E220 CDI Loss of Power!!!

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Asif Kazani

Active Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
132
Location
Karachi
Car
Toyota Crown GRS180, W126 300 SD, Toyota Prado KDJ120, Toyota Vitz (Yaris) KSP 90.
I think I may have an issue with the Air Mass on my car. Yesterday, for most part of the day, my car did not downshift and was extremely low on power. However, upon heading back home from my office in the evening, it operated just fine. I am inclining towards the Air Mass but not sure whether these cause intermittent problems or not. The weather here has also been getting extremely hot here for the last week. Any thoughts??????Year 2000Mileage 20k miles.
 
It could be the MAF but they normally cause teh gearbox to downshift due to the loss of torque, more likely this could be the turbo wastegate sticking open thus bleeding off the boost.
If it is sticking it needs lubricating with high temperature grease.
 
Thanks Dieselman. I think that the Turbo Wastegate sticking open would definately rob off lot of power but would it cause the car to be in limp home mode? I had to manually downshift and hold gears to keep it revved up since my car won't go above certain RPMs when driven in auto mode. Also, no smoke when holding gear and depressing accelerator unlike normally when it does smoke when you boot it.
 
It could be either.
If the MAF is faulty there will be less fuel injected and if there is no boost then also there will be less fuel.
 
Guys, I would appreciate all the inputs on this one now since I had the car diagnosed this evening. As soon as I started the car at my office to head home, I felt the same symptoms i.e. lack of power and no smoke. I headed straight to my friend's workshop and we had the car hooked up to Star Diagnosis. The fault came up as P1189-016 Inlet port shut off motor (M55). The fault was stated as current and last times occurance was also stored in the computer. It was time for him to close for the weekend so we could not really go deep in it. All we could figure out that there is an inlet port switchover valve and there is a unit under the intake manifold. It could also be the Hot Film MAF, as the Star phrased. Please help me out all of you guys. I'll really appreciate it since this thing is driving me crazy.
 
Asif
Not sure about this but isn't there a valve that acts as a throttle flap to increase vacuum for the EGR to work better/ If it is stuck shut it will restrict the air into the engine. Strange though because that would normally make lots of EGR smoke.
 
I had a chat with a gentleman who works at the local MB Parts Department here at the main dealership. I must clarify that there is only one company who has enjoyed Mercedes' Sole Distribution in Pakistan for over 60 years and has dealerships across the nation. According to him, the narration in the EPC is servo motor and that it is mounted under the intake manifold. He was unaware of the correct function or it being referred to as the Inlet Port Shutoff Motor by Star Diagnosis. This item, according to him has warranted replacement in a number of CDI engined cars, for some reason that he is unaware of. Since we were talking about my car, I asked him about replacement of CATS or EGR Valves and he says that the cats have got some sort of ceramics in them and they shall be replaced when they start to rattle, there is nothing more to it. Regarding the EGR, he does not remember them being replaced in any of the few CDIs that are in Karachi, Pakistan.
I am planning to have the EGR Valve alongwith it's tube and the servo motor dismantled, cleaned and serviced at my friend's workshop since the parts are unavailable in Pakistan and labor is way cheap in the third world not to try this.

Any ideas please??????????
 
Last edited:
Asif Kazani said:
Guys, I would appreciate all the inputs on this one now since I had the car diagnosed this evening. As soon as I started the car at my office to head home, I felt the same symptoms i.e. lack of power and no smoke. I headed straight to my friend's workshop and we had the car hooked up to Star Diagnosis. The fault came up as P1189-016 Inlet port shut off motor (M55). The fault was stated as current and last times occurance was also stored in the computer. It was time for him to close for the weekend so we could not really go deep in it. All we could figure out that there is an inlet port switchover valve and there is a unit under the intake manifold. It could also be the Hot Film MAF, as the Star phrased. Please help me out all of you guys. I'll really appreciate it since this thing is driving me crazy.

The fault code is for a small solenoid motor. It is located on the underneath of the inlet manifold and is tricky to get to. It controls the inlet port shut off valves.

2 things normally go wrong, either the motor or the arms connected to it. You can check via Star Diagnostics. If you go to Actuations section, and activate the port shut off motor. You should be able to see the arms moving. If not its the motor. MB do a repair kit if its the arms.
 
