They Said it Can't be Fixed - A Journey to the Inside of a Mercedes Bluetec

In reply to wae :

In Portugal its fairly easy to find someone do do these deletes because it is legal to do it. What is ilegal is for you to ride the car like that but... PT is the only country in Europe where the Inspection Centers don't have a machine to assess the Euro 5 emission rate and the opacity limit is ~3 while the limit by law is about 0.5 but again... there is no interest... (€€€ for someone)

When you have problems with DPF the way to go is a Delete. You pay arround 200-500€ oposing to the 800-2000€ of a new DPF.

You even have shops dedicated to it check this https://www.fapoff.pt/ (use google translate )

To take the swirl motor out do This

I actually already had that resistor in place on mine, but in the US-spec for the GL350 that only takes it out of limp mode.  Since the swirl flap sensors don't read any motion, it still lights the MIL.  I don't know how the logistics would work on that, but I may try to reach out to those guys to see if they think they can fiddle with a US-spec ECU...

In reply to wae :

Yesterday i've put this resistor but did not check the errors yet. So i can't confirm that it will work only with resistor.

And...... Its alive!!!! Just a minor oil leak that i have to check out. I Have a video but don't know how to upload it.

As for the ECU they can do everything you want and more, in fact i think they can even reprogram de automatic gearbox, but i don't know if they can do it remotly.

In the US you have big engines that do not require many electronics for power, but in europe it's diferent. It´s not common to see an engine above 2.5litre. Most engines are btw 1 and 2 litre with power btw 100 and 200ish HP so you have to tweek electronics and fuel pressure for more power.

Good Day All,

So, I am an idiot. I really really wanted an X164. I wanted diesel to be cheaper on fuel because now it is like a 30 cent difference, not to mention that diesel gets you further. I read a LOT of forum posts bashing OM642 on GLs and MLs, and that gassers are in the end cheaper to maintain, so yes I get it. But I still really wanted a GL350. I figured that if I baby it and change oil frequently, delete EGR and Adblue (if I get 2012) then it will all be fine. 3 weeks ago I fulfilled my dream. The car was pretty cheap due to EGR having failed. Score! not like I was keeping the EGR anyway.

I got duped obviously, I knew I was lying to myself. In that there was a lot more wrong than just EGR. But I am still happy so far. I have been following this thread since before I bought it (have been searching for the perfect one since Dec last year). Now I feel like I can contribute and I want to ask for advice as well. So I joined this forum =)

I am at a point where the heads are off, the block is still in the engine bay. I will explain how this came to be below if anyone cares for a read. First off though to address the OP and FKUA:

FKUA, I am pretty sure that is the air filter box sensor. your wire harness looks a bit different than mine. The connector that looks like yours is not bundled under that plastic cover for me, and i labelled it as air box connector. Only one side has it on my car, I think driver side.

WAE, I have been in touch with a programmer in states by name of Vladimir. He has been very responsive to me. I found him through youtube. He can delete EGR, DPF, Adblue, disable swirl flap motor and provide a stage 1 tune in form of OBDII module. Best part is that all the changes are reversible. I bought the module to delete adblue, swirl flaps and EGR (he said it is no problem that EGR is currently non functional). The module came in quick, but I have not had a chance to test it myself due to HEADS OFF... I did research his work prior and have found many people on MB and Sprinter forums that commended his work. If you want I can get you his e-mail. For adblue delete, your tank has to be full as per his instructions, fyi, and for dpf, after deleting it programmatically, you will obviously have to physically remove the actual can. 

