05 E 320 CDI issue

[Wodnek]

A most interesting thing happened yesterday. I put the right foot down to get onto the freeway, and here a "pop" and the car develops a vibration in the drive train. I get off at the next exit, open the hood to see diesel spraying from under the cover. I am in Wisconsin Dells on Business and there are no indies to be found within a distance I am willing to drive, so i look what they do have. I find a garage willing to look at it. So they pull the motor cover off in my presence, I start it, and it is spraying diesel out an injector. An injector seal completely blew.
So the mechanic never worked on anything like this, so i have to talk him through changing an injector seal. I happened to have an injector seal and stretch bolt in the car. It isn't reamed, since he had no reamer, so it is likely i will be redoing it at some point.
He took $80 off me when it was done. This is a tourist trap area, so i think i was treated pretty well. 90 minutes and I was on my way.

[hangit]

How many miles on your CDI? No prior signs of black death? I guess I should keep my injector puller, seals, and stretch bolts in my car!

John

[Wodnek]

Originally Posted by hangit

How many miles on your CDI? No prior signs of black death? I guess I should keep my injector puller, seals, and stretch bolts in my car!

John

about 225,000 I bought 6 injector seals and bolts back in summer because I had black death on one cylinder. I had it done. none of the other 5 showed signs, so i had just the one done. i tossed the bag in the netting by the passenger feet and forgot about it. until then.... they were so cheap for parts.

[jay_bob]

That makes a good case for symmetrical maintenance. If one device of a group fails, chances are the others are about to fail as well, and all members of the group should be replaced on principle.

No disrespect intended to the OP just a word of advice to those who follow.

[shertex]

Wodnek, since you have one of each....the PO of my 06 told me that the bolt design (maybe using two instead of one?) on the 06 was improved, making black death etc. less likely. Curious if you observe any differences.

[Wodnek]

Our 06 has 70,000 miles on it now. It hasn't needed anything. I pulled off the cover once, just to look for signs of black death when i changed the oil and fuel filter. With the mileage difference, its hard to compare the two cars.
I honestly prefer my 05 to the wife's 06, but that is because my 05 is very loaded on options for a diesel, rivaling most V8 cars. I prefer the butterfly console to the roll up one in the wifes car too.

Next maintenance time though, i will look closer to see if anything is different topside.
Incidentally, if anyone does deal with an injector seal themselves. get the engine good and hot. The injector is easy to take out when hot, compared to a cold engine.

[Maki]

Wodnek, good to hear you got away so cheaply. What garage did you end up at?

I lived in nearby Baraboo 30 years ago and was happy with Sullivans Two. If you do business in the Dells regularly, you might keep them in mind in the event of another emergency.

[biopete]

Originally Posted by hangit

How many miles on your CDI? No prior signs of black death? I guess I should keep my injector puller, seals, and stretch bolts in my car!

John

Good story.

What injector puller , reamer do you have? Link to them?

Thanks

[Wodnek]

Originally Posted by Maki

Wodnek, good to hear you got away so cheaply. What garage did you end up at?

I lived in nearby Baraboo 30 years ago and was happy with Sullivans Two. If you do business in the Dells regularly, you might keep them in mind in the event of another emergency.

Not very regular. once or twice a year is all. Platts garage is where I went.
If I had not had the parts with me, not sure how this would have ended up.

I am curious of one thing. If I had unplugged the electrical connection to that injector, would the fuel flow have been cut off so I would have been running on 5 cylinders?

[hangit]

Originally Posted by biopete

What injector puller , reamer do you have? Link to them?

Thanks

Neilsen CT3528 3 piece with slide hammer. Purchased from member on another forum. Have not had to use it yet.

John

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by Wodnek

Not very regular. once or twice a year is all. Platts garage is where I went.
If I had not had the parts with me, not sure how this would have ended up.

I am curious of one thing. If I had unplugged the electrical connection to that injector, would the fuel flow have been cut off so I would have been running on 5 cylinders?

I suspect a very costly delay and parts installation venture, is how it usually ends up when out and away from home. Hotel, meals, tow truck, far away shops that aren't around to stand behind their work if the job fails down the line. That's why, taking your Mercedes-Benz to an authorized MB dealer for service work is the only logical solution to entirely solve away from home breakdowns. BTDT - too many times the past 40 years on travel away from home in various vehicles. Thank God, the Mercedes- Benz' I've driven for hundreds of thousands of miles over-the-road haven't had need for such - not yet anyway. It's fabulous that you had those parts with you! Very smart man!

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by jay_bob

That makes a good case for symmetrical maintenance. If one device of a group fails, chances are the others are about to fail as well, and all members of the group should be replaced on principle.

No disrespect intended to the OP just a word of advice to those who follow.

This is cogent advise. ^^^^

When I had my 99 E300's GPs replaced last time because of a failed GP, I had the shop replace all of them. The mechanic had to helicoil at least one of the GP cavities because the old GP had to be drilled-out. It was eother that, or buy a new head from Mercedes-Benz.