Mike's Diesel Dream-car Disaster! E320 Bluetec

[@FloridaVanMan]

As of the date this video was posted, the car is running and driving amazingly well. One rebuilt transmission later, we've learned to mate engines to transmissions OUTSIDE of the car instead of the way we did it here. Totally by fault of us.

[@dariodjakovic1600]

Only good diesel engine in w211 in USA is OM648

[@marcelcovaci9922]

A BLUETEC, W211, with 150k miles is over 15k in WA at the stealerships. I bought mine in 2020 in Boise, 99k miles 8k$ - from Mercedes stealership. Amazing car, I do a lot of the maintenance myself. It helps with older cars if they were maintained throughout their life.

[@seer7327]

Why not an om648? You know its sibling, om647, very well. I had never touched an MB until I got my om648 and I knew right up front to get a car with the om648. If an engine won't crank then look to manually turn it over.

[@mannyst1nvan]

Awesome story Mike! Best of luck I'm sure you guys will sort it out.

[@surgickalstrike]

Major bummer on the Benz but loving the vids. That car probably had rusty hinges on the hood from never being opened to get any maintenance / fluid changes. BTW unrelated but Jeep makes a Grand Cherokee with the same 2.7 T1N engine and transmission. It would be cool to see y’all buy one of those.

[@FloridaVanMan]

The Grand Cherokee never had the 2.7L OM647 (at least in the states). It's apparently had some Motori diesel and the OM642, but never the OM647.

[@FloridaVanMan]

No rust on the hinges either btw. The chassis is in extraordinarily perfect condition in comparison to a T1N of the same era.

[@surgickalstrike]

Or not

[@tomburdett6639]

👍👍👍😁

[@kucickula]

is normal to smoke from oil cap when runing?

[@FloridaVanMan]

Not 'normal' but there are conditions where it is not alarming or worrisome.

[@zambotv8150]

Brilliant video, you two have some pair of cahoonas, good luck and good luck

[@Nothing_to_see_here]

I have nothing but faith that you'll have her back on the road shortly. Best of luck gents.

[@calvynmercedes6264]

Up to 1998 reliable Mercedes Benz, after that Mercedes Chrysler crap,

[@FloridaVanMan]

W211s are solid and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

[@OneManOnFire]

How much was that used engine? From what place?

[@FloridaVanMan]

$3,000 from a local junk yard that ordered it from a professional network.

[@gavinchristopher8792]

You have patience with a Merc...believe all will be fine in the end. Would like to see when the Merc drives the way it should.

[@FloridaVanMan]

She's smooth as a goose now.

[@samuraijapan8746]

It's a Mercedes! Back in the old days they were solid cars, but nowadays are nothing but crap! Don't waste your money on these cars. Germans made them extremely complicated and cheap made so they can charge you a fortune to get fixed! What is simple is good and useful, what is complicated is bad and useless!

[@FloridaVanMan]

Yeah anything past W211 is crap. This is a W211, a solid, common, and reliable chassis used for taxis all around the world.

[@DieselPurge]

@@FloridaVanMan I'm glad you brought the diesel and fixed it, it's a sought after Mercedes diesel. 👍

[@jamesogara2219]

Fantastic video. Can you say how much the used OM-642 cost?

[@FloridaVanMan]

About $3,000 on a pallet and we were super-pleased with the clean engine that arrived after ordering it without seeing pictures.

[@michaelmann5732]

That’s a rough run of luck. Not for the car itself though. It couldn’t have ended up in a better place. After you work your magic, I can’t imagine that much power in a small car. Interesting.

[@FloridaVanMan]

Sucks, but it's gonna be a fun daily when it's all said and done! I wasn't even thinking about power when I got it, it was mostly about staying within the CDI engine family & getting something small and comfy! -Mike

[@michaelmann5732]

I just watched a video showing a top speed of 170mph.

[@FloridaVanMan]

@@michaelmann5732 I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that. 😅 -Mike

[@justinjj1259]

should consider doing 6 speed swap, wonder if v6 crossfire manual transmission would bolt on to this diesel?

[@FloridaVanMan]

Would love to, didn't find many other people on the internet manual swapping OM642s though.

[@justinjj1259]

@@FloridaVanMan I have experience on w210 v8 manual swap, but just found out w211 werent meant to be manuals. while anything is possible it wouldnt be ez. Thanks for good sprinter and MB content!

[@Nikola_W211]

Its possible to use an 6 speed transmission used in the faclifted e280cdi same engine but has 190hp.

[@wm275]

@@FloridaVanMan It is possible to put a 6 speed manual gearbox on the OM642. Mine has 716.653 gearbox. The 716.6 gearbox exist in two configurations, 1 very commun, that bolts on OM648 and other olders diesels, and one pretty rareful, that fit on the OM642. If you want to swap this, you can use all the original parts available. The 716.6 is rated to 370nm of torque, with the orginal 240mm clutch. It's the reason why the 280cdi with manual gearbox is limited to 400nm of torque unlike the 280cdi automatic gearbox, that develop 440nm. Sachs performance propose a reinforced clutch kit, that can runs aproximetely 500nm of torque (by my own experience). The problem of this engine, is the massive torque at low rpm, that ruin the clutch. The 716.6 gearbox don't really like this too, and some people broke pignons because of too low rpm torque, principaly in om606 tuning world. But if you are really interested about put a good gearbox on the OM642 and increase the torque, it is possible to fit the best manual gearbox of mercedes on this engine. This gearbox is the SG-510/6.3, also named NSG510 gearbox, that originaly runs at 510nm of torque with a single 260mm clutch. This gearbox was especially developped for W204 C320cdi to keep the 510nm of torque of the OM642. Some informations here : www.forum-mercedes.com/topic-181-classe-c-w204-boite-de-vitesses.html This gearbox was also used on some 250cdi models, that are the same that the 320cdi models. Note that the 260mm clutch can be mounted on the 716.6 gearbox, because the shaft is the same. (It's the same for sure, I tested it my self after a discussion with a guy who insisted it was the same) And it exist a reinfoced 260mm clutch for this gearbox, by sachs performance. It can hold almost 700nm of torque. To finish, "The Kangaroos Team" are making a ceramic 260mm cluth disk, that can hold 960nm. Link of the kangaroos team : www.thekangaroosteam.com/shop-1/ceramic-clutch-kit-260mm-up-to-960nm Now you have the first most important information if you want to do a manual swap.

[@fikalaredo5762]

German sparkle party 😂

[@FloridaVanMan]

I think I know what you mean... but that sure sounds dirty. :)