OM642 Turbo Cleaning or Refurb?

[BigAlMercMan]

Hi all,

I'm working on a 2007 CLS and would appreciate any thoughts on this please.

I'm in the middle of a turbo repair, the plan was to get the actuator refurbished and clean the vanes with a kit.

Because removing the exhaust outlet went so well I'm thinking about cracking on and removing the complete unit for a full refurbishment. There's no play in the shaft but it doesn't rotate that freely, a recon unit was fitted a few years ago by a local indie so it's not that old.

The actuator has previously been worked on and looks a bit rough so that will definitely get sent for some expert attention.

I've got the kit now and only a couple of hours into the job, the kit may be worth a go.

Be good to hear any experience of the kit and life expectancy of refurbed actuators or buying new.

Thanks

Al

 

[mioba]

If it aint broke dont fix it, I know it doesnt help you.
What is the problem with the current turbo and actuator.

 

[Wighty]

That is a lot of soot on the turbo vanes .

 

[BigAlMercMan]

Morning,

Actuator has been playing up for ages, it worked intermittently for a while then died. I took the car to a turbo specialist who quoted £750 to fit a refurb unit, I'm reluctant to do this because it's had a recon already so hoped I could just refurb the actuator and give the vanes a clean.

The specialist also advised than according to the codes read that sticking vanes were an issue and looking at them I'm not surprised.

 

[Doug1234]

Clear the codes
Disconnect actuator from turbo linkage
Use a piece of wire through the turbo linkage and tie it off on something nearby so it holds the linkage in the full ‘up’ postion
Drive it and see how it behaves ,along with any codes that pop up.


Here is why....My Jeep with om642
Big flat spot between 3.5-4k revs when pulling hard in 3-4 gear change.
This would put up p0046 / actuator code
Keep away from those revs and all ok.
Pushed it hard one day and couple of large hiccups and constant p0046 (actuator) p0403 (egr) and quite a few drivetrain 4wd diff actuators.
Clear these all off and p0046 eventually became stored and would not clear..egr code would often pop up along with some hissing under bonnet.
Clear egr code and drives ok but only to 2k revs and turbo will chatter and stall above that.
When this first occurred I checked turbo linkage movement... it went up and down ok but the last 1/4 movement at the bottom of travel had no feel.
After about a month of driving along slowly ( too busy at work to get time to replace turbo yet) I disconnected actuator and found linkage on turbo not moving at all /solid.. so vanes in turbo are seized.
With actuator disconnected the stored p0046 has cleared
P0403 egr code pops up if I let turbo chatter by going over 2k revs and the gentle hissing under bonnet comes back and does so if in traffic fir more than ten minutes
Drives slightly better before its half warm for some reason, I have to encourage it to change gear sometimes by tapping shifter lever over.

Code reader I use is icarsoft bcii jeep dodge chrysler etc.... I can have the p0403 egr code on the Jeep reading side but interestingly if I use the generic obd side it only registers as p0404 ?.

Mercedes car may give more codes than the Jeep , for instance the Jeep om642 software will not flag up injector misfire etc.
I have only ever had the main engine management light come on twice , the flashing lightning bolt is the main one .
The swirl motor although working was deleted with the resistor mod long ago.
I have never seen either high or low over boost codes.
So just p0046 actuator...p0403 egr ... and then just lots of 4wd differential and transfer case actuator codes and these are just coming along for the ride due to the above codes as its the Quadra drive 2 all singing and dancing AWD system .
I will be changing egr cooler seals along with turbo once I get the time to get at it.
I believe mine is jammed due to exhaust manifold flexi breaking up

 

[mioba]

Turbo should be shining with an oily film on it. With that much soot on it, could your PVC be foobarred. A known issue on the 642 and I changed mine 2 weeks ago, I have been through it all on the 642, replaced the actuator last year too as a precautionaly measure.

Are you sure its the actuator, I also had an air leak on aturbo inlet pipe, causing too lean then limp mode (EML).

Actuators dont thow EML.

Hows it look down the pcv pipe?

