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Guest vancouverotter

Dead Smart Diesel Vancouver BC!

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I own a 2005 Smart Twofour cabriolet, warranty expired may 2009. several months ago the engine ceased to function. Mercedes Vancouver had the car for a week and simply declared that the engine would not turn over and had to be replaced, FOR $12,000!!!! There was no willingness for discussion of alternatives - sourcing a used or rebuilt engine, repairing the engine, etc. The engine only had appx 69,000kms on it and I find this situation to be appalling, to say the least. I am shocked frankly and have found Mercedes to be blunt and unhelpful in the extreme!! The complete absence of good will or flexibility on Mercedes part is stunning to me. I am facing $6000 to put a USED motor in it with questionable life-span.I am vigorously liaising with various Smart owners groups, as well as local and national press to seek more info and some sort of equitable outcome for this bizarre situation.Brian Powellvancouverotter@gmail.com778-896-0134

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Was all servicing done by one dealer?

Hi there, I purchased the car used in summer 2008 from a used dealing in new westinster. I had all my service work done at MB Broadway vancover

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Did the car have a full service history when you bought it? Missing one oil change by a few thousand km can kill it.Rebuilt long blocks are available in Germany for under 1500 Euros and an independent like Fast Eddy in Richmond BC can offer other alternatives.How do you use the car? Short trps only in the city? What happened when the car "ceased to run"? Were you driving it at the time or did it just fail to start one day?This is a light duty car with a light duty engine, but my older one is six years old and has about 180,000 km and is going strong.I would recommend that you communicate with head office in Toronto before attempting to get publicity against them. The context of the failure is all-important though. If this car missed a service or was not serviced by the dealer or someone trustworthy like Flying Tiger, your chances of having a goodwill claim approved will diminish considerably.

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Beware of used cdi's.There are a number of them ran on gasoline. I mean literally from North Van to Richmond, before diluting with diesel.Some had put diesel in the air intake. Fill the air box and intake manifold until it drips to the ground.100% of engine failure that came through my door has had a mishap some time in their life.There was one that he home made an exhaust. Little to no back pressure. Great sound. Looks fantastic. Toast it in 2 weeks.

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Have it taken to Fast Eddie in Richmond. MB doesn't take the time to diagnos engine problems very well. Alan

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Have it taken to Fast Eddie in Richmond. MB doesn't take the time to diagnos engine problems very well. Alan

what is the contact info for Fast Eddie, I'm not finding anything on the web!?!

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That's horrible, I bought my 2006 smart from a used car shop outside MB with 54000km on it, now it has over 80000km with no mechanical issues. I was lucky and the car was faithfully serviced at MB or by Glenn.Brit and Marty Car :)

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I own a 2005 Smart Twofour cabriolet, warranty expired may 2009. several months ago the engine ceased to function. Mercedes Vancouver had the car for a week and simply declared that the engine would not turn over and had to be replaced, FOR $12,000!!!! There was no willingness for discussion of alternatives - sourcing a used or rebuilt engine, repairing the engine, etc. The engine only had appx 69,000kms on it and I find this situation to be appalling, to say the least. I am shocked frankly and have found Mercedes to be blunt and unhelpful in the extreme!! The complete absence of good will or flexibility on Mercedes part is stunning to me. I am facing $6000 to put a USED motor in it with questionable life-span.

It sounds by the little info that you have posted that possibly this is more a case of a buyer making a bad purchase and now running around looking for someone to bale him out.The info posted is so skimpy that it is no wonder no help was forthcoming.What's wrong with the engine? Electrical starting problem? Engine seized from lack of engine oil? Too much engine oil due to over filling? A rod hanging out of the side of the block? Are you the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th owner? And the list goes on.I will garantee that your running around blaming and threatening various action will net you absolutely zero positive results.Time to step back, analize your problem and proceed rationally.The relatively low mileage, while interesting, is no garantee that the engine was properly maintained, serviced and treat properly.There is more to this than meets the eye.

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km is not a good indicator of remaining life either. Engine hours and number of cold starts is the key. A purely city driven cdi with 5 km trips in the morning and evening will have FAR more wear on the engine at 50,000 km than a highway driven car (200 km/day) will have at 150,000 km.Fred is right, unless more information is forthcoming we will have no idea if this was just a case of bad maintenance or a legitimate spontaneous engine failure.Waiting....

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My CDI died 3 weeks ago, it took MB Surrey 2 weeks to find that a screw from an aftermarket cup holder shorted out the wiring harness under the carpet, of course not covered by extended warranty.The bill was already in the $1000's and the CDI was still dead. ICBC sent an estimator and it took them one week to decide that it is covered under comprehensive $300 deductible.I also have mulit-perils extended insurance that would have covered it if ICBC said no, Multi-perils also pays $250 of the $300 ICBC comprehensive deductible.It should be ready by this Friday, a month in the shop later.The cup holder will now secured by velcro to the carpet.

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The infamous non-OEM cupholder screw to the central nervous system. Unfortunately, you are not the only one to have that particular problem.

