They Said it Can't be Fixed - A Journey to the Inside of a Mercedes Bluetec

Short update on the ML.

Installed the ECU, plugged in the EGR and MAF sensors, deleted all of the fault codes, and took it for a ride. The car was now completely different to drive! Suddenly the gear shifts was smooth, and the torque was again even through the revolution register. And even better, after several kilometers of driving, there is no fault codes on the scanner  

But of course, I have to replace the turbo, and will do a job with cleansing the intakes, removing swirl flaps, and all that stuff. But now I will stop to pollute WAEs wonderful thread. At least until I have some new questions 

By the way, I found the rubber for the engine cover on Aliexpress if any of you need those.

In reply to Komodo :

Pollute away!  I like to think of this as an opportunity for group therapy.

Okay, so here is where I need to admit an embarrassing fact:  Not only can you speak my language better than I can speak yours, you can also speak my language better than I can speak my language.  You said EGR cooler.  I was thinking oil cooler.  So, yes, I think you're absolutely on to something in being able to remove that.  I agree that a bypass tube is probably the best way to go about that.

What I don't know, however, is what the benefit would be to removing the EGR and blocking it off versus just making sure it's shut and then tuning it out.

That noise is really weird, though.  It sounds like something in the driveline banging around, but it doesn't correlate to road speed or, really, even to engine speed.  I'd wonder if it were an accessory, but if it goes away when you unplug the MAF, that's even weirder.

The noise is accompanied with a high pitch turbo whine. I think that banged up turbo needs replaced ASAP. I'm concerned it will fail catastrophically, sending shrapnel into the intake or into the oiling system.

wae said:

In reply to Komodo :

Pollute away!  I like to think of this as an opportunity for group therapy.

Okay, so here is where I need to admit an embarrassing fact:  Not only can you speak my language better than I can speak yours, you can also speak my language better than I can speak my language.  You said EGR cooler.  I was thinking oil cooler. 

Ha ha, thanks And no, removing the oilcooler doesn`t make much sense  

So, yes, I think you're absolutely on to something in being able to remove that.  I agree that a bypass tube is probably the best way to go about that.

What I don't know, however, is what the benefit would be to removing the EGR and blocking it off versus just making sure it's shut and then tuning it out.

Have not decided yet, I`ll see what I end up doing. But as you say, removing the EGR probably does not help much. Not sure if it is any point to remove the EGR cooler either, I just thought it would be an advantage to simplify the system. We`ll see, what is most important is to make the car more reliable. 

That noise is really weird, though.  It sounds like something in the driveline banging around, but it doesn't correlate to road speed or, really, even to engine speed.  I'd wonder if it were an accessory, but if it goes away when you unplug the MAF, that's even weirder.

Yes, it`s weird. But now I have tried to unplug both the MAFs and the EGR several times, and the result is consistent; the noise disappears, and it does not go into limp. I can not anything but guess, but I can not see other reasons than the swirl flap system or the VGT system on the turbocharger. 

Anyways, the tuning and reprogramming of the ECU seems to be a success, and tomorrow I will start to demount parts. 

------------

FJ40Jim:

Unfortunately my hearing is permanently damaged on both ears, so I only hear the scraping noise. I do not hear the turbo whine you describe, but my daughter mentioned it. But I have got my hands on a used turbo that seems to be in good condition, so it will defiantly be replaced. It is actually the most important reason that I will do this job now. The secondary reason is to remove the swirl flaps and clean the manifold and the ports, and the third reason is to replace oil cooler seals and a few other service parts, like waterpump, generator pulley, belt tensioner etc. 

It's been really cold in Ohio of late. The OM642 has started up no problems. The cold idle seems very rough, especially when first dropped into reverse. I think that might be frozen liquid filled engine mounts. It becomes normal after 10minutes of operation.

The biggest cold weather problem staring me in the face (quite literally) is the LCD dash display. It seems to have developed a string of dead pixels. Anybody know if this is permanent or maybe will resolve itself after things get warmer in a month?

In reply to FJ40Jim :

That's interesting...  Mine kind of acts the same way.  A little noisy and rough for a bit and then it smooths out but only when it's stupid cold like it's been lately.

