All this work was carried out during the Corona Virus Pandemic and took me just over four weeks to complete. Although I had most parts here ready to go I still needed other bits & bobs. The postal service was rather slow and anyway we were on lock down so I just took my time and walked away if things got a little tough. There were one or two such moments.
I had obtained quotes for this work from Mercedes Independent Specialists and it came in as £2,800 including the fitting of a new turbo which they recommend.
If I went ahead without the new turbo it would be £1200.
I did manage to find a Mercedes Technician who worked from home and quoted around £360 as the book states it is a 10hr job and he charges a third of what his firm does per hour labour.
Now the biggest consideration here is what sort of a cleaning job would the experts have done? Plus none of them were amenable to Swirl Flap & EGR deletion.
So I decided to tackle the job myself. The total cost came in at £843.00p. The Turbo refurb alone was £348.00p courtesy of Turbo Dynamics whom I cannot praise enough. The cost for having the EGR mapped out was £120.00p. Although she didn't go into limp mode the EML did eventually come on. Other expenditure was £60 for my friendly local garage to tap out each swirl flap spindle aperture and close off using appropriately sized thread sealed stainless bolts and washers. There was a further £25 charge to make up an EGR blanking plate and to remove the snapped bolts on the turbo to exhaust side of things.
The most important thing I found was to take plenty of photographs of the strip down and to place components in the boot with the relevant bolts and fixings in situ.
The turbo and all ancillaries were removed in order to remove both inlet manifolds giving access to the oil cooler.
A new oil cooler was fitted together with a pair of uprated purple seals. I bought mine from Jeep as it came in at just over £57.00. Mercedes will cost you nearly three times more.
Both inlet manifolds and the EGR route were found to be quite full of sticky oily crud and it took me ages to get them cleaned out to my satisfaction. In fact six overnight soaks in a good quality oven cleaner. Yuck, it was awful in there.
It had always been my intention to delete the flimsy Swirl Flap System at the same time. I had been running the car for a few years on the resistor delete anyway and without any warning lights or issues.
I removed the six flaps and pivot pins and had my local friendly garage to tap out each aperture and seal them up with thread locked stainless steel bolts & washers.
Due to the amount of carbon and sludge in the inlets and EGR cooling system, I also decided to carry out an EGR delete at the same time, in order to make the system far cleaner for the future.
Whilst I was deep in there I also changed the water pump which did have some bearing noise evident when it came off. Again I purchased mine from Jeep @ £35.00.
Due to a couple of snapped bolts in the exhaust up pipes I also removed both exhaust manifolds in order to get the bolts removed. At the same time they were off I also renewed the dip stick tube oil seal which is another renowned seal prone to leak.
Do not listen to those who tell you that the dipstick tube will come out with the manifold in place. I tried all ways and failed.
The re-assembly consisted of all new gaskets. Most were genuine Mercedes except for a top quality Victor Reinz turbo set and a pair of Elring exhaust manifold gaskets.
New Mercedes Blue Antifreeze was used at a 50/50 dilution using de-ionised water in the process.
The engine oil was drained right out over a period of days and a new filter and Mannol engine oil were used.
The Fuel Filter was changed and both uprated K& N Air filters were cleaned and re oiled using the best J1 products. Amazing stuff.
Trust me, you will not believe the amount of muck inside the manifolds, around the swirl flaps and inside the egr cooling route. It took me a long long time to get it all clean so be prepared for this. In fact I used Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and did six applications and soaked overnight on each.
Be warned, there are some areas of concern. My main problems were; a bolt snapped in the right hand exhaust flange. A bolt snapped off in the turbo to exhaust 'Y' pipe. One of the small flexi EGR pipe bolts rounded out. Once again my friendly garage saved the day, but I had to remove the exhaust manifold which was relatively easy on the right side.
Some torque settings in relation to mounting the turbo and exhaust flanges appeared to be either not enough or too much so I used my own initiative. After all, the all important ones are 12nm on the oil cooler fixings and 19nm on the inlet manifold fixings.
Other points of interest; The turbo came off relatively easy by removing it with the rear mounting bracket, from turbo to engine block attached. However, I did experience difficulty refitting it with the bracket attached. I could not seat the turbo onto the tower without disturbing the new gasket. So I removed it and fitted it once the turbo was nipped down on the tower.
Others will suggest not to disturb the Egr small flexi pipe at the exhaust end due to the risk of snapping/ stripping the bolts. I found that I had to do this in order to get at one of the exhaust flange bolts.
I managed to get one of the bolts out but the other one rounded off. I had to buy a 2nd hand flexi pipe off ebay as I had caused damage moving the original on its flexi in order to get at the awkward exhaust bolt.
The longest part of the job was all the cleaning out of the inlet manifolds and EGR tract right around to the throttle body.
I had filled the new fuel filter with fresh diesel before fitting it. I would also stress that when refitting the six metal fuel lines, to fit the fuel rail end first and to constantly wiggle each pipe as you gently nip each one down. Then tighten the injector ends. I failed to do it this way and by the time I got fuel up nearly every one was leaking. And Boy, does it take a while to get it to fire up afterwards, so be warned.