As short of a summary as I can make it of my own venture into this. I am not a mechanic, my wrenching experience is capped at changing steering pump (twice, dont get cheap chinese steering pumps people), oil cooler and filter housing gaskets on w164 ML350, and cleaning carbs on a 2002 Honda Shadow. 
1. Buy dream car. 
2. know its pitfalls, need to clean air intakes prior to use, delete EGR...
3. Prior to starting the wrenching, show off car to my 3 year old the day after purchase. Car sat for a night. Kiddo wants to try starting it. Of course, little buddy, press the button!
4. Car sounds like T34 rolling off the factory in Leningrad for a few seconds. I have done enough research to recognize this noise. Add timing chain to things to fix before driving.
5. Pulling things apart to get to intake manifolds, come across a few things that are not alright:
 a. bolt that holds charge air pipe from turbo (doubles up as plastic cover support) stripped
 b. batwing to turbo and PCV to batwing gaskets not gasketing, oil dropping all over the valley.
 c. charge air pipe to turbo gasket (green) torn, also not gasketing. Can see oil sprayed back from it.
6. Got to intake manifolds. WAE, you think yours were bad? HA! one of my ports was maybe half of the opening it should be. Driver side especially. Don't remember where I read it (maybe even here), but the driver side is biased, I guess because the pipe coming out of the cooler is pointed in that direction. But to make you feel better, I was picking up some parts at dealer, and showed them pictures... They said to me what I just said to you... "You think that is bad? HA!" Apparently they have seen even worse than mine, and not just on a couple occasions. I spent 2 days cleaning both sides. I filled the driver side with purple power, scraped inside with some dentist scraper tools and let it sit over night with the intake closed off. In the morning, when I went to dump the mixture out of the intake port (out of the side), the liquid would not flow out, it was so clogged!
7. Manifolds are as clean as can be. While I wait for my mate to help me do the chain, i decide to clean the air intake ports in the heads, because they are just as clogged as the manifold. This is where problem starts (because I am not mechanic and was ignorant). I just went to town cleaning.
8. Remove injectors and valve cover on right (passenger) side in preparation for timing chain job. Also remove injectors on driver side to avoid compression release as we feed the chain. 1 injector (#2) a little seized, another (#5) black death - so another issue found now. Slide hammer makes it work.
9. Buddy arrives. break old chain, attach new chain, start feeding. Chain jumps. Figure a tooth is not too big a deal, and will take off other cover to time when all is said and done (buddy had to leave soon). continue on. Run into resistance cranking engine, get through it, chain skips again.
10. White flag. Buddy, thanks for the help good night, I will reset, stack up. Second cover comes off. Sprockets off. Pull the chain through. align all marks. While pulling through, notice resistance at TDC... No injectors, no camshafts, should be no resistance right? It is late, don't even think about it while I am doing it. Realize it at night when I am drinking tea.
11. Think I bent a valve in passenger head (determined by pushing on the valves in a stupid way, can explain if you want a laugh). Pull head off. All valves intact and fine.
12. 2 guesses at this point. problem with bearing, orrrr remember step #7? When I cleaned the intakes I did not pay attention to valve position. quite possible some of that garbage fell into cylinders, and synched between piston and head when #5 reaches TDC (corresponds to tdc on flywheel). Fingers crossed for #2
13. Head off, everything spins! Yay!
14. While this far, i decide to have heads washed, then guides checked for wear. Never done this before. Take heads to one shop. Heads come back scratched ARRRRR. Second shop rectifies issue, tells me that guides are good. Trust this shop much more. Shop is clean and neat, pers friendly and eager to discuss issues.
15. Some valve springs are worn (rubbed) on one side. Try to source new springs... NO ONE HAS SPRINGS. I found everything else in valvetrain on idparts, fcpeur and germanparts, but not simple springs. Machine shop cannot source them. Dealer is my last resort. None in Canada, waiting for SPRINGS to be shipped from Germany at this point
16. Clean mating surface of the block, the cylinders and piston heads. Mine were as gross as yours, with quite a bit of gunk built up. Seems like someone "cleaned" valves my stupid way and got away with it before, but all the stuff that fell in got compacted and stuck to the pistons.

Here is where I am at. I have also polished the injector mating surface, and will be polishing up the injector seat and lapping the valves.

