EGR/ERG Valve

[Yooper2]

What's the deal with the "back ordered" Exhaust Gas Recirculation valves on Mercedes diesel engines? Ours failed two days ago while driving 70mph on the Interstate. Sudden loss of power. Scary. We limped into a MB dealer at 30mph. They scanned the code, EGR failure. Said it would be weeks before they could get one. We have to drive it 300 miles tomorrow from our campsite to our local Mercedes dealer for service. The MB tech who first diagnosed the issue unhooked the electrical harness on the ERG and said we could drive it without further damaging the engine, still limited to about 50mph. Anyone else having this issue? (Also, can I post on another forum with more readership?)

[AudiDudi]

How many miles on it? Some have had success with removing it and cleaning it.

[Yooper2]

It has 34K miles. We are the 3rd owner. Owner #2 had it less than a year, we bought it from him in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. We drove it to Alabama from Wisconsin and had no issues. I will ask the MB service folks in Mobile, AL if they will try cleaning it. Thanks.

[AudiDudi]

Originally Posted by Yooper2

It has 34K miles. We are the 3rd owner. Owner #2 had it less than a year, we bought it from him in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. We drove it to Alabama from Wisconsin and had no issues. I will ask the MB service folks in Mobile, AL if they will try cleaning it. Thanks.

I'd be shocked if they would clean it as they will want to charge you $600 (as I recall) for the part. Good Luck. I'm not sure, but depending on the year and if the AEM recall has been done, it might be covered under the new warranty.

[Winterbagoal]

If you're handy (I'm not) there are some vids of the removal and cleaning process...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fad1...el=AndrewNorth

It doesn't look that difficult. Maybe a non-MB diesel shop would give it a go?

[Rocinante440]

If a dealer or general Sprinter shop told me it would be at least a week to get a new valve, I would immediately ask them to attempt a clean and reinstall of the existing one - especially if it is a good independent Sprinter shop. It's better than waiting a week, and it's certainly worth a try.

[SteveNSue]

We took our Sprinter out to make a run to Sam's Club for a monthly stockup. When slowing off the interstate I got a warning on the Scan for a "potential trouble code 402 error" which is the EGR valve opening in a manner that was not normal. The check engine lite did not go on but the "potential trouble code" showed up again when decelerating at the highway exit. It seemed that the error cleared up after we drove a time. Could this be a result of the BlueTec tune up?

[Yooper2]

Originally Posted by Yooper2

What's the deal with the "back ordered" Exhaust Gas Recirculation valves on Mercedes diesel engines?

Update from OP....

Our local MB dealership's Service Center had our vehicle in their possession for a week. They ultimately performed a "cleaning" of the ERG valve (under warranty, no charge). The RV (with Sprinter/Diesel) drives fine, but it is not "fixed".

I escalated the issue to the Mercedes' Customer Care Team and did get a polite and professional phone call in return. After a long conversation I am more educated but was unable to convince them to replace my ERG.

[TandW]

Have read elsewhere that if these are never serviced it can be a near impossibility to remove them. Anyone here agree with this? Should a regular cleaning be performed? Are they to be serviced based on miles driven or on total fuel consumed? Anyone know?

[bigb56]

Originally Posted by TandW

Have read elsewhere that if these are never serviced it can be a near impossibility to remove them. Anyone here agree with this? Should a regular cleaning be performed? Are they to be serviced based on miles driven or on total fuel consumed? Anyone know?

On the OM642 it is easy to remove just the egr while leaving the coolant lines attached. There is no need to hammer or pry on it like some folks have done, you can simply remove the 3 screws attaching the motor & valve then remove the 2 security screws from the motor being careful not to let the cover fall and lose the little plastic cam inside, then thread them into 2 of the holes where you removed the other screws and alternately tighten them and it will lift the valve right off. Then put your motor screws back in (if the cam fell out don't worry it's easy to figure out how it fits and put it back), flip the whole thing over on a pile of old rags and go to work cleaning it. (If you are nervous about taking the motor screws out just take out one and go buy a couple that match it to use for the extraction.)
I took mine out but honestly after 60,000 miles it was barely dirty and was still working fine which I attribute to almost all highway miles working hard with very limited idle time. If I had known how little carbon was on it I would not have removed it.
Ironically my egr valve was replaced when the vehicle had less than 3,000 miles on it and again a few hundred miles after that. Since then it has been fine.
I think working them hard is the solution, some also believe a cetane booster helps as higher cetane fuel produces less soot. I always buy top tier fuel (Chevron, Texaco, Shell, 76) and I use Stanadyne Performance Formula in every tank since I have owned it, which admittedly has only been a couple of years. The previous owners had a house in Sedona and a house in the PNW and used it to go back and forth.

[TandW]

Thanks for the BIG info, Bro!

[bigb56]

Originally Posted by TandW

Thanks for the BIG info, Bro!

Sure thing! Depending on which style fuel filter you have (there are 3) you can also gently remove and re-install the heating element with two long screws slightly bigger than the mounting screws as well, first screw them in where the mounting screws came out (there are brass threads right in the holes that the mounting screws slip thru) and as you tighten them it will gently lift the heating element out. To install onto the new filter just put 2 washers and nuts onto 2 more screws the same diameter of the mounting screws but longer and gradually tighten the nuts down till the heating element is pressed in all the way. There is a You Tube video out there of a guy who pried his out then hammered it into the new filter, and he caved in the bottom of the new filter. I was dumbfounded that someone would put up a video like that!

[88keys]

Originally Posted by TandW

Have read elsewhere that if these are never serviced it can be a near impossibility to remove them. Anyone here agree with this? Should a regular cleaning be performed? Are they to be serviced based on miles driven or on total fuel consumed? Anyone know?

That's exactly what happened to ours.

We bough our Sprinter based MH used...probably sat around a long, long time in the Florida sun. Continentals were completely dry rotted and the EGR was giving us hiccuping problems and was totally seized. MB could not even remove it....had to "break it off". $1500 CDN

Since then, every oil change, I remove it, clean it. It's easy. Just follow the youtube vids on how to do it.

[TandW]

Mine is an'08 WinView on an '07 Dodge Sprinter chassis with non-def OM642 motor.