2007 E320 Intake/Turbo
 

2007 E320, 65k miles- So the car threw a P2015 code and went into limp mode. Took it to an indy shop and they say the turbo is leaking onto the inlet manifold and has destroyed the inlet port motor. Quoted $800 to fix the motor and $4k to fix the turbo. They said the turbo is working now, but since it is leaking oil it will need to be fixed eventually. Just a question of when. I'm not much of a mechanic, so fixing anything myself is out. Looking around on the internet, it seems like the info the shop is telling me is legit, and fairly common. Really disappointed with the turbo issue. It seems like the thing for me to do now is get the inlet port motor repaired and get the thing traded in?? Is it worth taking to another mechanic to get a second opinion? Is the leaking turbo something that I can just live with?? Roll the dice and hope I get another 30k miles out of it?

Are you sure it is the turbo? I had a similar issue, but mine was caused by excessive oil blowby from the PCV system causing oil to be ingested into the turbo and causing oil to pool at the front turbo gasket seal. The oil slowly weeps around this gasket and drips onto the electrical connection for the intake port flap motor causing it to short out. The dealer quoted me ~$3k to get mine fixed. IF the problem is indeed just a shorted out intake flap motor then there is a very cheap/easy fix. The "resistor mod" is very common on these engines, especially with the jeep CRD community. I went this route and it cost me $3 for a 10 pack of resistors. Been running strong for 110,000 miles with it and no other turbo or intake manifold issues.

I would 2nd what Joe2016 described as this is what I found to be one oil leak issue on my 2007 ML as well. I installed an oil catch can circuit between PCV valve & intake manifold in front of turbo. That has worked well for me so far. No more leaking from turbo inlet. I don't know what code P2015 translates to in DAS but if turbo is issue, watch this Scott Elliott video as might be your trouble too maybe: If port-inlet motor is issue, labor to get to it is what can get so expensive.

The mechanic said the turbo was working now, but leaking oil onto the swirl motor which led to the swirl motor failure. That's consistent with what I'm finding about this problem on the message boards. It went out of limp mode the day I took it to the shop, so that tells me the resistor trick should work- ie if I trick the computer to think the swirl motor is working. I picked it up from the shop today and it's back in limp mode. Going to try the mod before I spend any real money on repair.

I don't think the mechanic's quote is out of line as far as work involved to get at the swirl motor. I'm going to try the resistor mod first and deal with the oil blow by later. I'm seeing talk on forums about an elephant hose mod. Is this what you are describing? I'm an idiot when it comes to motors, so trying to sort my way through this.

So I'm going to try the resistor mod. I found a forum discussion with photos, and this looks like same engine as me. Borrowed this pic from that site. So I have located the pin connector and I think I know what to do now.

So it seems I need to buy some 4.7k ohm 1W @5% resistors and tape the resistor to the pins as shown in the photo. Tape everything up. Clear codes and give it a go. Is that all there is to it? It looks like some used spade clips and solder for the resistor, so I might go ahead and do that while I'm at it. Am I missing anything?


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That's exactly it. Just insert the resistor on the middle two pins I believe. I used electrical tape to secure the resistor and then wrapped the connector with high temp metallic tape to keep the temperatures down a bit to prolong the life of the resistor. There is no need to clear the codes after this, the car will clear the codes on it's own after a few driving cycles.

Regarding the "elephant hose mod" I would be cautious. This engine uses vacuum generated by the flowing intake gasses to create a vacuum that regulates the crankcase pressure via the PCV valve. The elephant hose mod eliminates this vacuum source and there is a slight risk of pressurizing the valve cover which can lead to oil leaks around the cover seals. Also, if a filter is not used with the elephant hose mod, when the crankcase is under vacuum conditions the vent hose becomes a vacuum cleaner that will potentially ingest debris directly into your valve cover. I l think a more robust and reliable approach (although more expensive) would be to install a baffled oil catch can inline with the PCV breather hose. This will keep the PCV system happy by allowing it to function as intended and will also drastically reduce the amount of oil blowby that reaches your intake.

Just make sure that the intake flaps are in full open after your do the resistor trick

Thanks for the advise about the elephant hose. I've still got a lot to learn. I'm seeing a lot of talk on forums about tunes and DPF/ EGR delete. I'm not quite sure exactly what all of this means. So it seems like if I buy a tune from say, Green Diesel Engineering, this will do the same thing as the resistor mod, correct? So in addition would this tune also be the same as DPF/ EGR delete? Does anyone have a link to a discussion about what all the deletes are and why I should or should not do them? I'm also confused about if all of the deletes are done with the tuning or if physical mods to the engine are required in addition to the software.

I'm going to try the resistor regardless as soon as I get the part. Assuming that works, I wouldn't mind paying the $600 for a tune chip if it will prevent an expensive engine repair down the road. I love the car, but it's a 2007 so I can't keep throwing big money into it forever.

i have the gde tune. Install the tune and your issue is done because it eliminates the swirl valve code. So no limp mode. I think the flaps default to open position. Also you have the benefit of the egr turned off so no more spot going into the intake. When the soot mixes with oil from the ccv it turns into a tar. The oil will become much cleaner after a few oil changes. If you pay extra for the dpf delete tune. You can replace with open pipe and use a better protecting oil, not having to worry about its effects on the dpf. With the tune you won’t need to mess with the resistor mod

i would talk with gde and let them explain the tune and what other things it helps with. Well worth it imho.

If you ever ever have the intake off you can send to cb engineering. He has an egr delte kit and will hot soak the intake to get the tar off. Will portmatch the intake and weld up any unused orifaces for the swirl valve motor. It will clean up and remove all the now unused plumbing.

You csn take it in stages as you need. Btw if you ever need the turbo rebuilt. Try Charlie at evergreen turbo in Ocala Florida. He has been in the business a long time. Real easy to work with. He has rebuilt different turbos for me for cars in the past.

Updates
 

I think I might have made things worse. Good news, resistor installed, no more limp mode. It didn’t seem to have the low end pep that it used to though. May be related, maybe not???Check engine light still on. Stopped on way home and had codes cleared. Still on. Stopped again to clear, still on. I had to borrow a code reader. Probably need to buy one.

Heres the bad part, the air intake into the turbo was damaged. A big chunk missing when I took it off, and I really goobered it up getting it back on. In my defense it was already cracked pretty bad before I did anything. So the black plastic part that holds the orange gasket into the turbo is what I’m talking about. There’s probably only 25% of the plastic holding on at this point. The orange seal is good and I think the band is holding tight. I probably need to replace the whole assembly now, right? Any after market options? Seems like these run about $400.

Now, how do I know if the check engine is due to the air intake or the swirl motor/ turbo?

where should I start?

I had to replace also. It gets hot from the turbo. Iirc it comes with the gasket that goes to the hose connected to the ccv with electrical connector on the plastic interface piece.

At at this point I would talk with gde and order the tune. As well as this piece. Without a code it is hard to say. But most likely oil dripping on the swirl valve motor putting you into limp mode. The tune will pay for itself in the long run.

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thanks for the advice. That sounds like a plan but I’m worried about the longevity of the turbo. It seems like there was a lot of oil at the orange gasket at the turbo. There should be none, right? Is the oil at the turbo something I need to worry about with the deletes? What am I realistic looking at IF the turbo fails? The last mechanic said $4k. Is a rebuild cheaper? Is there anything preventative I can do for the turbo?

Lol at least you know your getting oil to the turbo I saw a recent thread where the turbo failed and they noticed after pulling that something was plugged. It depends how much oil. Mine has had traces for a while at 183k. What you would need to look out for is obvious failure with extreme loss of power which would be obvious failure. Before that you can check shaft play by removing intake.... for best guidance check you tube to determine what would be deemed excessive.

was the 4K quote for the turbo alone or to replace? I am not sure labor cost to remove ? But I would guess a turbo rebuild would cost approximately 1-2k. I would looking into possible improvements such that might be possible while being rebuilt. I have had smaller and older Porsche turbos rebuilt. Not sure about the Mercedes turbo... I think it is probably more complex. I am not that mechanically inclined so I really only have general knowledge. I am sure others can provide more detailed information

Are you having much of a visible oil leak? On my gl320cdi I don’t have the belly pan installed so if the small orange gasket that feeds into the side of the intake is loose and not snug. Oil will be pushed past and end up dripping down along the bell housing. I usually have changed when doing air filters every 20k. Curious if you are having to add much oil between changes? If excessive amounts that oil will effect the dpf for sure. I am not sure about the other exhaust components like cats or sensors. Excessive oil consumption can also come from excessive blow by of a weaker engine. You would need leak down or compression test to know for sure for engine diagnosis. Most turbos will have some noticeable oil at the compressor wheel when older. It doesn’t mean it needs immediate attention. The shaft play would be more diagnostic

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new factory cost... not sure if other new options? If rebuilt. You just want to make sure a quality rebuild.

BUT I would guess your turbo is fine and as mentioned normal to have some oil from the ccv or pcv. Your loss of power is most likely a loss of boost air due to intake seal not being tight with broken plastic. What I did until my new intake arrived was to use thin gurillia tape and wrap multiple times to give something to clamp against. Seemed to work

Good to hear that the resistor took you out of limp mode. However, the cracked intake plenum is concerning. When it cracked did any plastic pieces fall into the turbo? This could cause major damage if these pieces got ingested while the turbo, since they spin around 50k-200k rpm. Do you have any pictures of the broken plenum? Also, do you have any pictures of the turbo compressor wheel/turbo inlet? The loss of low end power wouldn't be due to a cracked plenum causing a boost leak as that is on the low pressure side of the turbo. If there is a leak it will be sucking unfiltered air into the turbo and intake system. Do you have a code reader? If you do, what codes are being thrown? This will help immensely with diagnosing your problem.

I can't get pictures now but I'll take some tonight. I cleaned out the port and seal as best I could, taped everything together with electrical tape and tightened band clamp. It felt like I had a good seal on everything, but I agree that this is probably causing part of my problems now. I don't think there are any loose pieces that would get sucked in to the turbo, but at this point the car is in the driveway and I won't take any more chances until I get a permanent fix for the air inlet. I had to drive the car home from the shop last night, but now that it is home I don't need to drive it until I get the intake issue sorted out. Step one, order a new air intake.

I didn't check the codes on the first reset, I just cleared them. Full disclosure, the first time I hooked up the resistor I followed the picture posted above exactly- which I now realize is the EGR plug. The guy who posted the photo said this in his post, but I was just going by the pictures. I took a 2 block test drive when I did this. I think this is one of the codes. The EGR is now hooked back up normal with no resistor. When I stopped the second time, I got the following codes:
1-P20080 Intake Manifold Runner Control Circuit Open Bank
2-P0403 EGR Control Circuit (assume this was from my goof)
3-P2015 Intake Manifold Runner Sen Sw Ckt Rng/ Perf B1 (this was same as original swirl motor code)
4-P2008 Intake Manifold Runner Control Circuit/ Open Bank 1

Codes 1-3 showed confirmed, code 4, P2008 says pending. Is it safe to assume the first 3 codes were from previous issues and wouldn't cause the check engine to remain on? I didn't re-read codes after the second attempt, I just reset them and went home. I'm guessing the P2008 is the active code. Bad contact with the resistor pins?

Any advice is appreciated, but I think what I will do is: replace the air intake first. Buy a cheap code reader in the meantime. Check resistor connections when I install new air intake. Read/ clear codes and test. If that clears things up, I'll probably buy the mod next paycheck. Sound like a good plan?

Any stored, or historic codes are just that. They might not clear with scanner, but will go away after some driving cycle.
It is pending code that you have to worry about.
Oil on breather tubes is perfectly normal thing.
I rebuild my turbo and kit was like 40 bucks.

When my swirl motor shorted out, it blew a fuse in the front fuse box (can't remember which one), but you might want to check that to see if it solves the P2008 error. Once I installed the resistor and replaced the fuse in my vehicle, it took probably ~200 miles for the code to clear. The ECU needs to see a certain number of unique engine conditions to ensure the engine is working properly before it clears the code.

It sounds like you did a good job at cleaning out the turbo inlet, but it would be cheap insurance to pop the intake plenum off and double check that NO plastic is left loose inside. But I agree, your best bet is to just replace the plenum with a new one. Once the new one is on and you can drive it for a while, the codes should clear and you should be good to go (no real need to get GDE tune, although I would 100% recommend that you get it tuned!). Mercedes advertises the swirl flaps as a way to "increase low end torque", but really it is for emissions control during idle/light throttle conditions. I have seen little to no evidence of losing any power by bypassing the swirl motor. I have the GDE Eco tune with DPF delete and my 0-60 time is 6.623s (down from 8.1s stock). That leads me to believe that this engine functions just fine without the swirl motor.

The swirl valves are not beneficial to power at ANY rpm from my testing. And even being locked wide open still present a restriction to airflow. Just like DFI/GDI cars taking manifolds off and cleaning intake ports and valves with media blasting one (closed) port at a time dramatically improves power and response, if you delete the swirl valves completely at same time you might see another 15 bhp or so at same boost pressure or more depending on how much carbon is in runners and ports. Also obviously delete the EGR feed Venturi as well, it’s a serious obstruction at least it was on my OM648.

Air intake arrived yesterday so I got everything put back together. Checked all fuses, all OK. Put in a new resistor, electrical taped, and tucked under intake. Started car, check engine still on. Drove 2 miles to autozone and bought cheap code reader. Read P2008 code. Cleared code, twice, and the third start the check engine light went off. Drove 2 miles home and no check engine light.

It's not in limp mode, but it still feels a little sluggish. This is wife's car, so I don't drive it a lot. Maybe it is just me, but it doesn't seem to have the pep like it used to.

Wondering if I still have a turbo issue???

I didn't go ahead with the tune. I wanted to make sure step one was working properly before I throw any more money at this. Am I correct in assuming the tune should improve the performance. Posted pictures below of the turbo inlet, the resistor connection, and the plug all taped up and tucked away.

Any advice on next step? Try the tune? Do I need to look at some sort of preventative maintenance to keep my turbo from going out? For now, the check engine light is not on and there are no active codes.


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With new intake, why not put the flaps back to work and see if the engine will regain the pep?

Don't follow??? I'm not very mechanically inclined so I'm not sure what you're describing. I shouldn't have said intake, the part I put on was the clean air line (part # 642-90-82-37).

He only replaced the air intake plenum which feeds the air from the air boxes/pcv system into the turbo inlet. This has nothing to do with the intake manifolds where the intake flaps are located. If you unplug the resistor, you will once again find yourself in limp mode due to the swirl motor short.

Ajkoontz, do you have a bluetooth OBDII scanner that works with the Torque app (like this one )? This would be a good way to monitor turbo boost pressure to ensure your turbo is able to create enough boost and would effectively determine if there is any turbo damage present.

Also, you could do a couple WOT 0-60 runs. If these are much slower than advertised it would be an indication that something is not quite right. I believe these are advertised at 8.1s (https://www.greendieselengineering.c...ercedes.action).

If you replace air intake ( bat wing) with those sensors correct me if I'm wrong here but you have to code that with star diagnostics. This has to go through adaptation