My 2 questions to you guys. 
1. Since I am this far, I want to check that bearings are okay. Perhaps catch a problem early on and get away with it. Someone mentioned a method. I want to clarify to make sure I am understanding the process. I press on the piston as it starts going down? If the bearing is worn, then I will feel the piston move down slightly. Is that correct?
2. I am prepping all the bolt holes for the heads to go back on when I get valve springs. A few of these have a lot of oil in them. Can someone confirm if some bolts go all the way through into oil pan? I will get my camera out otherwise. 

best of luck WAE and FKUA, I will keep following this thread, and hope that I do not need to pull engine out, at least not yet.

If anyone is interested I do have a couple pics of the gross intake manifolds and what my pistons looked like. I do not want to lengthen the thread unnecessarily otherwise!

In reply to Misha_ :

Welcome!  I feel like I'm starting to run a support group or some sort of automotive group therapy here in my little project thread!

Second question first:  I just took a look at my block and I am fairly sure that the head bolts do not enter the oil pan.  Just to make sure, you are putting in new head bolts, right?

If you've got a bearing that's spun, you should be able to get ahold of a piston and get some play out of it, but if it's only on its way out and not all the way cooked, I don't think you'd really be able to tell.  The best bet would be to have the oil analyzed to see how much bearing material is in there.  I'm actually starting to think that there's an oil passage that is prone to clogging which starves that bearing, so it might be best to try to get some ATF or something like that through the block to break up any sludge or soot that's in there.

On the topic of your tuner, I would very much like it if you could get me in contact with him.

As for my progress...  I really need to remember to call the machinist.  It would be awesome if I could have that remembering happening during business hours...

In reply to wae :

We shall call you our fearless leader! In all seriousness, you are the first to document going that far into OM642, so it is no surprise you have this much interest. I bet that if you were to post on mbworld, your fan base would at least double :)

Thanks for the answer. Sending oil sounds like a good idea. Yes they are new bolts, thank you for checking. If I ever say something that is questionable I appreciate correction so I don't end up making more mistakes down this road. I sourced bolts, exhaust manifold nuts, head and exhaust gaskets, valve stem seals all from idparts. I actually got valve guides and 4 exhaust valves from them as well when I thought valves were bent. In anticipation. Glad I do not need them. Head bolts were scary to remove. I didn't have 1/2 etorx for breaker bar so used a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter and sheared the adapter off. I do have proper sized set now.  Not looking forward to the torquing. It will be heart stopping experience. I am visualizing how one of those bolts shears off....

ATF being transmission oil? Or does it stand for something else? Is it known to dissolve soot? If people think this is a good idea, I'm willing to try :)

So I just checked Vladimir's video and his e-mail is in the description. So I do not think he will mind if I post it here: 

YouTube channel - VladimirCDI

Email - canfiltermb@gmail.com

This was one of the forums where I saw his mod discussed:

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/index.php?threads/80313/

Hi guys.

Well it seems that I have done another no-no. I just discovered that using scotch brite pads to clean mating surface is a death sentence for the engine. I just happened upon a thread about that by accident, and researched it more and it does seem like the true case... Wish that came up when I was searching how to clean up the mating surface.

That lead me to a question for FKUA and WAE. Do you know if your engines heads have been rebuilt recently? It appears that after using these pads filled with aluminum oxide the bearing and/or the crank wear out pretty quick... Perhaps these issues are not due to oil starvation? This is not an insinuation. This is an honest question.

