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Hello everyone. I’m new here and this is my first time posting, and first time in a Mercedes. Thoroughly impressed with the build quality.
I just bought my car about 800 miles ago and it’s in tip top shape. Only complaint is how it bellows smoke at heavy acceleration. I noticed as soon as I bought it that it smells really strong even at idle. I’m not new to diesels btw. I own an 06 Chevy Duramax as well.
Here’s what I’ve done so far to the Benz to try and remedy my problem. I’ve changed the oil, 7.2l of the 0w40 Mobile Synthetic, Mann oil filter, Mann fuel filter, Liqui Moly Diesel purge in the new filter, air filter, cabin filter. No change. Car still smokes.
What I’ve noticed, is that the car has more power when only at half throttle vs full throttle with smoke. Last Saturday upon a full throttle pass, the car lost all power. Would accelerate very slow after 1st gear. Seemed like no turbo boost. No CEL. I turned the car off for a few mins, and then the car had power again.
The last thing I haven’t done is looked into the EGR. I’ve gone as far as to pull off the cap off the back of the EGR, and it was very clean in there. I tried to remove the valve but for the life of me I could not. I could rotate it about 70 degrees in both directions, but could not pull it out. Car currently has 149k miles on it. Called the dealer and they said there are no open recalls on the car.
Below are a couple vids of the smoke. This can’t be normal, right?
Found the culprit!! Thanks guys! Now, how do I reattach it? I did it once but it fell out as soon as I moved the servo arm, so I think that socket is worn out.
Culprit. My engine bay. 149k. Not bad Eh?
I’ll report back.
How do you guys wire the flap linkage if I go that route?
If you're happy leaving the manifold in the condition that it's in, just pull the intake flap linkage towards the radiator as much as it will go and wire it in place. You will also need to get a 4.7K ohm resistor plugged into the 1st and 2nd location of the harness that goes to the servo. The 1st pin will be closest to the flat side of the 3 prong plug. Once the resistor is in the servo will remain unplugged and the car will not go into limp mode. Hopefully this helps.
I managed to snap the linkage back in place. Boy what a pain in the **** that was! (For future guys reading this, I used a long 6-7” pick tool with a 90* bend, 2 large flathead screwdrivers/pry bar to bring the servo arm to where it lined back up with linkage. Then I pulled linkage up towards servo arm while pushing down with a 3rd screwdriver, on the servo till it snapped into place. Second screwdriver was holding servo arm in place so it didn’t rotate back aft. [ I initially used mechanical fingers/claw to hold linkage piece in place since mine was completely off from both ends. Same process though])
Fingers crossed for how long it will stay in place. I’ll snap it in again till it gets loose enough, then I’ll do the wire trick.
I started the car and it immediately idled better. I did a wot takeoff in my long driveway and BOY did it dump smoke!! All the spot from the closed runners came out. Left a dual 50’ long lines on the ground!!! Haha. Did a couple more full throttle runs on my way to work this morning to clear it out some more, with the same results! But this time the car has POWER, so I know it’s remnant soot.
Now car is throwing a p2015 code. For swirl flaps. Most likely as per MBDieselFreak, my flaps are caked with soot and can’t return back all the way which is why it’s throwing the code. So it sounds like I’ll be wiring flaps open.
if anyone has a picture on how they did it, that would be great. Thanks
I had a similar issue with my 130K CDI. I was getting lots of heavy black smoke and occasionally it would lose power an go into limp mode. Scanner showed bad O2 sensor , changed out that and code did not return but black smoke persisted. Pulled EGR and it was relatively clean...cleaned it while it was out. Popped off the black plastic cover on the actuating cam and it was packed with fine exhaust soot. Cleaned and lubed that and reinstalled the unit...the black smoke problem was cured. The valve stem guide must be worn in the EGR allowing the soot build up and causing the EGR to "stick" periodically, if the problem returns I will change the EGR. I know this is an older thread but it may help others with a similar issue.
Under hard acceleration, they always smoke. A diesel doesn't control power with air like a gas engine, it does it with fuel. At heavy load, a 2005 will "roll coal" as the truckers say. The newer ones are clean diesels and inject urea to prevent it.
In 2005, the Mercedes common rail diesel injected (CDI) motors achieved NOx emissions with copious amounts of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and careful injections controls; however, the smoke regulations (particulates) were years away. These engines will smoke at full acceleration. My 2005 E320 CDI has smoked at full acceleration since brand new.
In 2007, Mercedes came out with the Bluetec system which reduced the smoke significantly using particulate filters and urea injection. Those smoke very little; however, have their own set of issues.
