These Mercedes Engines Won't Last 100,000 Miles!

These Mercedes Engines Won't Last 100,000 Miles!

Mercedes Benz are absolutely amazing luxury cars, but there are some engines that could cause you some pretty big issues. Repairs are expensive with the Mercedes cars, and so we're identifying the worst Mercedes Benz engines available to you.

These cars won't make 100 000 miles as their reliability is suspect in a number of ways, and since most #Mercedes Benz luxury cars are #reliable, these are the very worst #engines from this great car company.

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[theminicooper]

0:32 M272 / M273 (Naturally aspirated V6)
2:12 0M651 (4 Cyl Turbo diesel)
3:18 M156 (6.2L V8 AMG)

[RossoFormula]

I have an E550 with the M273. I'm at 200K km now with almost no issues apart from the timing chain issue as you state, which is just a tensioner issue which causes the chain to stretch, and a single bad cam adjuster which needed replacement. I change oil every 5/6K instead of the recommended 15K by Mercedes. Very reliable motor.

[swm]

I work at a Mercedes dealership, and never had big problems with the 651 engine. The police in Holland drives like crazy with these engines.

[johnhoey]

I’ve owned 4 Benz, and their engines have all lasted 100K miles. And I now own a CLS400 4MATIC whose engine will certainly last beyond that arbitrary mileage point. CLS seems to be one of the most reliable Benz models to date. Yes, routine maintenance is costly. But I’ve never set up a GoFundMe page to ask for help with its upkeep. Life is too short to drive a boring car.

[IacobucciB]

The early M272/3 engines did have all the mentioned problems. However, later model years had updates to those issues (minus the manifold swirl valve) which made them near bulletproof. My 2009 S550 has 137k miles, and it runs like a top with no noise, and still nets 24mpg in quite a heavy car. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with turbochargers like the M275/M278 in these cars, but I am a little envious of the performance.

[eriposs]

M272... got 250000 miles on it and it runs like a charm, never had a big issue whatsoever, take care of it and it will not let you down.

[aaaabababa]

I haven't heard about OM651 engines fail before 160k km yet, the ones we get in the shop usually go strong up to around 400'000-500'000km before they start to get timing chain issues.

[chrisontiveros]

M272. Never had an oil leak. Not once. That’s why I love that car. Really reliable

[chrisontiveros]

I have a m272. 2006 c350. Car has always been super reliable since I first got it at 5k miles. Had to replace intake manifold at 160, 000 miles. But nothing at all close to replacing an engine.

[rvasilev]

OM651 is a flawless engine with mine now on 370K km and going strong. Not sure if americans are allowed to express opinions on euro diesel engines (:

[naimplate]

1:08 FYI, Interference engines are where the Piston on the up stroke will strike the open valves when the timing belt / chain breaks. Has nothing to do with the piston hitting the cylinder. Just thought I would mention that.

[RacedriverZ]

OM651 had some issues in the start, but later they became very good. I know of many that have gone over 300.000 miles. Most of the Mercedes in norway has this engine, from a-classes to Sprinters. I work on these daily, and never have we taken out the engine except for when we rarely change them

[brittonstockwell]

In my experience, 3 years as a sprinter technician, I have found that the om651 has some issues. All engine do. The 651 is one of our longest lasting engines that are available for sprinters. I have a dozen customers with 800, 000 miles plus on their 651. The timing chains do wear out around 150, 000 to 300, 000 miles depending on regular services.

[nobenznofun]

Om 651??? Wtf? These are among the most reliable Daimler engines in my experience. I had one as a taxi cab, I drove it up to 741000km and it was still going strong! And that's not the odd one out, countless taxi cabs in Europe run these engines well into the territory. I don't get how out of all engines that made it onto the list. And no it was not available in the cls. I would much rather suggest the M271 which is infamous for timing chain problems.

[dylanhein]

You listed 3 of the most reliable Mercedes engines ever built. My M273 is at 130k and is flawless. The sprocket issues were fixed relatively early in the production run, so they're pretty rare now. The intake manifold flaps are plastic ON PURPOSE. People that replace them with metal ones fail to see the underlying problem which is a small oil leak that can occur and start to gunk up the actuators. The flaps are supposed to break first to prevent further damage. Fixing the underlying problem (the oil centrifuge/drip pan) is less than $100 and takes less than an hour. Hardly serious. Early M156's had timing chain issues, which were then rectified. Now it's a legend that anyone who knows what they're talking about would absolutely LOVE to own. And the OM651? Could probably not change the oil in it for 30k miles and still have it run better than a new Chevy. I came here expecting to see new 4-cylinder turbo GLE engines, not the legends of Mercedes history. FWIW the M273 is the most powerful NA V8 Mercedes-Benz ever mass produced. The M156 is the most powerful NA V8 Mercedes-AMG ever mass produced (and for a long time held the world record there). These engines are nothing short of legendary. Good luck finding one that DIDN'T make it 100k miles unless it was completely neglected.

[martinsiebert]

My mom has a 2010 E-class with the OM651 engine... 260.000 miles and only repair was replacing the turbocharger. A lot in Europe has been used as taxa....if it was a very bad engine why would it be so popular?!

[hoaddict]

The om651 has issues, but it certainly lasts longer than pretty much every engine sold in your country.

[pawo]

M272 engine issues with the timing chain were primarily a supplier quality issue with the idler sprocket wearing down on some 2006-2007 produced engines, beyond that its main issues are cam position sensors (cheap but annoying) and that its just a boring engine, most of the vehicles it was installed within need more performance to be fun to drive and it just doesn't have the torque. In the smaller cars like the C-class it would be plenty. I've seen plenty of them with 150k-200k miles still going fine. An M272 or M273 dying under 100k would be very rare and likely due to owner neglect.

OM651 is a very solid engine, early units had a few issues with timing chains and the injectors as mentioned but this was remedied long ago and its since been a very solid engine. I own one myself and drive it hard every day, no issues at all and it has easily crossed 100k miles and counting at this point, zero leaks. I would recommend oil changes around 6-7k miles average and not the 10k+ MB claims you can do. The oil is pretty beat up by 7k miles in most driving situations due to the high power output for its size and the DPF regens. I've seen many OM651's with north of 200k miles, keep in mind they were installed in many sprinters that see heavy daily use.

M156 engines do have their issues its true, its also a far less common engine and being an AMG is going to be in situations often where its driven hard. I would not own one personally, there are better MB v8s available (and v12).

I would venture to guess this guy has never even turned a wrench on any of the engines he mentioned in this video, its all just stuff he googled and made a video about.

Mercedes “secretly” fixed all the issues on the M273 in 2008. I learned this before I purchased my CLS550 2008. This has been a problem free engine for 195k miles now.

[ronniepayne]

I have a 2008 ML350 W164 M272 with 210, 000 miles and it's been a great vehicle overall. I think most of the issues come from not taking care of the vehicles. For what it's worth.