All in all not a bad job to do its just so time consuming and a bit fiddly. But well worth every second when you see and feel the difference. Amazing!
I had obtained quotes for this work from Mercedes Independent Specialists and it came in as £2,800 including the fitting of a new turbo which they recommend.
If I went ahead without the new turbo it would be £1200.
I did manage to find a Mercedes Technician who worked from home and quoted around £360 as the book states it is a 10hr job and he charges a third of what his firm does per hour labour.
Now the biggest consideration here is what sort of a cleaning job would the experts have done? Plus none of them were amenable to Swirl Flap & EGR deletion.
So I decided to tackle the job myself. The total cost came in at £843.00p. The Turbo refurb alone was £348.00p courtesy of Turbo Dynamics whom I cannot praise enough. The cost for having the EGR mapped out was £120.00p. Although she didn't go into limp mode the EML did eventually come on. Other expenditure was £60 for my friendly local garage to tap out each swirl flap spindle aperture and close off using appropriately sized thread sealed stainless bolts and washers. There was a further £25 charge to make up an EGR blanking plate and to remove the snapped bolts on the turbo to exhaust side of things.
The most important thing I found was to take plenty of photographs of the strip down and to place components in the boot with the relevant bolts and fixings in situ.
The turbo and all ancillaries were removed in order to remove both inlet manifolds giving access to the oil cooler.
A new oil cooler was fitted together with a pair of uprated purple seals. I bought mine from Jeep as it came in at just over £57.00. Mercedes will cost you nearly three times more.
Both inlet manifolds and the EGR route were found to be quite full of sticky oily crud and it took me ages to get them cleaned out to my satisfaction. In fact six overnight soaks in a good quality oven cleaner. Yuck, it was awful in there.
It had always been my intention to delete the flimsy Swirl Flap System at the same time. I had been running the car for a few years on the resistor delete anyway and without any warning lights or issues.
I removed the six flaps and pivot pins and had my local friendly garage to tap out each aperture and seal them up with thread locked stainless steel bolts & washers.
Due to the amount of carbon and sludge in the inlets and EGR cooling system, I also decided to carry out an EGR delete at the same time, in order to make the system far cleaner for the future.
Whilst I was deep in there I also changed the water pump which did have some bearing noise evident when it came off. Again I purchased mine from Jeep @ £35.00.
Due to a couple of snapped bolts in the exhaust up pipes I also removed both exhaust manifolds in order to get the bolts removed. At the same time they were off I also renewed the dip stick tube oil seal which is another renowned seal prone to leak.
Do not listen to those who tell you that the dipstick tube will come out with the manifold in place. I tried all ways and failed.
The re-assembly consisted of all new gaskets. Most were genuine Mercedes except for a top quality Victor Reinz turbo set and a pair of Elring exhaust manifold gaskets.
New Mercedes Blue Antifreeze was used at a 50/50 dilution using de-ionised water in the process.
The engine oil was drained right out over a period of days and a new filter and Mannol engine oil were used.
The Fuel Filter was changed and both uprated K& N Air filters were cleaned and re oiled using the best J1 products. Amazing stuff.
Trust me, you will not believe the amount of muck inside the manifolds, around the swirl flaps and inside the egr cooling route. It took me a long long time to get it all clean so be prepared for this. In fact I used Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner and did six applications and soaked overnight on each.
Be warned, there are some areas of concern. My main problems were; a bolt snapped in the right hand exhaust flange. A bolt snapped off in the turbo to exhaust 'Y' pipe. One of the small flexi EGR pipe bolts rounded out. Once again my friendly garage saved the day, but I had to remove the exhaust manifold which was relatively easy on the right side.
Some torque settings in relation to mounting the turbo and exhaust flanges appeared to be either not enough or too much so I used my own initiative. After all, the all important ones are 12nm on the oil cooler fixings and 19nm on the inlet manifold fixings.
Other points of interest; The turbo came off relatively easy by removing it with the rear mounting bracket, from turbo to engine block attached. However, I did experience difficulty refitting it with the bracket attached. I could not seat the turbo onto the tower without disturbing the new gasket. So I removed it and fitted it once the turbo was nipped down on the tower.
Others will suggest not to disturb the Egr small flexi pipe at the exhaust end due to the risk of snapping/ stripping the bolts. I found that I had to do this in order to get at one of the exhaust flange bolts.
I managed to get one of the bolts out but the other one rounded off. I had to buy a 2nd hand flexi pipe off ebay as I had caused damage moving the original on its flexi in order to get at the awkward exhaust bolt.
The longest part of the job was all the cleaning out of the inlet manifolds and EGR tract right around to the throttle body.
I had filled the new fuel filter with fresh diesel before fitting it. I would also stress that when refitting the six metal fuel lines, to fit the fuel rail end first and to constantly wiggle each pipe as you gently nip each one down. Then tighten the injector ends. I failed to do it this way and by the time I got fuel up nearly every one was leaking. And Boy, does it take a while to get it to fire up afterwards, so be warned.
All in all not a bad job to do its just so time consuming and a bit fiddly. But well worth every second when you see and feel the difference. Amazing!
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