Aftermarket Batwing

[jshodgson]

Has anyone got any experience of using an aftermarket batwing in their V6? The sell them on eBay for about £220.

Clean Air Line w/ Air Mass Sensors for Mercedes OM642 V6 CDI W164 X164 ML320 | eBay

 

[W1ghty]

i Would be interested to hear the outcome , having seen the price of the MB ones .

 

[PhilG]

Bumping this thread instead of starting my own - I had a MAF code and my batwing was disintegrating anyway so I bought one of the China copy ones from eBay after cleaning my MAFs with specialist cleaning spray didn't resolve it. I fitted it and the car ran fine.

We're just back from France after doing 3000km in the car and now I have two codes I can't shake, and the check engine light is on. Performance otherwise unaffected (other than one morning in FR where I had some strange bucking from low speed which has now completely gone away).

I have 2645-1 (right hot film MAF sensor) value above limit. I cannot clear this with either of my computers (I have an iCarsoft and an proper LAUNCH X431).

Also have 2553-1 (monitoring of mean quantity adaptation plausibility). I can clear this but it comes back. I am tempted to buy a genuine batwing and send it back if it doesn't make any difference. Anyone have any other experience?

/edit: just remembered, I have done the 'quantity mean value adaptation data reset' a few times in order to clear this with no luck.

 

[PhilG]

Update - bought a real recon MB batwing on ebay. All codes and CEL gone away and stay away after reset. Going to try and send back the China copy one.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Interesting thread. What's the deal with the MAFs here, they are impossible to clean or change - when they die, do you really have to buy a whole new batwing? Anyone know the OEM cost?

 

[andyR43]

I had my batwing changed by MB Bath a couple of months ago for just over £1000 fitted (2012 E350cdi 265ps).

 

[PhilG]

Interesting thread. What's the deal with the MAFs here, they are impossible to clean or change - when they die, do you really have to buy a whole new batwing? Anyone know the OEM cost?

You can't buy the MAFs separately. You can get them out and clean them though yes.

Recon MB batwing: Genuine Mercedes-Benz OM642 Engine Turbo Air Intake With Air Mass A642090823780 758198039509 | eBay
This is an easy DIY to change as long as you have the torx sockets to get one of the airboxes off. 10 min job max.

Luckily I got a refund on my China copy one. Avoid these!

 

[MrGreedy]

This sounds like disgusting profiteering from Mercedes.

In my experience, Mercs seem to be very sensitive to electrical sensor quality (brand?).
I could imagine a possible solution if it could be physically achieved, would be to buy the Chinese batwing, and replace the MAF sensors with ones removed from an appropriate Bosch MAF sensor unit e.g. an Astra van or whatever has the same sensor. Something like this is also an option for the Alfa 145s, as the high volume MAF sensor was one quarter of the price of one specifically for the Alfa, but the only difference was the body.
In this OM642 case, the difficulty is working out which high volume cheap Bosch unit has the same sensor, and working out which sensor would be compatible.


Possibly a lot of faff, but £1000 seems, well, disgusting (no offence intended to you @andyR43 )

 

[DSM10000]

I had my batwing changed by MB Bath a couple of months ago for just over £1000 fitted (2012 E350cdi 265ps).

The MAF assembly doesn't cost £1000.

What other work was included in that?

I bought a new MAF assembly from MB Edinburgh last year which included a £230 refund after I sent the original unit back because MB refurbish then.

The cost to me after receiving the surcharge back was around £290

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

£290 sounds almost ‘too cheap’ for MB!

My batwing has little cracks on both holes that accept the ‘nipple’ of the red/orange turbo seal. This means that, due to the forward pull of the design, plus the vibrations and the expansion and contraction of then snipped plastic, it essentially snips the nipple off (ouch) the top and bottom.

Next time I have the batwing off again (next couple of weeks) I’ll also be checking it for general holes/splits in the rubbery plastic.

Im also not 100% in love with the tightness of the seal for the new design PCV…

So a new batwing would be brilliant for me, even to stop the stress of having to check the big seal all the time

As an aside, next time I’m at the parts counter I’d love to find out how much the two bits of thick foam cost - the ones on top of the fuel rails/injectors, on each side of the engine… unless any of you kind chaps know?!

 

[DSM10000]

£290 sounds almost ‘too cheap’ for MB!

It was a refurbished unit according to MB Edinburgh.

I was told all of the MAF units are being refurbished where possible to reduce the cost of the part.

 

[andyR43]

The MAF assembly doesn't cost £1000.

What other work was included in that?

I bought a new MAF assembly from MB Edinburgh last year which included a £230 refund after I sent the original unit back because MB refurbish then.

The cost to me after receiving the surcharge back was around £290

I'll double check when I get home this afternoon and give a breakdown of what MB Bath charged me for a new unit.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hope it’s not too OT, but does anyone have any instructions on how they cleaned the MAF sensors? Do you just spray MAF cleaner into each side of the intake, vaguely pointing at the sensors?

 

[DSM10000]

Hope it’s not too OT, but does anyone have any instructions on how they cleaned the MAF sensors? Do you just spray MAF cleaner into each side of the intake, vaguely pointing at the sensors?

As they are quite delicate that's all that I would do.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

FYI I called up MB Cardiff and for my particular variant of 642 engine (late 2009 E350 231bhp), it's £468+VAT (£561.60) for the batwing/air intake, and there's no exchange program available (at least from MB Cardiff with my particular car/engine)

 

[DSM10000]

FYI I called up MB Cardiff and for my particular variant of 642 engine (late 2009 E350 231bhp), it's £468+VAT (£561.60) for the batwing/air intake, and there's no exchange program available (at least from MB Cardiff with my particular car/engine)

Mine is the OM642, the same as yours. The only difference is that mine is the 221hp E320

Have you got the part number?

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

I don't have the part number at hand I'm afraid as I was speaking to the MB parts department about something else and just asked about the batwing (which everyone has a different name for!) out of curiosity while I had them on the phone.

But, all the OM642 batwings aren't the same - I've noticed on eBay and in pictures online that the batwing on the 211 looks a bit different to the 212. So you'd have to pull the number from the unit itself. I do think the batwing is the same on the 231bhp and 265bhp 350 engines, as it looks exactly the same on my car and on my father's 265bhp E350, but the 211 definitely looks different.

Not sure if it's just a small aesthetic change, or if they're interchangeable, or if the difference is bigger. Also not sure about the newer OM642 with the adblue as I haven't seen one of those engines.

I'm going to be poking around my engine today or tomorrow so can actually look at the part number off my own unit, if that's any help!

 

[DSM10000]

Sorry for the confusion.

I thought you had the W211 and hadn't realised that you had a W212!

 

[andyR43]

Here's a copy of my invoice from MB Bath.
£87.00 +VAT for fault code reading
£756.00 +VAT for air mass sensor replacement
Total cost inc VAT £1011.60

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

I guess that's the £561 + £170+ for an hour's labour?