DUTCH

Have there been any reports of or Service Bulletins issued for sludging in the ML 350BlueTEC engine?

There are reports from several different countries of this happening with the G 350BlueTEC engines, bad enough that official MB Service Bulletins have been issued, engines are being replaced and a new engine oil has been formulated. This is the Euro 6 Compliant OM642 diesel motor.

See here for more information: http://pointedthree.com/disc/forums/...219019#M219019

Curious if this is showing up in that engine in the ML.

Kartergreg

Have not seen any service bulletins but there have been some reports of ML's with sludge. Here is one I am sure you have seen.

https://mbworld.org/forums/diesel-fo...ch-sludge.html

Seems I have run across a few others. A good time to review what causes sludge in diesel engines. These engines do accumulate a lot of soot in the crankcase, and without getting into the oil change frequency discussion, I have decided to change oil more often than 10k miles. Seems like one thing I can do to proactively prevent sludge formation.

DUTCH

Thanks. I had not seen that thread; and, yes, I agree on the oil change frequency. I am old school, change at 1,000 miles, 3,000 miles, 5,000 miles and every 5,000 miles thereafter. Each time with a new filter.

fabbrisd1

There is no "sludge" problem with the 350BT engine except for these reports in Turkey, Estonia, etc - where "low sulphur" diesel fuel is non-existent..

Kartergreg

I've never heard of a connection between sulfur content and sludge formation.

I have seen information about biodiesel and it's effect on sludge.

DUTCH

Really? Did you read the reports from Australia and South Afrika?

Why is MB replacing engines at their expense?

DUTCH

I just received an email from a friend in the Vance Factory Service Department. He told me that there is a special high temperature oil that must be used with the BlueTEC engines. I wonder if this is over and above the MB 229.51 spec'd oils indicated in the Owners Manual.

Anyone have the skinny on this oil? A TSB perhaps?

Phil.mount

That would be great information to receive. Please push him to let us know if the .51 is the oil or if we are on to the next version.

fabbrisd1

There is positively no "350BT sludge problem" in North America or civilized EU... this is way whacked out....

DUTCH

You're repeating yourself.

DUTCH

How do you respond to this article?

http://www.autonews.com/article/2013...oreUserAgent=1

Sure looks like there's a problem.

fabbrisd1

I respond with this - Euro diesels including MB are warrantied up to B5 - and yes, if you use B20 over time you will sludge up your BlueTech.

And Illinois - rather than following Euro standards, and frankly Euro has a lot more experience with diesel than legislators in Springfield Illinois - have no idea what they are doing with diesel fuel - except to capture more of the intra-state truck fill up's in Illinois rather than filling up in adjacent states..

B20 for passenger cars is nonsense.. and to "top it off" most Illinois pumps are not clearly marked - meaning who reads the sticker on the side of the pump ?

MB dealers in Illinois have customers sign a special acknowledgement about B20.