I'm astonished how different the ancillaries are on this vs the OM642 in my GL350. Mine really doesn't burn any oil, and I'm trying to keep it that way. So I'm very interested to see how your EGR 'delete' works also. My emissions components are still covered by extended warranty (bluetec settlement) but I'd like to reduce failiure points long term.
In reply to wae :
It was all going a bit too smoothly. About 60 mi after the rebuild I was on the freeway yesterday only 5 miles from home when I got a battery light. I thought okay the alternator is not charging I could probably make it home... and a few seconds later the power steering went out, pulled off the freeway and shut it down immediately. Pop the hood, lots of smoke burnt rubber smell. The alternator locked up and shredded the serpentine belt. AAA towed me home.
The alternator is a bit crispy.
It looks like the front bearing in the alternator failed. The shaft is shifted to one side. This is the same alternator I pulled out of the van before the build. The alternator was very greasy so I degreased it during the engine rebuild. I probably degreased the front bearing as well. Yet another self-inflicted wound.
I have a spare alternator from the JY engine which is just as greasy but at this point I'm just going to order a new one. I can't be trusted with engine degreaser.
Ouch! That is one toasty alternator. I guess the upside is that it should be a fairly easy fix. Was the pending code related to the alt or is something else stalking you?
wae said:Ouch! That is one toasty alternator. I guess the upside is that it should be a fairly easy fix. Was the pending code related to the alt or is something else stalking you?
Pending "P2545-001: M16/42 throttle valve actuator open circuit in wiring". I'm not sure if the alternator failure damaged wiring to the TB or it's related to the TB plate I removed. I was able to actuate the TB through the scan tool and I have a good signal on live data. Still no limp home mode or CEL yet. Maybe it'll trigger the CEL after a certain number of key cycles.
This has been a saga lol, so.. Mercedes Blutec would you say what they say is right?
A smattering bit of success today. It's been 5,000 miles since the first post-break-in change - and just over 6,000 miles on the rebuild - so it was time to put in some fresh Liqui-Moly. I got one of the Mity-Vac air-powered fluid evacuators so I didn't have to put it in the air and that is a very nice way to get oil out of an engine. Measuring the oil that came out, I got very nearly the entire 9 litres that went in 5,000 miles ago, so no significant oil consumption. I also inspected all the pleats in the filter and there was basically nothing there but oil. So at least all of that is on track.
Of course, the way things are going right now it couldn't all be good news: The alternator is starting to make some noises, so I think I'm going to need to pull it out and have it rebuilt sooner rather than later.
wae said:A smattering bit of success today. It's been 5,000 miles since the first post-break-in change - and just over 6,000 miles on the rebuild - so it was time to put in some fresh Liqui-Moly. I got one of the Mity-Vac air-powered fluid evacuators so I didn't have to put it in the air and that is a very nice way to get oil out of an engine. Measuring the oil that came out, I got very nearly the entire 9 litres that went in 5,000 miles ago, so no significant oil consumption. I also inspected all the pleats in the filter and there was basically nothing there but oil. So at least all of that is on track.
Of course, the way things are going right now it couldn't all be good news: The alternator is starting to make some noises, so I think I'm going to need to pull it out and have it rebuilt sooner rather than later.
That's excellent oil consumption. So you kept the breaking oil 1000 miles? I was debating how long to wait until I change the breakin in oil. Also what oil are you using?
In reply to Glutton4pain :
Yeah, I kept it in for a little longer than I have in the past. I just used Mobil 1 ESP for the break in and then switched over to the Liqui Moly 5W30 Longtime High-Tech from FCP Euro with the Mahle filter. My main motivation there is to leverage the lifetime replacement guarantee to keep my operating costs down.
Went to take a quick trip to the grocery store and the bank today and didn't make it out of the driveway. The on board thermometer says it's -1 right now and it's been below zero for several hours. I turned the key and waited for the glow plug light to go out and then started it. It fired right up and idled fine while I set the defrosters and turned on the seat and steering wheel heaters. It was making a little bit of a whining noise that was weird and I thought it might be the automatic wipers trying to push frozen blades. I turned off the wipers and got out to clear the windshield and while I was doing that, it died. The weird whine is the fuel pump and it won't restart. I'm guessing something in the fuel line is frozen up.
I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to unfreeze whatever that is. If I had a space heater that would fit under the car, maybe I could warm it up enough to melt whatever is blocking the fuel. It's not supposed to get above freezing until Tuesday so I guess I'm going to need to figure something out....
In reply to wae :
Ugh, it is cold here also, -7°F this AM. The TDI is in the house garage, plugged into batt tender & block heater, full tank of winter diesel (not the usual B20) & Power service winter additive & sitting on 4 Yokohama IceGards. Bring it on winter!
The MB is parked in the semi-heated shop, but has 1/2tank of B20. It can just sit there for the next 4 days.
Put some treatment in and gave it a couple hours. Still nothing. I've built a little bit of a skirt around the bottom and put a space heater under there. Not sure that will be enough. I may have to have it towed over to the shop so it can sit in the warmth long enough to thaw.
An hour and a half with the heater under the car seemed to do the trick. I'm filling up the tank now and adding a little more of the anti-gel so that hopefully this problem doesn't reoccurr.
Slapped a new alternator in it today. Sooooo much quieter! The old one's pulley was just grinding away.
Just for you.
Got another one. And a bad injector, which was plain as day with my scope.
