Is everything out of stock?

[mikeyr]

Well, not everything but I've been trying to get hold of a glow plug module for a 12 year old Merc. Shouldn't be too hard right, fairly disposable item on these so a regular replacement part needed across the world. Mercedes have told me they don't have any (well, exact words were discontinued but that seems bizarre on a fairly modern car!) however if I go online to the usual suspects (ECP and the like) I can't find any that are in stock. I'm loathe to try ebay but is that my next best hope? Def want a new one rather than take a risk on a second hand one.

https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/oenumber/a6461532...

Is there a common shortage of parts or just the one I'm looking for???

[Haltamer]

mikeyr said:

Mercedes have told me they don't have any (well, exact words were discontinued but that seems bizarre on a fairly modern car!)

That's doubly odd - Don't Mercedes have a tradition / policy of always offering every spare for every model? (Even if it will cost a bomb they'll offer to do it.)

[paintman]

Doesn't fill you with confidence when the first item pictured in your link is actually a window lift mechanism!

Quick ebay of your part number: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233125943778?epid=25188...
Also seem to be a few on ebay available by post from europe.

[Scrump]

Neither my local MB dealer nor my trusted local MB indie garage seem able to obtain new NOx sensors for my E class. They have been on back order for some time.

[16v stretch]

I thought they were obliged to provide spares for 15 years from end of production?

Is it possible that the part has been superseded and it's just your specific revision that's no longer available?

[mikeyr]

I thought that German cars generally kept spares for a long period of time too! That's what surprised me too, hardly a 30 year old classic

[mikeyr]

Two new ones on ebay - one for £270 and the other for £10k Which suggests they are holding the advert space even though they don't have any!

Blimey - do I gamble on paying almost £300 for one now before winter gets here or wait for them to return to stock elsewhere?

[mikeyr]

Oh, and the £270 one is from a autoparts seller with pretty poor feedback. Typical!

[PDP76]

Scrump said:

Neither my local MB dealer nor my trusted local MB indie garage seem able to obtain new NOx sensors for my E class. They have been on back order for some time.

Nox sensors have been a problem for a while now.
Replaced mine 2 yrs ago.
Hopefully they won’t go down before my mot !!

[paintman]

The module in the early T1N Sprinter has fusible links and when there is a plug fault the relevant one blows.
Not resettable so you needed a new one along with the plugs. (AIUI later modules are resettable)

A workround is on the internet on a Sprinter forum which involved opening up the module and soldering wires to the links which are then taken to a blade type fuse box and blade fuses used instead.

My own Sprinter has that type of module and I did open it up & have a look when I had two plugs fail. In my case the links were intact as the plugs hadn't had a short failure. Didn't need to cut it apart as scraping away the sealant allowed it to be opened.

I've no idea of the nature of your failure or even if it has fusible links internally so the link below is more of an 'interest' thing: https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php?threa...
(Note that one pic shows pieces of wire soldered directly across the blown link. That IS NOT a good idea and does get that comment in the forum. There's also a youtube clip showing someone doing the same thing, again, NOT a good idea)

Edited by paintman on Tuesday 5th October 10:40

[mikeyr]

Well, I'm £270 lighter so fingers crossed.

[imagineifyeswill]

That seems expensive, Ive never replaced one on a Merc but have done a few BMW 6s and there ussually about £110.

[mikeyr]

Certainly does - but as the only stockist in the whole of the UK (been through every single google page return!) guess I've gotta go for it. Especially with winter coming, would prefer the new glowplugs to actually work!

To be honest, I'm awaiting the message to say they are out of stock and here's my refund

[paintman]

It's a 'drop your trousers and bend over' thing when it's in short supply.

Would be interesting to dismantle your old one and see what's inside & what's exactly gone wrong.

I would say be absolutely certain that the glowplugs and everything else is spot on and whatever the fault was is resolved as you don't want to plug the new module in, switch on and it goes bang.

[Pothole]

Loath.

[mikeyr]

I loathe these sort of responses. But I'm loath to point out the typing errors in your previous post history. Am I doing this right?

[mikeyr]

Quick update on this, got this today...

'Hello, sorry to inform you but we will not be able to proceed your order as we have some issues due to Brexit ( we cant get some parts in time) and can not proceed the orders at the moment.. We will make you a full refund now.'

So basically you can't get the part anywhere. Great.

[Cold]

mikeyr said:

Quick update on this, got this today...

'Hello, sorry to inform you but we will not be able to proceed your order as we have some issues due to Brexit ( we cant get some parts in time) and can not proceed the orders at the moment.. We will make you a full refund now.'

So basically you can't get the part anywhere. Great.

Keep searching around Germany/Europe. Not all of the traders are using Brexit as an excuse not to ship things over.

[mikeyr]

Will do, lots of search alerts set up now

[kylos27]

A good diesel shouldn’t need glow plugs to start.