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Yes, kudos and many thanks to him 10000%! He's seemingly brought a lot of attention, quality of life, and hopefully lifetime engine health to almost every MB made in the last what 11 years they've been including this solenoid???
Crazy and amazing that after all this time, such seemingly amazingly beneficial things are being discovered for these cars. I just wish the prices weren't increasing so much on all the AMGs, especially the W204 C63s so I could get one before it's too late lol.
Also kudos to @kevm14 for starting this discussion on this subforum, doing the work and reporting back and diligently answering all our questions. This has been one of the most fascinating and likely important mods of this platform.
Appreciate that. And in turn I'd like to thank CaliBenzDriver and S-Prihadi for the M276 research, discussion and ultimately encouragement.
I do feel like this could be an important point in M157 history. I hope someone has informed the M278 people (some of them are on here already).
i did DM Chevota re this, He is a long time E550 owner that uses HP Tuner software. And has some inexplicable issues with boost and drivablility . I may just post up a link to the thread in the A207 E350/E550 section too
also - what if my oil pump fails in the future and I have unplugged this solenoid. How will I know the pump is gone other than engine issues?
also will this shorten the life of my oil pump?
additionally I tried accessing it from the top and I can just touch it but can't see anything - it's all feel. Also my arm got stuck lol soooo will be dropping the pan.
The sales pitch all sounds good, the reality is slightly different: disabled VVT and scored cylinders.
Do V8 engines benefit from less oiling to save gas??
The reality in this thread shows the poor implementation of low oiling feature. Engine hesitations are caused by poor mixtures and wrong timings - A clear departure from fuel efficiency.
Myth Busters would say... Can reduced oiling increase efficiency ?
is officially BUSTED BOLONEY.
As long has nobody had connected the dots between poor performances and oil pressure everyone was all right with laggy pedal and wasted engines.
Now you have the evidence to recognize that. When in doubt with reality consider unbiased real test results.
There is most likely a pre-writen scenario about this well engineered struggle such as what was played out with the "Diesel-gate"... lawyers will extract millions Billions from this whole pistons business to favor "cleaner electric vehicles".
Give it sometime, you'll see how this game is played out
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; 12-20-2023 at 06:04 PM.
Reason: Bosch rules business
I just realized that if this solenoid valve malfunction had anything to do with emissions, testing or emission systems, then the bulletin to Mercedes technicians would be to absolutely get it repaired, not to ignore it.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Originally Posted by PeterUbers
I just realized that if this solenoid valve malfunction had anything to do with emissions, testing or emission systems, then the bulletin to Mercedes technicians would be to absolutely get it repaired, not to ignore it.
am I understanding that correctly?
Sounds right. That's how I would view it. Calling it non-essential also makes you wonder.
I just realized that if this solenoid valve malfunction had anything to do with emissions, testing or emission systems, then the bulletin to Mercedes technicians would be to absolutely get it repaired, not to ignore it.
am I understanding that correctly?
Combusting additional quarts of engine oil through piston rings and intake valves does have to do with SMOG emissions.
This is known but kept hush-hush unchecked.
As long as fuel injection is in closed-loop, cats are scrubing and monitors are completed: PASS!
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; 12-20-2023 at 07:42 PM.
I had two repairs to get to on my M157, neither were fun but were necessary:
1. ABC pump damper - a major pain because the 17mm hex head popped off. I had to use a chisel to get it to turn. Lots of fun… highly recommended. Not really.
2. While I was there, I had to replace a coolant crankcase vent pipe. That wasn’t too bad with the damper off. I lost some coolant but shouldn’t have any issues with refilling. Guessing I lost twelve ounces, if that, and it should need bleeding. We’ll see.
While I was taking care of all this, I decided to get after the oil control solenoid connection. The connector was not coming off so I wiggled it. It then began to turn in the housing. And from there it started to pull out some and will not go back in. Looking at the control solenoid pictures, it seems that this is an only an extension to the connect the valve to the outside (and to the harness connector).
What the heck to I do now? Anyone seen anything like this? I’m not even sure how it could pull out.
I had to work at mine for a while and did not disturb that grommet plug. That is weird. I hope you can get it back in. Might need to clean and apply some RTV depending on if it broke free of the timing cover.
Worst case your timing cover has to come off as far as I can tell.
But yes that's not the actual sensor. If it somehow doesn't leak oil, that's all that matters. I would expect it to, though, if I understand you correctly.
This is the oil pump with the extension connected:
My understanding about my car is that the timing cover was serviced a couple years ago. Maybe someone forgot to do something when putting it back together?
To me I think this thing has been leaking oil already. Maybe it was already pushed in?
@TomZVB looks like the grey clip on the connector is missing to? mine was also missing, I posted a photo a few days ago. You can still remove the connector by pressing down on the connector head and pulling backwards.. a right angle pick tool might help.
@TomZVB looks like the grey clip on the connector is missing to? mine was also missing, I posted a photo a few days ago. You can still remove the connector by pressing down on the connector head and pulling backwards.. a right angle pick tool might help.
The lock popped off when I was trying to use a pick to pull it. It went flying somewhere under the car.
Holy crap. Yeah that looks like it's been leaking for a long time. Has the timing cover been off before? That would be my guess.
I think the correct orientation is for that plug to be straight up and down.
The socket orientation depends on what parts were installed. We know this is part of an internal harness to the valve. When harness fails it creates the "lucky fault".
Don't try to rearrange the orientation of all this seasoned plastics.
Make friends with comestic leaks, no problem.
They are totally expected with high crankcase pressure... now that's a NO GOOD PART.
Don't chase the consequences, deal with the root cause hence this thread where we deal with some essentials.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; 12-20-2023 at 07:56 PM.
The socket orientation depends on what parts were installed. We know this is part of an internal harness to the valve. When harness fails it creates the "lucky fault".
Don't try to rearrange the orientation of all this seasoned plastics.
Make friends with comestic leaks, no problem.
They are totally expected with high crankcase pressure... now that's a NO GOOD PART.
Don't chase the consequences, deal with the root cause hence this thread where we deal with some essentials.
Cosmetic leaks I can be somewhat okay with. Oil pouring out of my M157… not so much!
I am looking forward to having this all behind me. Maybe tomorrow if I have some time to mess with it.
I disconnected my solenoid plug, confirmed I got a shadow code and didn't see much difference in a few short drives. Still have an annoying hesitation (revs go up/down or power on/off) between 2-3K rpm with low to mid load. I'm on a basic/stage1 ECU tune, no TCU tune.
Will continue "testing", I'd like to eventually confirm faster engine warmup.
12-20-2023, 01:25 PM
TRUE XMAS: ONE GIFT TO ANOTHER...
