Hello. I am from Portugal and I have four Mercedes: 1994 S350 turbodiesel, 2002 E270 cdi, 1998 slk 200 kompressor, 1997 E220 diesel .
The other is a 1994 S350 turbodiesel:
I have already read many of posts that talk about "rod bending".
My car has 340000 km (about 212500 miles) and it never had such problem.
I also know other cars with the same engine here in Europe with lots of miles and they are very reliable, too.
But, after reading lots of posts, I am afraid that my car will bend a rod.
Actually the oil consumption is about one quart for 3200 miles.
I bought the car when it had more or less 200000 miles and I don't know anything about the past of the car. I would like to know if there is any way to discover if the engine was changed, by the engine number.
I know the original number of the engine by the chassis number but I can't find the actual engine number. I have already searched for it but I can't find it. Could you tell me where it is located in the engine? I have already searched near the injectors but I only find the engine head number, not the engine number.
I would like to ask you another thing: Can this car run on B15 (15% Biodiesel + 85 % normal diesel)? The B15 is sold near my house, and it fulfills the en14214 certification. Is there any problem of using this fuel? I have already used it, but I'm afraid of devlopping leaks in the injection pump. And can I use this fuel in a 2002 E270 cdi (common rail), too?

Best regards (and sorry for any errors in my English)

Sorry, can't help you with the engine number, but B15 should be absolutely no problem. In fact it may help prevent the rod bending because it has higher cetane and burns less violently. The IP o-rings leak when they get old enough regardless of the fuel. If they're fairly new, B15 won't cause them to leak.

As to your CDI B15 should be fine too, but keep in mind MB like other manufacturers only approve of B5, at least here in the US. It might be different in Europe.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Thank you very much
In what concerns to my cdi, i have been using b15 and until now I didn't have any problem.
In Europe Mercedes only approve B5, too, but I don't have any problem with the guarantee because it is already finished. I only want to know if b15 doesn't damage the engine

You may find it interesting to learn that Mercedes official line is the reason the 3.5L engines failed was because of our low-quality, low cetane fuel here in the North America.

I've always had my doubts about this but they say they have statistics showing that in Europe, where the quality of the diesel is better that the 3.5L engine is no less robust than the 3.0L, for what that is worth. That may explain your experiences and the experiences of other europeans who have had good luck with these engines.

There's still no excuse to market an engine where the fuel isn't good enough for it to run on but we all know that Mercedes has never made any mistakes, at least none they will ever admit to.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

That continues to be a problem to this day. The minimum required cetane in the US is still 40 which is insufficient for passenger car diesels. I wish the cetane number was posted on the pumps like the octane number is. Is that too much to ask?

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I agree, it is possible that a better fuel quality in Europe, made this engines reliable in Europe and "rod bender" in America.
I have looked for opinions of this engine in European foruns and people say that the engine is very good (except the engine head that may crack if overheated).
I asked the question of the "rod bender" in a Spanish forum and no one have ever heard anything about that problem.
The answers of the users of that forum to my question were (translated):
"I have never heard that problem. 350 engine is one of the best mercedes diesel, it is very reliable,... It is a very good engine to do long trips in the highway; although it is not very fast it allow us to do big trips with all the confort of a w140 but with more mpg"

But the question is: Can the quality of the diesel make so big difference in the reliability of the engine? (for me it is hard to believe).

And other question: Anyone know the speed of gear changes without accelerating? Because I think that the last gear is entering very early: at about 36 miles. Is this normal?

I do believe diesel fuel quality can make a difference, especially in an engine that already has weak rods. The higher pressure spikes associated with combustion of low-cetane fuel could certainly push those rods over the edge.

The transmission has a cable that runs to it from the engine compartment and you can just tighten it to delay the shifts.

__________________
2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Thank you, I will look for that cable.
But it may be better to don't change anything, because the transmission is fine and I don't want do damage anything; the shift points may be ok.

Those are still all guesses. The actual cause of the rod bending is unknown to anyone outside of Mercedes' R&D.

The whole rod-bending thing is what kept me from buying a W140 over here. Otherwise I would love to have one of those in the garage.

I have the later OM606 turbodiesel, and I've been running it on B100 and other biofuel for the last 16 months without any engine problems whatsoever. I sample the oil at every change, and it tests out just fine.

Cheers, John

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'98 E300TD (W210) | Sold 6/09 with 205k and counting
'04 VW Touareg V10TDI

Here's some reading on it if anyone is interested:

http://mbca.cartama.net/showthread.php?t=25313

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I am not sure if this will be much help but this website has a lot of info regarding chassis and engine numbers based on your VIN.

http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

I found that link while searching this forum. So you can thank POS if it is helpful.

BH

Thank you
I already know the original engine number of my car.
I had already introduced the chassis number in that site: http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng and I found the original engine number of the car.
What I would like to know is where is the actual engine number, to compare with the original; if I could find it I think that I can discover if the engine is the original. But I looked for it in the engine and I can't find anything... Anyone knows where it is located?


P.S: This post is very interesting, it provides good information on the problem: http://mbca.cartama.net/showthread.php?t=25313, and it looks that Mercedes still think that the diesel quality was a big cause:

"the "bent rod" syndrome and the premature cylinder wear problem were actually the same problem at different times in the life of the engine. I won't do justice to his explanation of the issue, but he broadly stated what MB believes to be happening is that the 603 experiences severe detonation due to the lower cetane fuels used in North America. In Europe, 60 cetane is not uncommon.
In US markets, 50 cetane is very rare, and low-40's is common. This leads
to detonation (pinging, were it a gas engine) after the piston has passed
TDC in the ignition cycle."

Best regards

I have looked for informations about the engine number and I think that it is located here:



Tomorrow I will look for it in my car

I was looking for informations of the engine on the internet and I found some pictures of the engine (European version)















I hosted here this pictures because I saw some pictures of this engine (American version) on this forum, and it seems that there was less space between each cylinder.