E55 AMG W211 2004

[ama singh]

Dear Forum,

Its been a few years years since I posted a thread on here, and desperately need some help please. I've recently purchased an E55 W211 2004 (160k miles) project car which is in need of some TLC!

On purchase I noticed the exhaust was really loud. On closer inspection we found we had a big exhaust leak from the driver side manifold. I did drive the car albeit some what gently in light of the damaged exhaust manifold, car drove ok albeit rough.

We brought the car and yesterday replaced the manifold, the weld had completely failed. Having installed the replacement manifold the car was very difficult to start and ran extremely rough. The engine ran very rough and could not rev easily but could drive if driven very gently gradually building up the revs to 2000RPM.

We took off the driver side upper CAT which appeared to be clean, looked down the exhaust and the lower CAT appeared to have soot build-up.

We decided to run the car with CAT Clean (did this twice) and also replaced the air filters and also the coil pack and both driver side lambda probes from another car due to miss-fire on cylinder #1.

The car is now running much better although we still have two issues:

1. The idle is a little rough, settles when you raise RPM to say ~900 plus.
2. Car accelerates and drives up to ~3500rpm very well, if you try to drive it hard above this the engine hesitates and does not rev up, no fault codes apart from miss-firing which have now disappeared since changing out the coil and leads on cylinder #1.

This is my first E55, I don't really know how it should drive, the main issues I have are the idle and not being able to drive the car with keen acceleration. Would greatly appreciate some guidance on these two issues please.

Thank you!

 

[ama singh]

Dear Forum,

Does any one have a step by step instruction/guide for testing coil packs and leads on a bench?

Similar guide for testing fuel injectors?

Trying to reach out to have a clearer idea of what I should consider doing next.

Thank you

 

[Uncle Benz]

It sounds to me like the cat might be blocked. It’ll be loud, but if you take the first lambda sensor out and give it a quick run it usually telks you straight away that the cat restriction is your problem

 

[mattkh]

Dear Forum,
Trying to reach out to have a clearer idea of what I should consider doing next.Thank you

Change the ATF and gearbox filter.

 

[ama singh]

Hi Uncle Benz, Can I just disconnect the two oxygen probes before the primary CAT on both sides and give it a run, is this what you mean?
Hi Mattkh, Ok I will also do this after the CAT test.

 

[Uncle Benz]

Unscrew and remove the probe on the suspect side. The exhaust gasses will escape from the hole and be loud, but if the car runs better it points to the catalyst being blocked as the problem

 

[alexanderfoti]

I agree.

Additionally, if the weld is cracked around the exhaust/cat area this usually means the engine mounts are broken.

 

[ama singh]

The weld around the flange on the stock exhaust manifold was completely broken, the engine height seems to be ok and the engine does not move much when you rev stationary - how can I verify engine mounts are ok?

I removed lower Lambda probes from both sides (easier to take out) and took the car for a drive, it drive through the rev range and changed gear under hard acceleration over ~0.5 miles up to 5k RPM. within seconds I got the engine management light on with 20 faults (I directly checked using iCarsoft MB V2.0 tool).

I have put the lambda probes back in and reset the engine light. Will plan to get the exhaust off the car and get the lower CATS checked out for blockage.

Engine Idle issue:
iCarsoft is registering faults for cylinder bank 2 (engine light does not come on though), i have changed over the coil pack and leads for cylinder #2 within my E500, made no difference, E55 engine still idles rough. The coil pack from my E55 on my E500 runs good with no faults.

I have also removed the spark plugs on E55 and they were wet. Should i do a compression test on cylinder #2?

Thank you!

 

[alexanderfoti]

What faults is it registering?

Put the engine in drive and accelerate whilst holding the brake. Any more than 1-2cm and they are shot.

The engines don't visibly drop when the mounts fail.

 

[ama singh]

Hi Alex,

Please see attached picture regarding cylinder #2 fault code, these registered live within ~15 seconds of idling the engine which is getting rougher.

Engine appears to stay put when I engage drive with brake and accelerate, can have a closer look in to this once the engine is running the way it should.

Thank you

 

[alexanderfoti]

check A/B ignition system and leads/plugs before looking at fuel system side IMO.

Not sure if Carsoft can turn off the circuits independently.

 

[ama singh]

Hi Alex,

I've swapped out the complete coil and leads on cylinder #2, still idling very rough - the parts I swapped out run perfectly on my E500. Only parts I did not swap out are the spark plugs, I will get two new spark plugs and re-try.

Thank you

 

[mattkh]

Engine appears to stay put when I engage drive with brake and accelerate, .......

Who was looking at the engine when you were inside the car.

 

[ama singh]

Hi, with bonnet in service position, you can see the front of the engine through the windscreen.

 

[ama singh]

Just done cylinder compression tests on cylinder 1, 2 and 3.

1 ~140PSI
2 ~25 PSI
3 ~140 PSI

I'm sure their must be others out their who have been through the experience I am about to start, would welcome feed back on real life failure modes that have resulted in bad cylinder compression with pictures of actual failure mode on this engine please.

Thank you!

 

[alexanderfoti]

Just done cylinder compression tests on cylinder 1, 2 and 3.

1 ~140PSI
2 ~25 PSI
3 ~140 PSI

I'm sure their must be others out their who have been through the experience I am about to start, would welcome feed back on real life failure modes that have resulted in bad cylinder compression with pictures of actual failure mode on this engine please.

Thank you!

Not idea unfortunately.

Cracked ring lands are common ish

I think it would be best to carry out a leakdown to determine whether the leak is exhaust/rings/intake and take it from there.

Could be headgasket as well.

If you have a camera stick a light in one plug hole and the camera in the other

 

[ama singh]

Hi Alex,

I'm going to go ahead and take the head off and hope the bottom end is ok, will up date once further forward with this issue.

Thank you

 

[Abb]

@ama singh This isn't EK04 HLD by any chance is it??

 

[ama singh]

YES!!!!

Please tell me more, thank you!!

 

[Abb]

YES!!!!

Please tell me more, thank you!!

Sorry pal to burst your bubble, I don't know the car. It was discussed on the other side as it was advertised on FB, sold and within 24hrs re appeared on eBay. There was a whole list of issues with it, which the seller mentioned. The manifold wasn't one of them

Good luck with resolving the problem(s), hope you get them sorted