Going back to the question I asked about ATF. On some forums people have suggested using ATF to flush the engine block after aluminum oxide contamination. I do not have an engine lift to get the whole block out to disassemble and take to machine shop for washing. Although right now is probably best opportunity to remove it, with heads off and all =( I was pretty careful cleaning up the surface, plugged as many holes as I could. I definitely overlooked the head bolt holes though, and with the amount of oil in the center ones I feel like they must be going through something. I also used it on the piston heads and carbon buildup on top of cylinders.

wae, do you know if there is some way to circulate ATF through the engine without staring it? I have one of those hand pumps (with the container) that I used for ATF flush on the ML.

also let this post serve as a reminder to you to call the machinist during working hours... if you happen to see it that is ;) 

Thank you for the reminder - it worked!  I called my guy and he told me that his expert in crankshaft repair is still working and he currently has the crank in his shop.  He warned me that while the guy is good, he ain't fast so it could still be a while yet.  Which is fine, of course - it's been two years, so what's my rush now, right?

I'm also going to reach out to Vladimir tonight and see what kind of goodness he can do for me.  Back before it went kablooey, I contacted a couple of the "big" Merc diesel tuners that are out there and for whatever reason they said they didn't have a tune for a Bluetec in a GL350.  Of course, that was more like three years ago.

On the Scotch-Brite subject:  Yes, I have heard the same thing.  The pad breaks off little bits of the abrasive material and those find their way into the cylinders and oil passages.  I am not an expert on this, but the best option of course would be to dip the block in the hot tank for a thorough cleaning to make sure everything is out of it.  If that isn't in the cards, then you're going to need to clean things up the best you can.  I used some Mark I Duct Tape to secure some small vinyl tubing to my ShopVac.  I'm sure you can make a nicer one, but you can just grab a coupler that fits on the end of your hose and then wrap duct tape around it while holding the tubing in the middle.  That will give you a very tiny little vacuum that you can use to get into the cylinders and the little void on the top of the pistons.  Getting some kind of fluid in there as well to help pick up the particles would also help, but using something combustible with the ShopVac is probably not advisable. 

Getting in to all the oil passages is definitely going to be more difficult.  I wasn't thinking in terms of the engine being mounted to the car as opposed to a stand, so it'll definitely be harder to ensure that you're getting to everything.  You might try one of those hand pumps with a small nozzle on it to push something lightweight through the passages that should be able to collect all the nasties and flush them down to the oil pan.  Something that won't hurt aluminum but that will flush out any particles.  Maybe alcohol would work?  WD-40?  And then the same treatment with automatic transmission fluid - that stuff is pretty good at breaking up soot and carbon deposits.  If you can flush it to the oil pan, you should be safe because it shouldn't be able to get through the filter.  I can't recall off the top of my head if the one part of the pan can be removed while the engine is in the car, but it sticks in my head that the transfer case is in the way.

I can't be completely certain, of course, but my engine showed no signs of having been opened up before I got my grubby hands on it, so I don't think my contaminant was from that.  But with my strong suspicion that the oil passages that feed the #2 big-end bearing are prone to some sort of obstruction, I'd almost want to just continue from where you're at and go ahead and tank the block and put in new bearings and chain guides.

Quick question for you: how was idparts to deal with?  I've never heard of them before, but they seem to have a good collection of Merc parts at decent prices.

Oh, and I hear you on the head bolts!  I also do not have a half-inch E18 (or whatever the size is...  it's in this thread somewhere as a reminder to get one of those for re-assembly) so I was using an adapter with my 24" breaker bar.  Over the years, I've twisted countless Harbor Freight 3/8-1/2 adapters apart, but my Crafstman adapter surprised me by holding up through the whole job!

In reply to wae :

Wait, I thought you said you got a new set from your dad! Or maybe that was torx? Anyway, glad I'm not the only one scared here. Comfort in numbers! Or something...

I have made 2 orders from them. First was on 9th, one part was out of stock, they sent when it became available on 13th, got to me on 20th. That's to Canada. Second order shipped next day. If it arrives tomorrow it will be 8 days. They have nice shipping options imho, for Canadians it is nice because I can pay taxes up front and not worry about customs. For US I think shipping is even free. I did ask them about valve springs though and they never responded... But maybe I did something wrong like mistyped my email or something. I heard about them through a video that came up on YouTube feed. I guess idparts sources some upgraded turbo for om642. I do not know what to say about quality, I can check brand names on the stuff they shipped. I remember valves were made in Thailand. 