And found another injector had a combustion leak so I get to do another one...
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
If I did something that caused my om642 karma to rub off on you, I apologize.
In other news, I just completed a 900ish mile journey to Daytona Beach. Absolutely no drama, except it drank all its DEF.
Man, that's gotta feel good. Still looks sharp, too.
That's great news! I hope it serves you well for many miles to come.
Sprinter with it's newly rebuilt engine got it's first post breakin oil change at 300 miles. I decided to use Delvac 15w40 synthetic because of the more rubust additive package and my warm climate. The DPF can take one for the team.
I sold the old long block for cheap to the owner of another 08 Sprinter with a locked up engine. I gave him full disclosure about the crazy oil consumption and he's planning to rebuild it. Glad to see it go to a good home. I believe my old engine was manufactured some time in early 2016 because the oil cooler was made in late 2015 and there's no sign of oil leaks from it (updated seals from day 1)
Also installed the oil pressure gauge. For those just joining us now, Mercedes in it's infinite wisdom decided the om642 didn't need an oil pressure gauge, not even a low pressure warning light. You get nothing!
In reply to Glutton4pain :
Hmm, an oil pressure gauge would be a pretty good idea. Funny that they have an oil level sensor but don't care about pressure.
Lack of concern for oil pressure is a German thing. Instead, many German cars I've seen have oil temperature gauges. Must be an Autobahn necessity? That, and oil coolers.
...and it made it home!
The internal mileage calculator is rather optimistic, but even at around 22 or 23 mpg, it has enough legs to go nearly 600 miles on a single fill.
Next up, I need to deal with the check engine light. I think it's something that should be covered by the warranty, but I need to prepare myself to go deal with those people again.
Quick update to bump this back up.
The ML350 has been sitting here for 2 months while I put off diagnosing problems that seemed to all be related to the rear BodyControlModule, or SAM as M-B likes to call it. I finally got motivated and pin tested the 10+ codes the BCM kept barfing up. Found no actual faults. Was ready to mail the BCM to a place that said they can fix it, but when I called about mailing it in, he suggested that I find a used module with the same option codes, i.e. diesel, LED lights, trailer electrics, power lift gate, etc. He said the module is not VIN locked to the vehicle, which surprised me.
So I decided to get one off eBay where the JY gave me the VIN to run thru lastvin.com to get the list of options on the donor vehicle. It had most of the same configuration as my vehicle.
The good news is it showed up quick, plugged right in and immediately restored all taillights & power lift gate functions. The bad news is now the passenger power seat is completely inop. So it is less bad than it was, but still not good enough. I may have to break down & go to the MB dealer to get a new module coded to the vehicle. We'll see....
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Ugh... Other than forcing you to spend money on dealer labor and reducing the availability of used parts, is there any actual purpose to having modules that are vehicle-coded? Or is this "for the children" to "make it harder to steal"? I could see wanting to specifically code things like the PCM, especially if that held a copy of the odometer or something, but who the berkeley cares if the module that runs the seats and the tail lights has the right VIN on it?
I'll add my own update: Did another oil change yesterday and managed to screw up my order from FCPEuro: Somehow I only ordered myself 7 liters of oil instead of 9. Naturally, I discovered that after I had sucked the oil out of the car, so it's got 2 liters of Mobile 1 ESP in it along with the Liqi Moly.
Also really need to see about getting an updated copy of STAR/DAS that knows about the post-AEM PCM so I can check the codes and see what's up. My regular code reader is giving me an O2 sensor code now and it seems to think it's the one I just replaced, so not sure what's up with that. I'm also starting to get a little bit... concerned about the settlement check. I submitted at the end of September, gave them revised documentation that they asked for in November, and haven't heard a word. Their "check on claim status" email is just a generic "claims are processed in the order they are received" so I dropped an email to the attorney, Shelby, this morning to see if she can tell me what's up. Basically, I'm not interested in spending another dime on this thing until I get my check.
Some of the modules are VIN locked to the vehicle: PCM, Immo, ignition key, cluster, transmission. The rear SAM is definitely not VIN locked, so that's good. But it is option coded to the vehicle and runs many of the body functions.
The error on my new/ used SAM is the seat option code. My original is listed as 'Pass pwr memory seat' and the donor is listed as 'driver mem seat, pwr column, mirrors'. When I read the option codes associated with new module I saw the driver memory seat and thought that was all good. Now I realize that the code for pass memory seat implies that the vehicle has driver seat, and adds the pass memory seat. There's a youtube video of a guy changing option coding in a rear SAM with an aftermarket scan tool on an '09 GL, but even the aftermarkt tool is real money. It can also be done with DAS software, which like Xentry requires downloading an virus infested copy into a discardable laptop.
Wae, is there a chance the O2 code is legit, i.e. is there a melted wire, lazy sensor, leak in exh pipe, etc?
In reply to FJ40Jim :
There is absolutely a chance that the o2 code is legit. The wiring doesn't look melted, but I could have gotten a bad sensor. The dealer is the last one to have touched the exhaust - other than replacing the O2 - and I'm absolutely certain that they couldn't have possibly done anything wrong ever since they're the best techs in the Whole Wide World if you just ask them. It's also possible that it could be a left-over code that my cheap-o generic scanner is picking up.
If you want to give Vedamino or whatever it's called a try, let me know. I haven't played with it yet because it looks complicated and I'm lazy, but "in theory" you should be able to use that to code the SAM.
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