W124 Twin Turbo issue with coolant

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sagesingh

Active Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
111
Car
'95 W124 E220, '96 W124 E320 Cabriolet
Hi, I recently got a e320 twin turbo (one of the original huges of beaconsfield), i have been having a few issues with it since i brought it and working my way through them, but today it developed a big problem.

I am getting steam from the rear right of the engine combined with a whining sound.

Background info


I have needed to top the coolant a few times over the past 2 months, and today the radiator pipe blow off and all the coolant just evaporated in a very big show of steam.

Got home, filled it, and got this steam developing from the rear right of the engine. continued to fill, and eventually engine cooled down. turned car on again and the steam continued to develop along with the whining noise. I took the cap of the coolant tank and all the coolant bubbled out, however the amount of steam produced from engine reduced. On reving the engine, the coolant bubbled out more.

as soon as i put the cap on again the steam from engine increased and sounded more aggressive.

It is my understanding that it is a head gasket issue and the exhaust fumes are going into the coolant, therefore i need a new gasket. or could it (hopefully) be something else?

Out the exhaust, i also get a very moist white smoke, which i think is the same steams as the front.

There was no oilly drops in the coolant when i last checked and the oil i removed from the car was dirty (but clean in respect to oil/water mix) when i gave it a service last week.

Other Info

I did service the car last week, with shell h7 oil, 10w30. and i did fill it a little too much so i also got white smoke today, but i took some oil out and that took care of the white smoke (originating, from the air intake tube that goes across the engine.)

Other issues i have with the car is that i get pre-detonation (i think that what is is anyways) when i put my foot down, this may be an issue with the ignition leads as when i changed the spark plugs they were a little worse for wear.
 
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A perfect description of classic cylinder head gasket failure. The pre-ignition suggests that the car may have been running lean which can cause damage. Filling a hot engine with cold water is a recipe for trouble and not recommended

If you're lucky you'll just need a head skim, crack test & pressure test, new gasket, bolt set & etc

Nick Froome
 
It does sound like a headgasket, is the car still running the original turbo technics piggyback ecu?
 
It does sound like a headgasket, is the car still running the original turbo technics piggyback ecu?

Yep, still has the original piggy back ecu.

BUT i am wanting to change it, my thinking at the moment is why not get rid of it and just increase the injector duration of the other 6?

alternatively i most prob get a spiltsecond system or something similar.
 
Yep, still has the original piggy back ecu.

BUT i am wanting to change it, my thinking at the moment is why not get rid of it and just increase the injector duration of the other 6?

alternatively i most prob get a spiltsecond system or something similar.


It is best not to mess with the original mercedes engine management unless your going to convert to a stand alone system like megasquirt. The split second ecu is your best option.

The turbo technics piggyback system is know to kill headgaskets by letting the engine run lean, best to change it before you start using the car again. The mercedes headgasket is fine for the job, but if you want piece of mind ferriday enginering make a much stronger item.

Ferriday Engineering
 
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On the turbo technics im sure the coolant pipe for the turbos is attached to the block near where you say steam is coming from. might not be the head gasket.
 
Hmmmm, steam in exhaust, pressurised cooling system.....all points to head gasket.
 
On the turbo technics im sure the coolant pipe for the turbos is attached to the block near where you say steam is coming from. might not be the head gasket.

Given that possibility, would it not be better to perform a compression test to ascertain if the head gasket is the culprit or not?
 
On the turbo technics im sure the coolant pipe for the turbos is attached to the block near where you say steam is coming from. might not be the head gasket.

The turbo technics kit takes water for the turbos from the side of the block, under the exhaust manifolds.
 
Thanks for advice, but it is definitely the gasket. coolant goes straight into the engine and out through the oil drain plug. I m going to open it up tommorow and see what's what. Never done a gasket before so it should be interesting. While im at it, im going to add a mbc for the turbos, change some of the pipe work for the coolant and air intake. Maybe add a water/meth system and get a stand alone ecu for the additional injector.

aim is to increase turbo's to around 12 psi. BUT I an a novice at tuning and Turbo, so if anybodknows off any good literature I could go over, that would be great.
 
that 30 oil is too thin, it needs to be 40 for that generation of car.

also there was a merc bulletin in 1995 (ish) not to exceed midway between min and max on dipstick.
 

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