You know, you make a very good point. Honestly if I already had a lift, it would probably come out. At this point I am spread thin budget wise. I planned for repairs when I bought it in the questionable state, but I introduced unnecessary spending myself... I am actually happy I ended up with heads off. I learned a lot and now I have new top end pretty much. But I could have definitely done without the Scotch Brite fiasco. I will try my best to flush, vacuum, and wipe up, and hope that there is a bit of the ol (anti?)survivor bias to these Scotch Brite allegations. I asked my brother about this (who knows a lot more than me about cars), he just happened to change cam in his 22re 4runner and turns out he used those pads as well. He never heard of this either, but pointed out that most of these sources come from GM. Caddies, Camaros. He never saw anything of the sort on Toyota forums. That may be him and me grasping at straws though.

I think you are right about the oil pan. I think it is the steering rack in the way though, but don't remember for sure.on the w164 ML I needed to change an o-ring in oil pickup and ended up taking it to the shop because it was too much work for me for a car I'm not excited about. 

Hope Vladimir gets back to you quickly. Bluetec was a dealbreaker for me. Would have only searched for CDI otherwise.

Waiting on more updates from you mate!

Hey guys, its been a while but e always have lots of work...

by now i've made 300Km.

My engine has never been open before and had 92000km when it happened.

I also used Scotch Bright pads to clean matting surfaces and took care not to fall anything in but some particles might have fallen in.

While still in the shop i noticed a leak in oil pan so i removed it to replace sealant.

I found some deposits probably from running new bronzes and some dirt in oil lines which i cleaned right away.

Replaced oil filter at 250km and found some scotch bright particles and one or two metal shavings which i hope are from old bronzes.

I've never heard of Scotch Bright problems but i think that particles big enough to make some kind of damage stay in the filter and the rest doesn't do any harm (that's what i want to think and hope is true)

I'm going to replace oil and filter again at 500km and see from there.

Meanwhile my A/C doesn't work. i have charged it but still nothing. I'll dig in to it but it maybe some disconnected plug.

Keep up the good work "OM642 Support Group" lol

FKUA said:

Hey guys, its been a while but e always have lots of work...

by now i've made 300Km.

My engine has never been open before and had 92000km when it happened.

I also used Scotch Bright pads to clean matting surfaces and took care not to fall anything in but some particles might have fallen in.

While still in the shop i noticed a leak in oil pan so i removed it to replace sealant.

I found some deposits probably from running new bronzes and some dirt in oil lines which i cleaned right away.

Replaced oil filter at 250km and found some scotch bright particles and one or two metal shavings which i hope are from old bronzes.

I've never heard of Scotch Bright problems but i think that particles big enough to make some kind of damage stay in the filter and the rest doesn't do any harm (that's what i want to think and hope is true)

I'm going to replace oil and filter again at 500km and see from there.

Meanwhile my A/C doesn't work. i have charged it but still nothing. I'll dig in to it but it maybe some disconnected plug.

 

Keep up the good work "OM642 Support Group" lol

Good to hear everything is fine so far. 

What I read said that it is the microscopic particles that cause the damage. Apparently they do not get caught by the filter and embed themselves in soft metals such as the bearings. One forum thread i read was a guy who flushed his engine with kerosine after contamination. Someone commented that he should see how the engine runs after 5k and let everyone know. The last post in the thread is him reporting back like 2 years later, he said that he forgot to update but engine developed a knock approx 5k after rebuild, and he had to pull the engine again.

But I am hopeful like you. Perhaps these are few unfortunate cases and it is not as common as it appears on the web.

FKUA, did you oil the head bolts for torquing? The WIS instructions do not mention this at all, but I hear that this is common practice. Not a bolt I want to mess up lol.

Fix your AC? any errors? 

Hey guys sorry for superfluous posts.

wae - since you asked about EGR delete. I'm sure Vladimir's method is great and convenient but if you want to end up modding other things, I think I found a better way. On MBworld there is a guy named Peter that goes by Pmercury. He gets you to buy a laptop and C4 interface, then you pay him and he installs xentry remotely and helps you with coding. He told me that he could do what I want (remote start, stage 1,  and control over full range of motion of airmatic), and that I wasted money on EGR, swirl flaps and adblue delete because he could have done that as well. It comes out to maybe a little more what I paid Vladimir. If I knew about this I would have taken this route for sure (I want to play and learn SCN coding too). I think all-in-all it's about 1200$. But Vladimir's delete is a lot quicker and straight forward probably. His site is benzninja.com

Wow what a journey , I just read all 10 pages and learnt quite a bit , I`ve got a 2011 E350 CDI 3.0 diesel , its having a camchain as we speak .

Mine has 140k miles and drives nice , but as many of you guys have more experience than me I have a few questions :

• Do you recommend pulling the sump off and cleaning the sludge out assuming theres is some in there ?
• Mine is a Blue efficiency, not sure what that is , shall I get the EGR switched off ? anything else switched off ?

TIA.

Johno100 said:

Wow what a journey , I just read all 10 pages and learnt quite a bit , I`ve got a 2011 E350 CDI 3.0 diesel , its having a camchain as we speak .

Mine has 140k miles and drives nice , but as many of you guys have more experience than me I have a few questions :

• Do you recommend pulling the sump off and cleaning the sludge out assuming theres is some in there ?
• Mine is a Blue efficiency, not sure what that is , shall I get the EGR switched off ? anything else switched off ?

TIA.

Welcome to the support group lol!

I am not qualified to give such advice. I would like to pull my pan and ensure there isn't any sludge fwiw. I believe it is rather difficult and I need to lift the engine up on my vehicle (GL350) so I don't know if I will be able to do it.

As for EGR, I suggest you do your own research and consider all pros and cons. In my opinion it is better for the health of the engine because it does not throw soot back into cylinders or foul the intakes. But I think it will mean that engine ends up running hotter, which is a factor in sludging. Plus the environmental aspects of that is of importance to you.

Are you doing the chain yourself?

I still have no updates and "in theory" the crankshaft is being lovingly ignored in a workshop somewhere across town where some day it will arrive at the front of the queue to be returned to a serviceable condition.  In order to be able to have more space so that the family could get together for Thanksgiving, we converted the workshop into a banquet hall for the night so that the entire evening was an opportunity for my mom, dad, brother, sister, sister-in-law, niece, wife, and daughters to show me that they got jokes.  "Oh, is that thing still there?  Why don't you pull it out into the parking lot?  Oh, right!" and "We sure would have a lot more room if that Mercedes wasn't there!".  I probably heard "So, why haven't you fixed that thing yet" at least 15 times.  All I could do was hang my head in shame and go sit in the Corner Of Stupid Automotive Decisions.

In reply to Johno100 :

It ain't over yet.  Assuming that I get my crankshaft back someday....

I've never had the pleasure of being quite that intimate with an E350, but if there's nothing like a subframe or transfer case in the way, I can't see that taking the oil pan off and looking for sludge would hurt anything.  In the event that you do find it all sludged up in there I'm not sure what you'd do about it.  I always thought that anything that wasn't liquid oil would more-or-less drift to the bottom of the pan or get caught by the pickup screen.  Granted, you don't want the pickup tube to be restricted, but if there's sludge in the oil pan there's sludge everywhere else so you're probably in a deck-chair-rearranging situation.  Since I think that BlueEfficiency means you don't have a DPF, you might have an option of running seafoam or something through the engine to try to clean it up but you'll probably never be able to clear out all the passages without performing a disassembly. 

