Help Help before I throttle the mechanic

[saxonrider]

Purchased a 99 Mercedes 300td estate avantgarde 1 & half years ago, run fine until months later. This car has broke down 6 times over 8 months. It has been to this garage 6 times now, last night was the latest..onto the recovery wagon again? EPC display on dash every time it breaks down. Garage replaced all glow plugs, new fuel filter,then all fuel pipes, then all seals on pipes twice, latest job is large rubber fuel pipe to engine. Cost me £1100 inc parts, inc regular train & bus trips to pick car up at £20 a time. Car runs when pick up from garage then after when parked up after a run it just wont start again; then displays "EPC" on dashboard?
Any help would be appreciated, before I start frothing at the mouth, cheers.

[Martin350]

Do a search for K-40 relay, it could be worth a try...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQ1-m9mTos

[andburg]

sounds like the fuel system is losing pressure so there is a leak somewhere.

if it were me I'd be looking to a specialist Bosch Diesel centre as I have no confidence in the garage service you are currently using.

http://www.boschautoparts.co.uk/bdl/loc_search.asp...

[boz1]

saxonrider said:

Purchased a 99 Mercedes 300td estate avantgarde 1 & half years ago, run fine until months later. This car has broke down 6 times over 8 months. It has been to this garage 6 times now, last night was the latest..onto the recovery wagon again? EPC display on dash every time it breaks down. Garage replaced all glow plugs, new fuel filter,then all fuel pipes, then all seals on pipes twice, latest job is large rubber fuel pipe to engine. Cost me £1100 inc parts, inc regular train & bus trips to pick car up at £20 a time. Car runs when pick up from garage then after when parked up after a run it just wont start again; then displays "EPC" on dashboard?
Any help would be appreciated, before I start frothing at the mouth, cheers.

Doubt anyone here will be able to provide much insight based on just the message that appears on the dash plus a list of work that hasn't solved the problem. Suggest you ask on a Merc forum to get some ideas and try and find a local Merc specialist.

To state the obvious, it's a 16 year old, relatively complex car from a an era in which Merc's reliability is renowned for having fallen substantially. You've already spent more on it than it's worth, so consider scrapping it and looking for something else...

[thatdude]

What codes come up when a diagnostics computer is plugged in? Is it the same each time? Or have different codes come up?

Don't blame the mechanic. He is changing things and trying things; have you sat with him and spoken with him, asking him why he#s changing things, what else it could be?

Could it be worth just cutting your losses and buying another car...?

[mini1380cc]

Take it somewhere else if this guy hasn't pinpointed it yet, its as simple as that.


The fact that you only bought it a year ago doesn't change the fact its a 15 year old car. Things will go wrong with old cars, especially a MB from that era.

[With these feet]

boz1 said:

Doubt anyone here will be able to provide much insight based on just the message that appears on the dash plus a list of work that hasn't solved the problem. Suggest you ask on a Merc forum to get some ideas and try and find a local Merc specialist.

To state the obvious, it's a 16 year old, relatively complex car from a an era in which Merc's reliability is renowned for having fallen substantially. You've already spent more on it than it's worth, so consider scrapping it and looking for something else...

Unfortunately true, the era of dissolving wiring... could be a bad connection somewhere throwing up a fault, why I hate having to rely on diagnostic systems with fault codes that often lead you the wrong way.

[rallycross]

If you take it to a Mercedes specialist with the STAR system you will get a proper diagnostic reading ( local mechanic wtth snap on fault code reader cannot read the full codes).