07 GL320CDI spontaneous braking, or fuel cut?
I’ve found tons of great help on this forum, so thanks! I currently have a problem I haven’t been able to find any answers for.
Our 07 GL320 CDI (130,000mi)is stumbling at steady speeds/throttle position. It seems to only happen when it warms up. It feels like someone is stabbing a fantom brake pedal or there is a violent cut in fuel. It can get more and more frequent until it’s a struggle to maintain speed. It is very intermittent too. The car recently had a CEL and limp mode for EGR valve, which I replaced, and solved that problem. I don’t know if this could be related...
My first though was maybe a bad tank of diesel, and I don’t know the service history, so I replaced the fuel filter, air filters and added some injector cleaner/cetane boost. This did not solve the problem🙁
My next thought was the ABS or ESP was acting up and applying brakes for me. I pulled the abs fuse, and that did not solve the problem. It did disable power steering, which I thought was kind of strange.
The car is not throwing any codes.
I’m out of ideas. Anybody had similar problems?
Thanks for any help!




You have OM642 engine.
For some reason that MY engine is called Bluetec on sedans and cdi on SUVs.
Beats me.
never mind reread the thread. Sounds like something else. Very curious
I hooked up my OBD reader and drove with datalogging on. Now the car finally threw a code, p0299 Turbocharger.
When these “stumbles” occur, there are sharp dips in fuel pressure. I also took a look at the turbo, and it doesn’t look good

There is a tiny bit of wiggle in the shaft. Could it be possible some chunk got in there from the egr job? I really had to bash that sucker to get it loose.
I am thinking I might need a turbo😢
Something got in there

Orange line is fuel pressure, steady throttle at this time.




Small play on the shaft is normal. I rebuild my turbo at 180k as it had some play and new bearings had the same play.
Also look like crankase ventilation pipe wasn't inserted all the way in, what created all that oil around.
Last edited by PSDCampervan; Jun 4, 2019 at 12:53 PM.
Trending Topics
In searching possible solutions, I came across the actuator issue. I checked and all my connections look great still.
I'm thinking it’s time to bite the bullet and order a new turbo😔
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
same symptom is back and CEL is back on. The thing I think is strange is the new turbo sounded WEIRD from the get. It was quite a bit louder, and sounded like a cat fight, for lack of a better description.
I confirmed with the mechanic that he primed oil in the new turbo. I don’t know where to look now. How likely is it that the new turbo from Garrett was a dud?