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km is not a good indicator of remaining life either. Engine hours and number of cold starts is the key. A purely city driven cdi with 5 km trips in the morning and evening will have FAR more wear on the engine at 50,000 km than a highway driven car (200 km/day) will have at 150,000 km.Fred is right, unless more information is forthcoming we will have no idea if this was just a case of bad maintenance or a legitimate spontaneous engine failure.Waiting....

Mike T - what do you consider a cold start? How long should the car be plugged in before a start? And what about if you can't plug it in... some times I turn the glow plugs on three -four -five times before turning over the engine. is that a cold start too?

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Cold is where the coolant is at ambient temperature, cold ambient temperatures (e.g. Canadian winter) is worse for the engine. Anything you can do to increase the temperature before starting (glow plugs not included) will reduce the damage of the cold start.

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ok thank you for clearing that up! so I always plug my car in, in the moring for about 90 minutes. I know it's not that long but in my condo I never know when the guys are coming to do pluging and sidewalk snowblowing.... there for I can't have it plugged in before 7am because I just don't want to wake up any earlier :biglaugh:Maybe I will start bring my plug to work and pluging in at the public lot... I am not sure if it is a loud but I will do it till I am told not too. :D

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You can buy an outdoor timer,and plug it in to the electrical socket. Then plug in your block-heater cord to the timer.If you were to take the time to read your owner's manual, it states : " THE BLOCK-HEATER IS TO BE PLUGGED IN FOR TWO HOURS FOR TEMPERATURES OF 0 DEGREES TO MINUS 10 DEGREES". IT ALSO STATES: "THAT FOR TEMPERATURES BELOW MINUS 10 DEGREES,THE BLOCK-HEATER IS TO BE PLUGGED IN FOR THREE HOURS".(I have my block-heater's timer set to 'off ' while i'm sleeping,except for 'on' for three hours prior to getting up in the morning.then 'off' for two hours,and'on' for three,etc,etc.)

Edited by PrairieBoy

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Well if you read my post ......I siad that I live in a condo and having a cord run across the sidewalk is a NO NO!!!! So i plug it in when i get up so it get at least some sort of warmth... I figure that 1.5 hours is better the 0 hours.

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I didn't read your post closely enough.Sorry.If your condo association doesn't like cords going accross the sidewalk,that sucks. They should do the right thing,and install proper posts with plug-ins for all vehicle owners,which are right in front of the cars.Good luck.

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I didn't read your post closely enough.Sorry.If your condo association doesn't like cords going accross the sidewalk,that sucks. They should do the right thing,and install proper posts with plug-ins for all vehicle owners,which are right in front of the cars.Good luck.

Yes totally... It is stupid there is like 9 diesel in the complex... We all said we would walk if it was cheaper to install a area with like 10 plug posts... they still said no... it's dangerous for the condo! I don't get it... anyways... I want to some how figure out a way to get it across my sidewalk with the most ugliest wooden like poll thingy to give them a sense of "They do really plug in their cars" :biglaugh:

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I have seen some folks construct a simple wooden structure to hold their cords up over the city sidewalks.Maybe this would work for you. (A few 2x2's in a tripod shape,or 'h' shape with the cord attached to the top?)I still think all you who want to plug in your cars should band together and convince the idiots in the condo association to accomodate your needs. Perhaps you guys could take pictures of some of the other condo complexes in your city to help plead your case.Short of that,money talks.Threaten to sell/move and/or take legal action!This is Canada for God's sake. It's not Florida! Sometimes you HAVE to plug in your car!!.

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100% of engine failure that came through my door has had a mishap some time in their life.There was one that he home made an exhaust. Little to no back pressure. Great sound. Looks fantastic. Toast it in 2 weeks.

Very interesting comment about exhaust back pressure. Eddy, can you explain why the cdi engine needs some back pressure?

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Beware of used cdi's.

There are a number of them ran on gasoline. I mean literally from North Van to Richmond, before diluting with diesel.

Some had put diesel in the air intake. Fill the air box and intake manifold until it drips to the ground.

100% of engine failure that came through my door has had a mishap some time in their life.

There was one that he home made an exhaust. Little to no back pressure. Great sound. Looks fantastic. Toast it in 2 weeks.

What is the amount of back pressure in the stock system and how much would the minimum amount be to be safe?

.

Edited by gordo.bernard

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From my personal experience. I had tested smart cdi with various problems. And at times running the engine without exhaust. Straight out of the turbo. There is this screeching sound coming out of the turbocharger in different degree depends on temperature. Once installed the exhaust the noise goes away.This also proven by a customer who fabricate his own exhaust. First with straight pipe. Second version with a motorcycle muffler. The turbocharger explode in one week.Obviously factory engineers are not obligated to release specifications of their development of the vehicle. So however they design their exhaust tuned to the engine load is their secret.When we engineer the exhaust for the racecars that we build, there is a certain base formula that we use. And then tested and tuned possibly with different variations on track and on dyno.

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