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Hi, I purchased a relatively expensive Mercedes AMG car through a dealer. The vehicle had an inconsistency between the MVR and the odometer reading which the dealer forgot to disclose and I have been working through that with NZTA (and in the MVDT) to get it resolved. However, some documents have just come to light which show the dealer had expert advice the "vehicle's engine should not be run or engine damage will occur". When they sold it to me, they said it had an injector issue and did not run as well as they would like. I have a question about how long engine damage would occur- there is nothing that I know of yet but I don't think I can buy an after market warranty now without telling the warranty provider that the vehicle was run prior to the repair of the injectors because I did not know that engine damage 'would occur'. In your opinion, how long could it take for such damage to manifest? How likely is it that some long term engine damage has occurred, given the advice to the dealer which was not passed on? I need to get a feel for this as I'm really worried that the engine will fail sooner or later...

Hi there,
It would depend on what was occurring while the problem existed - did the injector starve or flood the engine of fuel?.
Either one has the potential for issue, more so if fuel starvation occurs, the vehicle was a turbo and driven hard. This can cause the engine to run too lean and potentially cause piston damage, (which would usually happen at the time)
Unless the engine is stripped and checked it really is impossible to tell if any damage has occurred.

Hi, thanks for that. Yes, after driving for 15 mins, the engine started missing and the engine was starved of fuel. It is a V8 twin turbo handbuilt engine so it sounds like I am right to be worried.

Hi Cade, how will I go about getting advice more formally from the AA about this issue- of a kind I can use with the MVDT.

Hi there,
Please email aatech@aa.co.nz and we can discuss further.