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Can you drive through fords in a Mercedes?
Have any other readers experienced a problem after driving through a ford in a Mercedes C Class?
I recently drove through a local ford in my MB C250 Cdi and the car cut out on leaving the ford and would not restart. The water in the ford was a little deeper than normal at around 200mm and I have been through the ford several times in other cars without problem.
The car was recovered to a Mercedes dealer who examined it and say it will need a new engine at a cost of £10,000 plus fitting, (approx. £ 2,500.00).
I did drive in slowly and then through at around 10mph and the water came up to the top of the bonnet. The ford was about 10metres wide.
I would like to warn other readers about this problem and question the design of the air intake since it is at the top of the radiator grille at the front edge. The design of the front of the car means that water is scooped up and enters the air intake too easily.
The entry of water into a diesel engine is clearly catastrophic!
On a more worrying note when I spoke to a local engine rebuilder he said it was a common problem with Mercedes cars and he had rebuilt 4 already in the past month with this problem.
He can rebuild the engine for £ 5K but as the car is contract hired from MB, I am not sure I can take this option.
Should I be asking MB to contribute as this appears to be a design weakness? The car is 13 months old.
I recently drove through a local ford in my MB C250 Cdi and the car cut out on leaving the ford and would not restart. The water in the ford was a little deeper than normal at around 200mm and I have been through the ford several times in other cars without problem.
The car was recovered to a Mercedes dealer who examined it and say it will need a new engine at a cost of £10,000 plus fitting, (approx. £ 2,500.00).
I did drive in slowly and then through at around 10mph and the water came up to the top of the bonnet. The ford was about 10metres wide.
I would like to warn other readers about this problem and question the design of the air intake since it is at the top of the radiator grille at the front edge. The design of the front of the car means that water is scooped up and enters the air intake too easily.
The entry of water into a diesel engine is clearly catastrophic!
On a more worrying note when I spoke to a local engine rebuilder he said it was a common problem with Mercedes cars and he had rebuilt 4 already in the past month with this problem.
He can rebuild the engine for £ 5K but as the car is contract hired from MB, I am not sure I can take this option.
Should I be asking MB to contribute as this appears to be a design weakness? The car is 13 months old.
Asked on 13 July 2012 by Davidon
Answered by
Honest John
This is a standard problem with all diesel engined vehicles unless fitted with high level air intakes as standard or fitted with aftermarket snorkels. For aerodynamic reasons and for efficiency the air intake is often set low and if this scoops up water rather than air the engine will 'hydraulic'. Because it cannot compress the water that gets into the combustion chambers it will either blow off its cylinder head or bend its conrods.
Tags:
floods
technical issues
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