Got my car back yesterday morning after a long day and night. My friend and his crew were working on the car till midnight when we all decided to call it quits and they promised to start on it at 7 a.m. and have the car delivered to me by 10 a.m. Basically we started with the EGR valve and the feed assembly to the EGR but looking at things, decided on removing the intake manifold, the intercooler and related plumbing so that everything is cleaned out.
There was unbelievable amount of carbon and gunk in the EGR and intake manifold. Upon removal of the intake manifold, we noticed, as KLP 92 (Nav) had mentioned, that the main arm from the Inlet Port Shut Off Motor had gotten disconnected from the main bar that is connected to the inlet ports and in course of its routine operational cycles, probably got caught with the main arm and got two of the ports disconnected. This caused two of the ports to either stay shut, stay open or partially open depending on the vaccum being generated inside the manifold causing drivability problems. I am not sure but I think when the EGR Valve opens, the ports are supposed to shut compensating for the inlet gas. The EGR offcourse had so much carbon that the inlet diameter had shrunk by over 60% thereby suffocating the motor. We washed and cleaned everything with Kerosene (more than 8 Litres of it!!!!) and got it assembled after air drying it. Since the motor repair kit is not readily available, we decided on a short cut and made a tiny hole through the pivot in the main arm and the notch to the bar the is connected to all the four ports, tying this with a fine wire since the pivot on the main motor arm had gotten slightly worn out and won't stay in the notch to the main bar. The car now has gotten all the torque back (couldn't believe how long I drove without it) and feels fantastic. As far as smoking while engaged in D at a traffic light, it is occasionally doing it. I now have two more suspects i.e. the MAF and the Turbo. I still have doubts about the latter since the car has very low miles and just as in andreas' case, I am not losing any oil. God! Why do I keep buying Mercedes' over and over and over again????????????????
 
Last edited:
I also have a few pictures but just can't seem to be able to upload them. All of them are over 300kb and I guess the limit is 100kb???? I wonder how you guys are doing it since I have seen similar quality pics in threads before.
 
Glad its all sorted! Must get around to fixing my diesel as well, am also suffering from lack of torque!
 
Hi Guys,
It appears that Asif's experience of EGR breakdown due to carbon buildup is common in some diesel engines with EGRs. I therefore have following questions:-
a. What is the root cause of the carbon buildup in the EGR system, why not in other parts of the exhaust sytem?
b. If it is fuel and engine oil related why is the problem not commonly experienced in some non Mercs turbo diesels with EGRs?
c. At what mileage is the buildup likely to be an issue in a diesel Mercs?
d. What driving or operational techniques can be employed, to minimise or delay the buildup?
e. Is there any chemical or additive that can be used so as to automatically clean the carbon as you drive?
f. Has anyone heard or tried what some term as "Carbon Filter/Basket" for the EGR. Is there one for a Mercs? Does it really work?
g. Does MB have a design solution around this problem?
 
Firstly, remember using EGR is a poor method of lowering the Nox at idle. All cars equipped with EGR suffer coking of the inlet, some more than others and direct injection diesels seem to suffer a lot.

The crud is a mixture of the soot from the exhaust mixing with the oil from the breather in the intake.

Asif suffered more than most due to the high sulpher diesel in Pakistan causing more smoke than in the UK, hence more soot and coking.

If your car never idled it would help but there is no real answer other than having the EGR percentage reduced. I'm not sure if this can be done on the MB cars but can on VW ranges.
 
The fault code is for a small solenoid motor. It is located on the underneath of the inlet manifold and is tricky to get to. It controls the inlet port shut off valves.

2 things normally go wrong, either the motor or the arms connected to it. You can check via Star Diagnostics. If you go to Actuations section, and activate the port shut off motor. You should be able to see the arms moving. If not its the motor. MB do a repair kit if its the arms.


Can anybody tell me the part number for the motor arm repair kit?

many thanks

Steve
 
You don't need the part number. Just phone your local MB dealer and ask for it. They will look it up for you.
 
Hi Olly

The reason I asked was that I was told that it would need a new manifold as it comes all assembled with the plastic arm in place.
This is either true or it could be that if you had the spares kit and you remove the old manifold and find the gates are knackered then you would need the job lot anyway.
Could that be right?

Mine could be on the way out so I am looking at how to solve the problem when it happens.

Thanks for the info

Steve
 
Had the same problem, was the turbo actuator, you can see it move up and down, lack of movement means a problem, resolve is to use turbo cleaner to decoke it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom