Hi there,

I'm in the middle of planning to upgrade the turbos to M157 turbos and found a pair of turbos that came off a 2011 S63 AMG. The car was damaged and the salvage yard is selling the engine and turbos separately. I have not asked for the pictures of the car, which I should tomorrow, but the turbos look just fine in the pictures.

The guy said they provide a 30-day refund policy and a total of a 90-day warranty for a refund or replacement. The price is very reasonable at around 1600 and they have been on sale for a couple of months now. I will have it inspected from a Benz tuning shop here in SFO before any installation takes place. But I wanted to ask if there is anything specific I should check or ask the seller if/when I decide to go pick it up. They are 2hrs away, so I can drive and save some $ on shipping and taxes by paying cash in person.

What should I check, look for, or what type of questions should I ask before purchasing? Any red flags I should be aware of? If there is something, can it be fixed easily or should I walk away? Any details would be helpful.
Thanks.

 

Hi. How many km turbos are driven? If turbo shop will check them for you and they know what to do its really good. My turbos were opened and cleaned etc. before installing.

Check the wastegate actuators working too. Some reason it could be oil in there. I did see some Tacos vids about that some time ago. Mine were good.

Good luck!

 

I didn't get the time to call him to get that information yet. But he provided the vehicle's VIN. I called a local shop here and he said he can visually inspect them, but if I want to have them opened and inspect the internals, I would have to ship them out to the manufacturer Garret itself. I am going to call my Benz mechanic and see if he can give me a deeper inspection of the turbos instead of having to ship them out.

The wastegate looks fine, as no damage at all. I don't see any damage anywhere.

And the tuning shop told me to do some cooling upgrades such as heat exchanger/radiator and the UPD air filters lift kit and maybe IC. Any suggestions on the parts for the IC and heat exchanger/radiator?

I still have two other people to call to see if they can inspect the turbos and I have a friend who can help me install them.


Also, did you go back for more tuning?

 

Hi. Good turbo shop who knows what to do can open those turbos for sure (if you want it). Really no need to ship anywhere.

Pull the wastegate actuators arm forth and back and see is there coming oil inside the actuator, where the hose will connect to it. Its rare fault but can happen.

Maybe those who did say that upgrade IC didn't know that our cars have liquid cooled IC system. If we have air cooled then the IC would be easier to upgrade. There are no aftermarket IC solution on our platform. For that I know. IC is sitting between airboxes. Really hot place! Some guy in M157 platform is going to make one and try, but its not ready. I don't think u need to upgrade radiator.

I have UPD and BMC. When the final tune comes I will see what is the WG DC and if its like 95% I will think maybe blackboost for more air flow, but its really really expensive.

Center heat exchanger is between radiator and air condition. Also I haven't seen any aftermarket upgrade versions on M278 platform. For M157 there is but its not going to fit because the hoses are in different places.

I did add extra IC heat exchanger on bumper right side (passenger side). We did get webasto off there. It is connected right after IC pump and the to extra IC heat exchanger and to main IC. Custom hoses.So circuit is like this: Main IC - center heat exchanger- IC pump- extra heat exchanger- back to main IC. I have a switch that I can run IC pump when I want on. Check your IC pumps condition on same time when u do the turbo swap. My original pump was in really bad shape and I did get new one.

No I haven't tune it further. Its still +30c weather here and on dyno garage even more heat. Don't want to do it until weather goes normal/colder.

And if you are going to drive Ethanol blends the heat would not be so big issue that it is for my because im using pump gas. Dont need so much boost and better timing and less heat.

 

I think what I will do is have 2 different Mercedes mechanics check out the turbos just to be safe. Because one might miss a thing that the second guy will catch, just for safety. Rather be safe than sorry.

So I have found that PLM and VRP offer direct fit Heat Exchanger for our 550 models. I think the radiator is fine, the guy said he didn't mean to say that when he gave me a list of cooling mods to do.
But what are your thoughts/experiences with the UPD lift kit? I don't want to believe that lift kit is worth it lol. I got a quote from their sponsor here, but I'm still a little iffy about the product and their claims. But the dyno shop i called said that they always and only use the UPD kit.

So you didn't upgrade the stock Intercooler, but added a Heat Exchanger on the passenger side, like the AMG models? I believe you had to upgrade the Intercooler pump as well?

Yes, I am going to get two separate maps. One map for only 91 gas and a second map for 91+e85 fuel (E50 blend).

 

If you really want to be sure then you must get the turbo to turbo shop and dissemble it. Get ultra sound cleaning and see also it in balance etc.

There are no aftermarket IC upgrade solution on our cars. I haven't seen any main (center) heat exchanger upgrade either on M278, just M157.

Yes PLM, VRP, ALPHA does make those extra heat exchangers on many models like also 550. Mine is stock AMG. You can read my thread what frame (part number) do you need with it, if you do not have engine extra cooler in there now. Keep in mind that ONLY S model M157 AMG does have that connected to IC system cooling in passenger side. NO other models does that. S models have also drivers side bumper extra heat exchanger and that is for engine water cooling. So if you want to have extra IC cooling then you must do custom hoses etc.

Intercooler pump upgrade is not that simple. If you want to put there that pierburg pump what is best it is controller different wiring with our cars pump. Our cars have only + and - connectors and that pierburg is three or four connector and some kind pulse driven pump. I didn't go that route. Maybe that can be done , but it was too much for my knowledge. Also I think what ever pump is there its no help when the liquid temp will go really high, like on really hot days and when after driving car sits down or in driving slow in city. Thats the worst in M278 and M157 platform cars. Suffering heat sokes. In my situation now the intake temps are like 6-9c higher than ambient temp when on cruising speeds. And on after pulls it go down pretty good. I use water wetter also. Thats plenty enough for me.

What comes to UPD I dont know what is the limit that stock airboxes are limited and need UPD and free flowing filters like BMC. I know that those BMC/k&N let the dirt go in badly when driving on dusty condition. Maybe after dyno session I will use UPD and stock paper filters.

If you want some pictures etc. PM me and I can send those on WhatsApp.