wait? 

 

For my case it has been a total nightmare with CnC. I am now more determined to sell off this car and done with CnC once and for all after the repair is finally done.

This just reminded me why I have been so reluctant these couple of years to go back to CnC ever since warranty was over. And I'm sure many of you here felt the same.

 

 

CnC asked me to wait for 3 weeks. In the end just bought the part from CnC and got it changed at outside workshop. Fortunately they had the part. Else have to really wait 3 weeks!