OM642 V6 diesel: the injector shaft soots up and it starts hard when cold
Typically above 120,000 km. It does not show up on every car.
expensive
severity
above 120,000 km
mileage
3
sources
3 sources next to the write-up.
The fault
How you spot it
Combustion gases escape past the shaft of the Bosch piezo injector, and soot builds up around the shaft. The symptoms are a hard, rough cold start and a rough idle. The engine has six injectors, so finding the faulty one is more work as well. The quantity correction values of the control unit have to be read per injector, and this is worth doing before anyone replaces all of them. A cleaning additive and better quality fuel help to prevent the sooting. The fault comes up above 120,000 km. The high-pressure system of the same engine (Bosch CP3) can also give starting trouble and a lack of power at high mileage, so the diagnosis separates the two.
Which model
Who it affects
The card opens the generation, the engine or the transmission.
Engines and transmissions
Engine
OM642DE30LA
Engine
OM642LSDE30LA
Engine
OM642DELS30LA
Checklist
OM642 V6 diesel: the injector shaft soots up and it starts hard when cold
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Before you buy
Checklist
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Sources
How we know
KFZ DietrichMercedes OM642: Welche Probleme hat der V6-Diesel?Drallklappen, Ölkühlerdichtung, verkokte VTG und AGR sind die vier Schwachstellen des 3,0-Liter-V6 – mit Fehlercodes, Symptomen und Prüfschritten.
Gebrauchtwagenberater.deMercedes OM642: Zuverlässiger Dauerläufer oder Kostenfalle?Typische Probleme und Schwachstellen beim Mercedes-Benz OM642 (280, 300, 320 CDI) ▻ Mängel ✓ Haltbarkeit des Motors
What BreaksUsed Car Weakness Database46,895+ weaknesses models engines
Information, not an expert opinion
We write the descriptions, and we put the source next to them. A person reviews them before they go out. They are still information, not a technical expert opinion.
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