The way I understand it, the BE differs from the BlueTEC in that you get the EGR and the swirl valves, but you don't get the AdBlue (DEF) system and the DPF.  If that's the case, then you can probably run a better oil since soot isn't as much of a problem, especially if you delete the EGR.  Pushing all that crud back into the engine clogs up the intake pretty badly and causes the swirl valves to malfunction.  I would consider deleting it, although if you made it this far without any issues you might be good to just pull the intakes off, clean everything out really well, and just call it good.  Even if you had the EGR switched off, you'd still want to at least pop the EGR pipe off the intake and see how obstructed it is.  If it's looking like Jabba the Hutt's arteries, then I'd consider pulling the intake manifolds and cleaning them out.

I have heard that running a higher zinc oil will help with the timing chain wear, but I can't really put any weight on that statement one way or the other.  Are you using the old one to pull the new one through or are you tearing the front of the engine off to do the guides and cam sprockets while you're in there?  My guides didn't look too bad, but then my chain is within spec according to WIS, so I can assume that it hasn't been beating up the guides.

In reply to Misha_ :

Thanks for the tip.  I will check him out as well.

I`ve began a bit of a saga myself , my E350 would have the two second rattle on morning start up so after a bit of research I decided to get the tensioner changed by a local garage , I could have done it my self (I was a bike mechanic years ago )  but dont have a garage to do it in and its winter in the UK , so I dropped it off with a local garage after a quote of around $200 + tax supply and fit , then I get a call from their mechanic to say it was now worse and he didnt know why, idiot , the garage owner got his father , a mechanic , to change the tensioner out for another but it made no difference ,a constant rattle thats so bad it was not a good idea to drive the car any further ,  eventually I agreed to let them fit a new chain and guides , around $900.00 plus tax , the car has 140k miles so I thought it was prudent , then I found out they didnt have the tools for locking the cams and crank and they started making excuses , basically they were scared to go any further so they got in touch with a Merc specialist in a neighboring town who said they will do the job but only using genuine MB parts , total around $1400 + tax , hopefully by the end of next week I`ll have the car back and it will run like a Swiss watch , if not I`ll have to go legal which can be a pain , fingers crossed.

Any ideas why it would be be constantly rattling after a new tensioner was fitted ? I believe you should prime the tensioner in a bowl of oil before fitting ? could it have jumped a tooth ? I really hope not.

In reply to Johno100 :

Most likely the original tensioner was run to the end of its... uh..  tension? because the chain stretched beyond its spec.  In that case, even a brand new tensioner wouldn't be able to get the slack out of the chain.

One way to do the chain replacement is to pull the left cam cover, zip tie the chain to the sprocket, break the old chain, mark it, connect the new chain to the old chain, turn the motor until the new chain is all the way through, and then break off the old one and link the new one.  It's a lot less labor and parts than pulling the front end of the motor apart.  The downside, though, is that if the chain has been slapping around it could have worn the sprockets and/or damaged the guides.  And you can't get the guides out without taking the front off.

It's technically possible for it to get so loose as to jump a tooth, but that wouldn't result in noise from the chain once it was back under tension, even in the wrong place.  I don't know if a single tooth would be enough to get valves and pistons introduced to each other but that would certainly make a bunch of noise.

My guess, though, is that the tensioner was probably fine, just at the limits of its travel because the chain stretched.

Only because I'm way more curious about these things than is really healthy for my sanity....  What spec oil does MB call for in yours?

In reply to wae :

I`ve only recently bought the car , it had main agent service history upto 95k then independent garages there after to 135k , I changed all the filters as soon as I got it and used a 5-30 oil with the correct MB numbers , I dont have them to hand , when I reset the service light you could choose which spec you used .

I did notice whan I changed the fuel filter it was dated 2015! 5 years old I dont know how often they should be changed and wonder if the last service was done as recommended .

wae I feel your pain. My truck is outside, and for last month and a half my neighbor keeps asking me, "so you fixing her or what?" every time he passes by as I am digging under the hood lol. It has gotten awkward almost lol. But the joke will be on your family once it is fixed, and they all fit in for a comfortable ride some where! hahahaha! right?! ........right?....... 

