Possible to clock a car before service?

Oonagh123

Hi,

I recently purchased a 2016 Mercedes (17k miles on the clock) from a local garage, I checked the service history and it all looked fine.

3 genuine Mercedes services - I rang the local Mercedes garage and they confirmed the services.

I've only got the car 3 weeks, barely drove the car as I was on holidays and the car lost power, engine management light came on along with "collision prevention assist plus inoperative". The car lost power randomly and would go down to 18 km/h. There is also a smell of diesel in the car.

Is is possible the previous owner might have clocked the mileage back before taking it to get serviced in the Mercedes garage?

biko

The car goes into limp mode. Possible connected to some problem with the fuel system.
That has nothing to do with the car's mileage.

As the management light comes on it means error codes have been stored in the car's computer. Take it to a mechanic and get the codes read.

Kenny Logins

Sounds like a bad sensor or connection somewhere.

Oonagh123

Thanks for your reply.

Someone mentioned to me that the miles is quite low on the car for a 3 year old ( they said the average miles on a car per year is between 10k - 15k, not under 6k per year), hence why I was a little bit concerned when the lights came on.

Henry Ford III

A faulty sensor can happen anytime.

If it's just that and it gets fixed quickly and fairly your troubles might be over. The mileage is low but that might not be such a terrible thing - if it's a diesel a few long runs will help.

TheWonderLlama

The smell of diesel might be from the dealer not replacing a washer in the injectors after service. Happened to me. Stink of diesel and carbon everywhere.

Casati

Highly unlikely that the original owner is going to clock the car before each service from new so can’t you having anything to worry about. plenty of drivers do small miles too

bazz26

I don't see how the current fault is related to or as a result of the car possibly being clocked. Faults can and do happen at any mileage/age.

Del2005

Oonagh123 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Someone mentioned to me that the miles is quite low on the car for a 3 year old ( they said the average miles on a car per year is between 10k - 15k, not under 6k per year), hence why I was a little bit concerned when the lights came on.

As you said the average is 10k to 15k. In order to get the average some cars will do more and some less. My Mother's car only does 3k or 4k a year, I barely make 10k in a year.

Bring it back to the dealer and get them to stick it on diagnostics to fix the problem. A car that new and recently purchased should not be having errors so they will have to fix it.

ash2020

The main dealers computer would be able to read the ECU for the true mileage, the mileage on the clocks could be digitally played around with, but the ECU is the brain of the car and it's my understanding that it needs to be physically removed and microchipped and requires a lot of risk.

As other users here suggested, a leaky injector seal, an air mass sensor or something else minor could be enough reason to send a car into limp mode ,

By the way, keep away from apple green and Tesco filling stations, some high end cars are sensitive to cheap quality diesel. That too is another reason for limp mode!

Let us know how you get on with the main dealers!

kirving

Oonagh123 wrote: »

I've only got the car 3 weeks, barely drove the car as I was on holidays and the car lost power, engine management light came on along with "collision prevention assist plus inoperative". The car lost power randomly and would go down to 18 km/h. There is also a smell of diesel in the car.

Not sure on the smell of diesel, but the collision prevention error could be one of a hundred things. Even a low battery for just a few seconds, or a dirty windscreen could cause an active safety system to error. I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

corks finest

Oonagh123 wrote: »

Hi,

I recently purchased a 2016 Mercedes (17k miles on the clock) from a local garage, I checked the service history and it all looked fine.

3 genuine Mercedes services - I rang the local Mercedes garage and they confirmed the services.

I've only got the car 3 weeks, barely drove the car as I was on holidays and the car lost power, engine management light came on along with "collision prevention assist plus inoperative". The car lost power randomly and would go down to 18 km/h. There is also a smell of diesel in the car.

Is is possible the previous owner might have clocked the mileage back before taking it to get serviced in the Mercedes garage?

Can go into limp mode for any number of reasons( my old fabia did when a brake light bulb and some sensor effort under the brake pedal went- cheap fix)

mickdw

If you have mercedes servicing that reflects the mileage, it's highly unlikely it's clocked as the owners of the car from new would have had to have been clocking it each time.
Besides, the fault you have got is not a high mileage issue.
It pretty sh1t that it's happened but not cause for mileage concern imo.
Has the car got it's original tyres on it?

ash2020

I once bought an ex hire Audi a4 back in 2008, it was 3 years old at the time, I bought it direct from the lease company in Dublin, it was on hire by 1 same company, it said 80k on the clock, after a few years had past, a friend of mine opened a garage and bought the latest diagnostic equipment scanner the 2k kit package, we put my car on it to scan for codes the true mileage appears at something like 440/450k!! I had personally done about 50k on it on the 3 years I owned it

Obviously who ever had the car before me, was charged by the mileage used , and gave it a whopping hair cut before the end of its lease, and each each time it was due its service!

Not saying this is what happened with this persons merc, but a good garage would be able to tell true mileage regardless of what a paper service manual shows

Keep us updated

mickdw wrote: »

If you have mercedes servicing that reflects the mileage, it's highly unlikely it's clocked as the owners of the car from new would have had to have been clocking it each time.
Besides, the fault you have got is not a high mileage issue.
It pretty sh1t that it's happened but not cause for mileage concern imo.
Has the car got it's original tyres on it?