Tips needed as to what to look out for on ML270 inlet manifold again (Sorry)

[MOZ]

Hi Guy's,
For various reason I have decided against the car I was seriously looking at, and am looking elsewhere. The car I was looking at did give some peace of mind in that it had had its inlet manifold changed recently so I wasn't really worried about it.
Now I have decided against that one and am looking at another, I do have to reconsider the age old weakness of the inlet manifold.

Clearly if i buy an ML which hasn't had it replaced, I need to consider the fact that sooner or later it will need doing (I'm guessing from all of the common posts on here, are there any still going strong on original manifolds past 120k miles?). Ideally it will be later and I get some miles out of it first and some Months before I have to have this done and choke at the cost.

With this in mind, are there any obvious tell tale signs that I should be looking out for when looking at the prospective purchases.

I guess any obvious oil leaks on the road, but is it possible to see around the manifold area (below it) from above with the engine cover removed, or can you only see it from underneath (and need it on a ramp?). where should I be looking?

I understand there may be a tell tale whooshing sound under load (not sure if i would recognise this on a test drive when unfamiliar with the normal sound?)

I guess if Oil has shorted the stepper motor then there will be lights on the dash, is this the case?

lack of power - again not entirely sure I would notice this as I've no experience with the ML270 so wouldn't really know what is normal. I'm going from a Golf VR6 and pretty pokey Leon cupra TDI, so I'm expecting a perfectly running 2 tonne ML to seem pretty under powered and sluggish.

Any other tell tale signs I may be able to look out for?

Thanks again and sorry to bring this frequent subject back up again.

 

[Terry_]

I find the engine block underneath where the manifold is usually covered in oil

 

[mersum1es]

Engineblock under the manifold is moist/oily if flap shafts are leaking. You can seen flap actuator linkage/bar between manifold ducts, frontmost joint is barely visible when seeing (engine plastic cover off) at proper angle --> by giving throttle (need cold engine?) you should see the actuator bar moving. It does not necessarily tell that all flaps are moving.

Oily stepper motor is usually problem of V-engine, in inline engines flaps are just jamming and causing motor error.

Swirl flap malfunction can be seen extra 'puff' smoking also in low revs, when starting to move etc. It is causing also occasional limp mode (revs limited to 3000rpm) at the beginning of the fault. Some whoos sound may be hear if bars and axles are dropped off.

 

[MOZ]

Thanks, sounds like sensible advice to look for.
Fingers crossed I find one Oil free (for now anyway).