ML270 loss of power

[winterman]

Hi all, was away camping this weekend ,when on a trip i had a loss of power when going up a hill also noticed a cloud of black smoke coming from the rear,now car has no kick down very sluggish will climb to speed eventually,mpg is still good no other symptoms other than lack of top end speed its normal up until about 40mph then it just levels out with no grunt
ps i have heard it could be the MAF sensor but dont know what it looks like or where it is ?

 

[Dieselman]

EGR valve stuck open, inlet port motor stuck shut, boost pipe blown off or split, or blocked Cat.
I suspect a split or blown off pipe, check the ones after the turbo.

 

[Justin1600]

EGR valve stuck open, inlet port motor stuck shut, boost pipe blown off or split, or blocked Cat.
I suspect a split or blown off pipe, check the ones after the turbo.

+1

Likely to be the top intercooler pipe split on the inlet manifold side

 

[jay1983]

I recently replaced above mentioned pipe. Easy DIY job and only £42 from merc dealer.

 

[winterman]

where is the pipe you mentioned on the car ?,i took of what i think is the air inlet pipe which runs to a metal piece dont know what its called it was caked in oil and grime took the maetal bit off and cleaned it and the pipe ,the pipe am talking about is about inch and a half with one metal end on it ,please if you can post a picture and does anybody know where the maf sensor is ?

 

[winterman]

have now cleaned the egr which i have worked out what it was ,cleaned the maf aswell but still no kick down have noticed oil running down the side of the block from the manifold intake ,does anybody know where i can get a manifold from ? thanks in advance

 

[jay1983]

Best place for manifold would be mb. Approx £300. Do a google search or search on here for numerous threads on this subject. It is definitely the Achilles heel of the ml270!

I need to replace mine, am gonna do it DIY and from what I've read it takes a competent diyer 1-2 days to replace. An indie will prob charge 4-5 hours labour.

There is a good write up on here from a member called shudesh. It's well with a read.

 

[winterman]

yeah m8 have read that thread its very detailed and the bloke sudesh has done a great job ,was thinking about tools needed for the job do you know whats required? would be appreciated ,am confident that i could do it myself ,i am a spray painter to trade but the old man is a mechanic he is old school though and at 70 his days of gettting dirty hands and lying on cold floors are well done and in the past ,if its not got points and plugs as he say he is knackered and if you need a technician he just laughs and says i remember when we used to repair and re-use parts or fabricate new ones ourselves and the parts department was the local motor factors

 

[jay1983]

It looks pretty straight forward tbh it's just a case of bein methodical I think.
When I changed the thermostat on mine I had a good poke round and from the looks of things a basic ratchet set with a selection of female torx sockets should enable you to do 95% of the work. I don't think it requires any specialist tools.

 

[winterman]

car is going into garage tomorrow for diagnostic just to be sure that it is the inlet manifold will post up tomorrow and let everybody know what happens

 

[winterman]

well car has been in and i think the code he said that came up is p1168 which i was told was the inlet manifold ports not operating ,the tech also said that when he reset the code and tried to get the flaps to move they just didnt work or move at all ,so my next question is how would i test to find out if the motor was still working ?,when i strip the manifold out the tech said it would be all gummed up with oil and gunk and if i gave it a good clean and nothing was broken on it just re-fit it making sure all the flaps move freely,but i would like to know that the actuator motor is working any ideas ??

 

[Richie270]

It could be the linkage between the flaps has broken or the motor indeed has failed. I would have thought the tech might have heard the motor if it was trying to move the flaps when he manually actuated on his test unit.
My 270CDI have seized manifold flaps and two flaps had dropped out and turbo boost leaked out of the empty axle holes causing whooshing sound and then limp mode. A new manifold was £350 or so plus 4 hours labour to fit. Now back to full power and I have done the egr shunt so my new manifold stays nice and gunge free.

 

[winterman]

what is involved in the egr shunt ? what do you need to fit to the car in place of the egr?Did you notice a big power improvement when you fitted the new manifold ?

 

[winterman]

hi all well thats the manifold out having a look at it its not that badly gunked up but what i have noticed is that the long linkage bar that snaps onto each flap at the underneath of the manifold the one nearest the front of the car half of the retaining clip is missing ,going to give everything a good steam clean so i can have a closer look and clean out the ports on the side of the engine aswell ,does anybod know how to check if the actuator motor underneath is working or not ,thanks in advance for the info

 

[winterman]

Howdy ,thats the manifold all clean now ,my god its a hell of alot lighter now all that crap and oil are out of it,alot more gunk than what i thought ,took the manifold to local garage and the guy who read the codes for me said he would take out the flaps and mod it for me for 30-40quid, he said he uses bungs instead of tapping and using a bolt apparently he does the same mod on BMWs ,he knew what i wanted straight away and as a bonus he has owned an ML270 himself result :bannana:

 

[jay1983]

How long did it take to remove the manifold? Any tips??

 

[winterman]

the tools i used were E10torx for nearly all the bolts, E12 torx for the black bracket underneath which you need to drop down out of the way to make room to get the manifold out ,a long and short extension bar and ratchet and a plain screw driver for the jubilee clips also had a long nosed pair of pliers to extract the bolts once undone if you have big sausage fingers like me and cant reach them ,oh and have a good camera on your phone or digital to take pictures along the way to remind you how everything fits back in just as a reminder and it took me about 3 and a half to 4 hours but was taking my time so as not to break anything also make sure you disconnected all the wires before trying to remove the manifold ,for some reason merc have decided to route wires and hoses inbetween the pipes when it would have been easier to route them around ,dont figure

 

[winterman]

well the manifold is back in and everything is connected and topped up,took it for a blast down the m8 and my goodness gracious me the old dog was flying so the actuator motor must be ok and the manifold is air tight as i replaced the 5 seals and the seal where the boost pipe connects into it,all in it cost me 20 quid for the seals and 30quid for the mod to the manifold so thats a big saving ,thanks to all the people who helped me along the way its much appreciated.ps will add photos later when a get some time maybe tomorrow.

 

[jay1983]

have you left the motor attatched to the manifold or did you remove it and use a resister?

 

[winterman]

no m8 i left the motor attached and it worked ok no problems at all