Smoke/steam coming from W212 E350 CDI Engine - Near PCV

[TeddyRuxpin]

Hi all,

Been away with the fairies recently - unfortunately back into 'gotta fix my bloody car' mode. Not fun.

I think these two issues may be unrelated - but this morning when I started the car, I got a warning saying that my coolant is low... it wouldn't come back when i turned it off/on again but anyway... odd.. I bought some MB coolant and topped up a little.

On the drive this morning I also noticed that the car was smoking/steaming a little, from the engine bay. The 'smoke' seemed to be coming out of the passenger side front, but it varied a little. Temp is normal/stable.

When I got home, on investigation, the smoke seems to be coming from near the pressure control valve, behind the air filter on the driver's side. I shot a short video, attached. It's near the breather valve that connects to the turbo intake pipe.

I've also attached some pictures showing an oily/wet area.

As I was disassembling things, the whole air intake unit just slipped off and I realised that the big red/orange turbo seal was shot and so I went to MB and purchased new one, along with a few other seals, pictured. I replaced them but it didn't make the smoke go away when the car is running.

Can anyone suggest the source of the problem/smoke?

The pipe from the turbo intake to the oil separator could be leaking, I suppose, but it's £15 and special delivery from germany, would be here in a few days. The MB parts guy seemed to suggest that's rare the problem. It's also possible that it's the oil separator itself?

I'm guessing if there's a coolant leak, it's unrelated/coincidence, as there isn't really any cooling hoses back there?

Thanks for any info you could give!

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[TeddyRuxpin]

Some pictures

 

[grober]

EGR valve on the the OM642 is at the rear and has two small coolant pipes attched to it.

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[TeddyRuxpin]

Oh, how interesting, so they could well be related. Clearly I have a lot to read up on, I'm still very new to this engine and diesel engines in general.

It certainly doesn't smell or look like an oil leak, like I had on my old BMW when the rocker cover had a crack in it.

It's on a different side to the one in the video, but maybe that's a UK/USA thing?

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Just to confirm, the steam is coming from the other side of the car - something around or below the PCV.

I have a bunch that the PCV thing is a red herring, and it's something lower down, but I have no idea what coolant based pipes are below the PCV area...

 

[grober]

Oh, how interesting, so they could well be related. Clearly I have a lot to read up on, I'm still very new to this engine and diesel engines in general.

It certainly doesn't smell or look like an oil leak, like I had on my old BMW when the rocker cover had a crack in it.

It's on a different side to the one in the video, but maybe that's a UK/USA thing?

Don't think theres's any difference between rhd/lhd engine plumbing. There's a lot of complex plumbing at the top end of that V6!

A journey into the the infamous Om642 oil cooler leak! - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

 

[MacSixx69]

Was the turbo dissassembled before? Did you smell something like exhaust gasses inside the car? Because I had to my turbo to refurbish and the service guys totally fu**ed up the final assembly of the turbo so the pipes which are going from turbo to the DPF were not properly connected with some clamp on it. The gasses were blown thru this bad connection. This pipe is a fat gold one and is going cca under the area which you have on the posts.

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