Taxi Driver Online

My Vito has started playing up once it’s warm. Starts great when cold but as soon as it’s up to temperature it’s taking a little longer to start,only a second or two but definitely longer. No fault codes showing up and I have had the battery etc checked and all is fine. Fuel and air filter changed 14,000 miles ago. Can’t see it being a fueling problem (‘leak- back’ etc) because surely it’d be worse when cold. I’ve all but ruled out glow plugs for same reason. Only thing that shows up on the Merc forums are camshaft position sensor which can get hot and play up but I’ve had diagnostics on it while ‘hot starting’ and still no fault code. (Bosch diagnostics at the garage)
Just filled up with v-power and hoping that’ll help.
Any thoughts?

only dirty thoughts about carol vordeman and kirsty wark and baby oil

does your air intake have summer and winter settings?

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i started out with nothing and ive still got most of it left

I have those thoughts about carol Kirkwood every morning

No, it doesn’t have summer/winter settings. I’m going to fit a camshaft sensor later this week, 1/2 hour job and £28 to buy from Mercedes.

Camshaft sensor changed and still the same.

At a guess.....injectors or filters.

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Going to try a fuel filter and crankshaft sensor next.

This weather is playing havoc with my indicators, when I'm indicating to turn either left or right they flash like I've got a bulb out, there's no bulb out. When it's cool they go back to normal. Nothing coming up when it's scanned, I took it to my mates garage who scanned it and it came back all good with no faults.

It’s not the crankshaft sensor either, fuel filter next!

In the past when all else fails, buy a new battery.

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IDFIMH

The battery is only 8months old £150 Bosch, the battery tester gives it 100%. Not a cheap tester either.

Well, the garage changed the fuel filter (Q&H) for a genuine Merc one (Mann) pre-filled with a mix of diesel and injector clener. Vehicle refused to start at all, it was turning over but just not starting. I thought it just needed priming but the mechanic knew straightaway that it was something else.( they normally start straight away and then cutout if it’s air in the system). So, he plugged his box of tricks in and sure enough up came a EIS fault, basically it’s part of the immobiliser, it’s a complicated system, the key talks to the barrel, the barrel talks to the steering lock and the steering locks talks to the ECU, if all is ok it starts the vehicle! If you google Merc EIS/EZS it explains it in depth.
There have been a few on our fleet that have needed replacing at a cost of £1200 although their symptoms have been different, in both cases the barrel wouldn’t accept the key.
The mechanic stripped the unit off ( the barrel one) cleaned all the terminals up and cleared the fault code and it started straight away. After letting it run for a while we turned it off and then restarted it, again it took a little longer than usual but does start, the fault code has now disappeared!
I have found a company in Birmingham (replacementmercedeskeys.co.uk) that repairs them for £120-£150 and it doesn’t involve any recoding. They have a good reputation judging from the Merc forums.
My dilemma now is was it just coincidence this happened while changing the filter, especially as the fault code has disappeared or is it the EIS system on its way out ? (Maybe the signal from the EIS is weak causing the delay in starting.

I think the EIS is just co-incidence - would cause problems whether the engine is hot or cold. Plus it's either working/not working. There's no 'weak' signal, it gets one or it doesnt.

I can only guess at what might be wrong, especially if a mechanics had a look. But I'd say injectors or MAF sensor (does it have one?).
How does it actually run when hot ?

It runs perfect once started , it’s now showing a fault with No 4 glowplug, I don’t think this is the problem but I’ll have to have it done just to rule it out. I’m starting to think injectors myself now, I had the copper washers on the injectors replaced about 2years ago (Black Death!) so they shouldn’t be too hard to remove, more concerned about the glow plugs snapping.

I'm starting to think exhaust.

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

I’m certainly exhausted with it ! It’s been a great cab and still pretty low miles for an 8 year old cab (194.000)
I did have problems with the starter motor a few years ago that were quite similar although you could hear the starter spinning slower that time. I still have the old stater so I might have it reconditioned and try that, at worst I’ll have a spare starter motor.