That looks very different from the dead pixels I've seen before...  I'm a bit concerned that it might not come back for you.

wae said:

In reply to FJ40Jim :

... but only when it's stupid cold like it's been lately.

What temperatures are you talking about? 

Komodo said:

wae said:

In reply to FJ40Jim :

... but only when it's stupid cold like it's been lately.

What temperatures are you talking about? 

Okay, fine, we're only talking about around 15°-20° which is around -9° Celsius.  But to me anything under about 80° is starting to get cold so....

We've had a few overnight lows of -20C and highs of -12C. Today it will warm up to -7 and the low will be -11C. The ML lives in a garage, but it's not heated or insulated, and it faces north, so it is very cold. We went on a little trip yesterday, total drive time about 4 hrs. During the drive the bad spot slowly moved up the display. The total area of bad pixels stayed about the same, so the defect was repairing itself while slowly percolating upwards. Hopefully it will continue heading up & off the display.

Okay, fine, we're only talking about around 15°-20° which is around -9° Celsius.  But to me anything under about 80° is starting to get cold so....

I see, then we have had the same temperature as you lately. -12 at the most, but mostly around -4. Today it is warm again (+5), and the forecast says no more cold weather in a couple of weeks. That suites me fine, because the Leaf is an icebox compared to the ML. But we live by the coast, so it is seldom very cold here. Not every year we see -20. 

But out of curiosity, do you use both Fahrenheit and celsius, or was it just out of politeness for a European? I understand that you still hold on to the imperial measuring system with inches, gallons etc. (really hard for us Europeans to understand )

I hope to have the ML on the road again soon, but today I had a little setback. Mounted the turbo, but forgot to put the cable harness back first  So I had to remove the turbo to put the harness down in the wally... I know the steel gaskets are for one time use, but after a consultant with a friend I decided to try to remount the turbo with the same gaskets. As he said, they have not been warm yet... 

Have also some more things left, among other tings generator pulley, water pump, filters, oil, etc. Folding my hands, and praying for the best...

In reply to wae :

The older I get, the more I respect Bob Poling wearing a heavy onesie work suit at rallycrosses, even in the summer.

Of course, I always seem to work with a bunch of polar bears who whine how hot it is when it's 70F out.

In reply to Komodo :

I can't speak your language, but I can at least do the math so you don't have to!  I prefer my fasteners to be metric, but I can only really think in inches, pounds, miles, and such.

That whole garbage with that wiring harness running under the turbo inlet is one of the most infuriating things about the OM642.  If they had simply routed that differently, they could take significant time off the R&R for the swirl motor.  And I want to say there was something else that would be easier to do if the harness wasn't stuck under the turbo, but I can't recall what it could have been at this point.

I think you'll be fine re-using those particular gaskets.  Getting the turbo connected to the exhaust and the EGR is a real pain, though.  I do not envy having to do it any more than absolutely necessary!

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to wae :

The older I get, the more I respect Bob Poling wearing a heavy onesie work suit at rallycrosses, even in the summer.

 

Of course, I always seem to work with a bunch of polar bears who whine how hot it is when it's 70F out.

One of the most insidious things about winter is how I find myself getting conditioned to be all excited about how "warm" it's going to be next week when it gets up to 40.

wae said:

In reply to Komodo :

I prefer my fasteners to be metric, but I can only really think in inches, pounds, miles, and such.

Thank you, that`s very interesting! In this part of the world the metric system is learned from birth, so it`s given for us. I think most Europeans shake their head of the imperial measuring system with all the fractions of inch etc. Inches was common here also earlyer, but was faded out between the 50s and the 60s. The only thing we use inch/feet for now is in plumping (threads on fittings) and the length of a boat  

I think you'll be fine re-using those particular gaskets.  Getting the turbo connected to the exhaust and the EGR is a real pain, though.  I do not envy having to do it any more than absolutely necessary!

Thank you once more, I feel that my stomac is starting to calm down a bit now  I of course agree about the bolting connection, but I found out a pretty simple way to do it the last time yesterday. I will put in some pictures in the end if you don`t feel that I am spamming your thread to much. 

