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Old 22nd November 2021, 09:45   #21
SCP440
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My neighbour would say the opposite, the variable inlet manifold stopped working on his 280E Class. The parts were several Hundred £'s and it was a 12 hour job.

The problem was caused because the runners were made of plastic and had snapped and jammed up.

The replacement were made of metal and of an improved design made by an aftermarket company.

The garage had quoted him over £1000 to do this job.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 10:12   #22
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My neighbour would say the opposite, the variable inlet manifold stopped working on his 280E Class. The parts were several Hundred £'s and it was a 12 hour job.

The problem was caused because the runners were made of plastic and had snapped and jammed up.

The replacement were made of metal and of an improved design made by an aftermarket company.

The garage had quoted him over £1000 to do this job.

But that does not make it a common or a well known fault. It is a fault experienced by your neighbour. Faults occur on all cars, which is one of the reasons Rover engines had a particularly bad reputation.

My friend who has owned his E-Class 320 CDI would say that his engine has been absolutely reliable in 100k+ miles and has never needed anything other than routine servicing.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 10:56   #23
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But that does not make it a common or a well known fault. It is a fault experienced by your neighbour. Faults occur on all cars, which is one of the reasons Rover engines had a particularly bad reputation.

My friend who has owned his E-Class 320 CDI would say that his engine has been absolutely reliable in 100k+ miles and has never needed anything other than routine servicing.
The flip side is that as your friend has not experienced the issue does not make it uncommon either

However, in my mind it would be common enough issue for a an aftermarket company to consider designing and manufacturing an upgraded part?

-------------------------

Incidentally a quick search for water pump problems on MB world seem to throw a lot of results - HOWEVER much like our cars/forum, this would be expected on such a concentrated site, even more so on a more common car globally.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 11:14   #24
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Yes exactly, when I started to research the problem it sounds like all the v6's suffer with this problem. Interestingly Mercedes will only sell you a new manifold for £1000 and that still has plastic parts.

The new aftermarket parts were steel and obviously made to last as they came with a 10 year warranty.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 12:18   #25
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The flip side is that as your friend has not experienced the issue does not make it uncommon either

However, in my mind it would be common enough issue for a an aftermarket company to consider designing and manufacturing an upgraded part?

-------------------------

Incidentally a quick search for water pump problems on MB world seem to throw a lot of results - HOWEVER much like our cars/forum, this would be expected on such a concentrated site, even more so on a more common car globally.
That is exactly the point I was making. That one person's experience does not make it a common occurrence - positive or negative.

When looking at what is a common issue, it is important to consider how many units have been produced and sold. As an example, people often site the Renault 1.5DCI unit as one with regular reports of problems. But they forget the fact that over 12 million units have been produced and sold in cars.

Personally, despite loving my Rovers, which is why I still own 2, I think many of us have become obsessive to the point of being in my opinion delusional about our cars vs the rest, especially the more expensive premium manufacturers.

Our cars are cheap to buy but only cheap to maintain when the owner has access to a specialist who carries out the work more as a hobby and community service than a business. Anyone who takes a KV6 to an ex dealership or a main street garage usually finds this out to their dismay/cost.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 12:54   #26
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That is exactly the point I was making. That one person's experience does not make it a common occurrence - positive or negative.

When looking at what is a common issue, it is important to consider how many units have been produced and sold. As an example, people often site the Renault 1.5DCI unit as one with regular reports of problems. But they forget the fact that over 12 million units have been produced and sold in cars.

Personally, despite loving my Rovers, which is why I still own 2, I think many of us have become obsessive to the point of being in my opinion delusional about our cars vs the rest, especially the more expensive premium manufacturers.

Our cars are cheap to buy but only cheap to maintain when the owner has access to a specialist who carries out the work more as a hobby and community service than a business. Anyone who takes a KV6 to an ex dealership or a main street garage usually finds this out to their dismay/cost.
The 1.9 was supposed to be even worse (from a family member who was a 49 year veteran of a renault parts dept. - yes, 49 years for the same dealer and brand). And yes there were a few catastrophic issues with the 1.5, but this was usually common to a car design rather than the engine itself (ecu, fusebox design and location)

However, is the 1.5 not used in some mercedes now, so it cannot be that bad, or is it more that it is cheaper? Saying there were millions made, does indeed make it a common issue, as it is a common engine.

A good sign of a common problem is to go to a scrap yard for a part, to find every one in the same faulty state - my experience with renault and drivers side window motors, a common problem, but that is a side point lol.

Another good sign of a common issue is the fact that a third party company has taken it upon themselves to design and manufacturer an ill thought out design. It would not be worthwhile if that company was not going to make money from it (is this not what dmgrs has done on a few items - as nice and decent folk there are, they will not go that deep into an issue unless they can make money from it - that is not a negative or cynical observation by the way).

Which brings me.back to the Mercedes engine mentioned above. If a third party company is willing to create a new part for a relatively low sales volume engine, there must be some common occurrences for this to make financial sense to them.





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Old 22nd November 2021, 13:21   #27
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Just to add some petrol to the fire, when I went into the Mercedes dealer to order the gaskets and seals needed to do this job I was told by the friendly parts person that it comes as a kit. I asked him if he could order me one and he told me they kept them in stock as ''he sells so many'' He also recommended a pipe joiner that I would probably need that didnt come in the kit. He also had that on the shelf. When I stripped it the pipe that joins the two parts of the manifold was indeed need of replacement as it was a light alloy and badly corroded.

He also had an inlet manifold in stock but said '' there are better options''.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 13:22   #28
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...............

Which brings me.back to the Mercedes engine mentioned above. If a third party company is willing to create a new part for a relatively low sales volume engine, there must be some common occurrences for this to make financial sense to them.

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I agree with most of your post, which as usual is spot on. I would however say that none of Mercedes engines are low volume. They are all very high volume because Mercedes only produce a few engine types but apply them almost across the range. The 2.2 I4 and the 3.0 V6 used in the E-class being cases in point.

Also, whether a company produces an aftermarket part often depends on perceived need and whether the design/manufacture is straightforward. The cooler pipe T-piece on the 1.8K being a case in point. Whilst the original plastic item often lasts 10+ years and 100k miles, there was an aftermarket metal one produced. I just went and purchased a spare plastic item for around £18 knowing that if ever installed, it would outlast the car.

Upgrade parts are often not upgrades at all, just cheaper to purchase.

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Old 22nd November 2021, 23:35   #29
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The comments on Mercedes parts departments gave me a laugh. It brought up a memory from the 1980's when I worked at a small independent British Car shop. We usually only worked on Brit cars but did mechanical work for a body shop down the street. One day they had us working on a Merc, and I was sent to the dealer to pick up the parts. I remember walking in to the parts department in my greasy coveralls and the partsman, in his crisp white shop coat looked me up and down like I had come off the bottom of his shoe and asked (or stated) in his best German accent; You, are working on a Mercedes?

That one always makes me laugh when I think of it.
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Old 23rd November 2021, 00:56   #30
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I agree with most of your post, which as usual is spot on. I would however say that none of Mercedes engines are low volume. They are all very high volume because Mercedes only produce a few engine types but apply them almost across the range. The 2.2 I4 and the 3.0 V6 used in the E-class being cases in point.
I didnt say they were low volume, 'relatively low volume' , comparing a mercedes engine with a Renault, the mercedes is relatively low volume - even more so now, since they began using Renault engines lol.
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