Man, that is dragging out for you though, sorry to hear. It sucks when you have no expected time frame.

wae said:

In reply to Johno100 :

Only because I'm way more curious about these things than is really healthy for my sanity....  What spec oil does MB call for in yours?

I am just researching the crap out of the oil selection. My head feels like it will explode from the amount of info I took in. Between Stephen's blog and sprinter forum debunking his claims I think I have found a conclusion for myself. I will be looking for 229.52 with lowest vapourization and ash properties. Stephen's oil claims seem a bit tinfoily to me (as debunked by others, I am noob), but the lowering of vaporization he recommends makes sense to me. With EGR gone, there should be no more soot, and the less oil vaporizes, the less of it will stick to the intakes coming from the PCV valve. What do you think? Were you asking because of Stephen's claim that higher zinc oils protect chain? What will you put in?

On another note, could you wae, and/or FKUA provide advice on how to prime oil prior to startup? or do I need to do it if I did not open the crankcase? I used assembly lube on cams, valves and gears as I put everything together. I drained all the oil last night, hoping to fill it up tonight, and finally start it!  I am scared.

Oh and did you guys time (or will you be, wae) your hpfp? instructions are a bit confusing to me. I asked on MBWORLD with WIS page attached, but I am constantly finding that there is not very much technical advice to be found there:

https://mbworld.org/forums/diesel-forum/800371-2012-gl350-hpfp-re-install.html

Johno100 - I can confirm what wae said about the tensioner. the old one I pulled out extended further than the new one. And the piston(?) portion was no longer held in the body. As in it could be pulled out completely

In reply to Misha_ :

Did you start it ? all good? fingers crossed.

In reply to Johno100 :

Thanks for keeping your fingers crossed for me! :) 

I started on Saturday. Had some problems with battery being drained. Apparently jumping from running car -ML350 - doesn't provide enough power to turn over enough to start if the battery on GL is dead. As soon. As she started firing, it was smooth right off the bat. So far no issues from HPFP so either I interpreted WIS instructions correct or its timing does not really matter... Or both :) only time will tell if me using green scrubby will be the end of it though.

All this being said, I have not taken him on any real drive yet. So that will be ultimate test. My front struts need replacing. That is why I did not report back right away - started on those and brakes right away. Hope to be done by thursday!

What's going on with you?

In reply to Misha_ :

Good to hear it runs smooth ,BTW correct cam timing is essential , if the engine runs sweet it sounds like you have it right , having an  defective battery can create problems and throw up numerous fault codes from what I hear , my battery was 8 years old and worked okay buy I changed it anyway as occasionally I was getting the EML coming on , a new battery appeared to cure it , now I`m waiting to hear from the garage as the when it will be ready for collection after having a new cam chain and guides fitted.

Having done a bit of research I`m wondering whether to pull the inlet manifolds and de carbon them and block the EGR , some of the images I`ve seen look really bad with carbon build up and must restrict the intake significantly .

In reply to Johno100 :

I think the pictures of mine are in here somewhere.  It was just nasty.  The soot had things so clogged up in the intake and the swirl flaps were basically cemented in place. 

Taking out the EGR would prevent that.  Counterpoint, though: it made it to 140k so far, so maybe just cleaning it all out and starting over with the functional EGR is okay.

Personally I think it's a defect if scheduled maintenance involves pulling the intake manifold to de-carbon it, but that's just me.

The other odd-duck thing I've seen to help cut down on nasty intakes is to do the elephant nose mod.  Basically you plug the PVC connection to the intake tube and run the PVC down to the subframe like an old-school draft tube.

In reply to Misha_ :

Huzzah!  Glad to hear it's running again!

I had to replace an Airmatic strut in the front a while back and used one of the Arnott units.  Seemed to be just fine, cheaper than the MB part, and comes with a lifetime warranty.