But now it is nearly 9 am here in Norway, so it is time for a cup of coffee and get into the icebox (a white Leaf...) and go over to the garage. I have no place to work indoors on the ML, but was so lucky that a friend offered me to use his garage. Fully isolated, warm, bright, and a lot of tools  

It took me two days to read this absolute E36 M3 show of a thread while I've been sick. You guys are genuinely insane.

In reply to Komodo :

That brings up something I've wondered about....  Sockets.  Around here, sockets come in 4 common attachment sizes: ¼ inch, ⅜ inch, ½ inch, and ¾ inch.  So if I'm holding my impact gun I might ask for the ½" 19mm socket to remove some lug nuts but when I'm using the "regular" ratchet to take off a fender, I'd ask for a ⅜ 10mm.

What nomenclature do you use to differentiate between the different sizes of sockets?

accordionfolder said:

It took me two days to read this absolute E36 M3 show of a thread while I've been sick. You guys are genuinely insane.

...but in a good way, right? 😁

They cover it all here, in a humorous way - they call it 12.7mm (that's a 1/2"), 9.5mm (it's actually measured at 9.525m or 3/8), and 6.35mm drive (spoilers, it's 1/4"). So it's all the same, just different. "A Rose by any other name..."

wae said:

accordionfolder said:

It took me two days to read this absolute E36 M3 show of a thread while I've been sick. You guys are genuinely insane.

...but in a good way, right? 😁

lol, all I'll say is: I applaud your tenacity! ;)

wae said:

Around here, sockets come in 4 common attachment sizes: ¼ inch, ⅜ inch, ½ inch, and ¾ inch. 

.....

What nomenclature do you use to differentiate between the different sizes of sockets?

Ha ha, you got me there  That`s one more example where we still use imperial measures. All of our metric tools have inches on the sockets. The one you mentioned, and also bigger tools with 1" ad bigger in the industry. 

And as you say, I use 1/4" on small screws (M3 - M6), 3/8" on a little bigger ones (M5 - M10), and 1/2" scews/bolts/nuts from approximatley M10 and up. In really hard cases I have a 3/4" set, but it is very seldom I need that. 

When it comes to the use of metric measures on inches (as accordionfolder implicates), it is widely used in plumbing and pipes. Earlier all pipes came in imperial measures, but the standards have now been converted to metric. 

In reply to Komodo :

It's funny how stuff like that will stick around, isn't it?  What I think is even stranger is how they size tires.  The diameter of the wheel is in inches.  The width of the tread is in mm.  And then, what the hell, let's make the height of the sidewall a percentage.

@wae Thx so much for 11 pages (so-far) of MB Agony and Entertainment. 
Luckily I can only say that I've had a casual fling with a Bluetec GL350. I'm the Icon scanner nerd in my group of automotive misfits, so I've been called a few times to reset the "doomsday clock" on my friend's GL350... "Only one more start remaining!" Or something like that... The Shieb-Vagon belongs my friend's wife - and I haven't had to mess with it since they did the big emissions system recall fix thingie. Did that fix delete the DPF and EGR, or did they take a less Volkswagen vs EPA approach? 😎

Down here in Texas, we just delete everything... but I'm hoping GL350's have more class than the deleted coal-rolling F350 duallys that pick on poor little Prius's 😂

The MB "Emissions update" did not delete anything. It replaced the DPF and the DOC in the exhaust with new ones, replaced a bunch of other parts, like intake manifold, EGR, MAF, and most importantly, a new ECU with very updated programming.

There's a bunch of rumors in the diesel scene that the new administrator of EPA is gonna stop enforcing anti tampering laws, so it may be possible to get away with rolling coal soon. I would like to delete the DPF, DOC, EGR and DEF systems, just for increased reliability & MPG, but no soot please.

Yep, all that stuff and the intake manifold that they clog up got replaced as part of the settlement, but since the EPA was involved, there certainly wasn't any delete going on.

I was originally planning to have all that stuff tuned out since you can do that without kicking out massive clouds of soot, but I think those tuners have gotten harder to find lately.  And I figured that since I had 48000 miles of warranty, I'd take advantage of it. 

The word you're thinking of is schadenfreude, by the way 🤣

1) I saw a bluetec merc on the interstate and said a little prayer to the universe for them

2) I have a few projects that I'm worried about and when I get to spinning I think: "Wae rebuilt and fought Mercedes solo, I can probably manage this...."