Your swirl flap motor cover looks clean mind

 

[BigAlMercMan]

Turbo should be shining with an oily film on it. With that much soot on it, could your PVC be foobarred. A known issue on the 642 and I changed mine 2 weeks ago, I have been through it all on the 642, replaced the actuator last year too as a precautionaly measure.

Are you sure its the actuator, I also had an air leak on aturbo inlet pipe, causing too lean then limp mode (EML).

Actuators dont thow EML.

Hows it look down the pcv pipe?

Your swirl flap motor cover looks clean mind

Many many thanks for this info, I just removed the PVC and the membrane is split and the pipe and surrounding area quite oily. For the price of it I'd decided to get a new one before I pulled it apart.

Not 100% it's the actuator but I'm committed to a tidy up now so will get it looked at anyway.

The car has always been sooty (we've had it from 110k, now on 250k) so this could have been the cause of the issues I'm seeing now.

 

[mioba]

Bingo,

The PVC is a service item, they fail, they do a hell of alot of work considering its only a rubber diaphram. Hope you got an original MB part.

Check the two rings on the aluminum turbvo pipe one green, one black lower down on the rubber part, you will see if they failed as there will sotty marks around - clearly evident in your pics.

Places that refurb actuators will replace the platic worm spindle and gear inside, if its worn (evident by dust inside) they will change. That said they always test first, sometimes they only fail when hot, as parts insde expand, including dry solder joints. It sits right next to the turbo.

I know it wont be of any comfort, but I would doubt there was any issue with your original turbo... turbos tend to not work becuase something operating it had died,

Just looked at the actuator pic, the solders look dry to a crisp.
Make sure if you get a new one the numbers on the side match, original or not.


Glad you are making progress and keep us updated

 

[Doug1234]

The actuator in the picture posted has been repaired at some time , all the connections have been re soldered.

 

[mioba]

The actuator in the picture posted has been repaired at some time , all the connections have been re soldered.

not the best solder job by the looks of it.

 

[onefortheroad]

Those are not turbo vanes . That's the turbine , cleaning that wont do a thing. The vanes are behind and to the rear of any turbo turbine.

 

[Doug1234]

not the best solder job by the looks of it.

Actually its quite a good job, these are apparently the devil to solder as conventional soldering will not take hold

 

[mioba]

my concern was scorching that gone onto other components. Maybe looks worse than it is then..

 

[BigAlMercMan]

Those are not turbo vanes . That's the turbine , cleaning that wont do a thing. The vanes are behind and to the rear of any turbo turbine.

View attachment 68877

I'm expecting the kit to clean them.

There's a card template to block the exhaust and inject in past the turbine through a hole.

Seems pretty thorough and I think its worth a try while I look the other issues I've found thanks to this forum.

 

[onefortheroad]

I'm expecting the kit to clean them.

There's a card template to block the exhaust and inject in past the turbine through a hole.

Seems pretty thorough and I think its worth a try while I look the other issues I've found thanks to this forum.

Yes . The innotec kit. Its good stuff .

 

[BigAlMercMan]

Yes . The innotec kit. Its good stuff .

Thanks for the input, that gives me some reassurance to go for the cleaning option. I've got the power maxed kit, think it could get a bit messy!

 

[BigAlMercMan]

I've done the cleaning job, doesn't look or feel like a massive improvement although some slight sticking has gone from the actuator arm.

Recon actuator is due next week so I'll just have to wait and see now.

 

[onefortheroad]

Did you use a vacuum pump to work the vanes as the acid did its thing ?

Not sure if you can with electronic actuators , but there must be an arm or something that moves the vanes .

 

[BigAlMercMan]

Did you use a vacuum pump to work the vanes as the acid did its thing ?

Not sure if you can with electronic actuators , but there must be an arm or something that moves the vanes .

All I could do was rotate manually and move the actuator arm during the hour the stuff is in there for. Same during the rinse.

 

[BigAlMercMan]

The clean up job seems to have done the trick, I'm sure actuator was the main failure and duff PCV contributed.

Plenty more to do to get the car up to scratch but this is a big one out of the way.

Thanks for your support.