OM642 - Options for DPF & EGR Delete?
 

I've had an 07 OM642 (non SCR/DEF/UREA) powered E320 Bluetec for the last 7 years and love the hell out of the thing. I'm at 117K and have been running it chipped for the majority of that time.

I recently moved away from a large metro area where the majority of my travel involved highway commuting. At that point, my per tank (hand calculated) MPGs were around 27-29, but I drive with a lead foot. DPF regenerations occurred at a normal frequency and were rarely interrupted.

My new driving patterns are all local in nature, and mostly stop and go traffic and trips that rarely go further than 4-5 miles, maybe 4 times a day. As a result, my DPF regens seem to be occurring once every two days, and are interrupted constantly due to the trip ending. For those that don't know, a DPF regen will only begin once the car has hit full operating temperature and if interrupted, will restart again the next time the car reaches operating temperature.

Of course, given how short most of my commutes are, this means that the car is only coming up to full temp by the time I'm almost at my destination.

The result of this is that I'm constantly running rich (part of the DPF regen), and the DPF is constantly operating. This has dropped my per-tank MPG to around 20 and I've even seen as low as 18.

I know there's nothing wrong with the car, because I can take a road trip and get the mileage I used to get, so this is simply the result of my new driving patterns.


Phew... sorry for the book, but I needed to provide some context for what I'm looking to do, which is bypass/remove the DPF and/or EGR. I have full access to a modern shop with all tooling necessary, including STAR, xentry and autologic. However, I've been unable to find a kit or guidance on what needs to be done to spoof the sensors to make this possible without going into limp mode.


Has anyone been able to successfully achieve what I'm requesting? If so, can you share details? I'm willing to spend money if it means prolonging the life of my car.

Wouldn't getting re-chipped be an option?

Not sure what you mean? Such as an custom ECU file that allows me to remove the physical hardware? Is there a place that can customize my ECU to allow that?

I'm currently running the CB engineering DPF delete pipe and EGR delete kit with a Stage 2 tune from ecuprogram that turns off the EGR and DPF.

Your intake is probably nothing but sludge. Mine on my 08 ML320 were so bad chemicals wouldn't touch it and had to be taken off and a pressure washer used to clean them out.

Well, you said that you had it chipped. So a different chip tune could delete certainly things (though they could be physically left in place). Rocketchip would be one place to check.

Can you link me to the site?

No problem.

Here's the the general OM642 parts, the DPF delete is under mercedes. I'm assuming the same DPF was used on the ML and the E series.
OM642 Engine Parts | CB Engineering

Here's the tune I went with as I had problems with people confirming if their tune would work with US spec models. I'm having a few issues but still uncertain if mine are hardware or tuning issues but Miguel as been very patient with me. It's pricey as you have to use a powergate hand held programmer to reflash your ECU.
Mercedes Benz tuning

I am doing this in a couple of weeks as I tackle an oil leak (either oil cooler or rear main)...the JR Auto Performance (out of Canada) tune will work on US models but the only place to send the ECU (it's a bench tune) is in Georgia...Turn around time is a couple of days. If you do the deletes, you have to physically remove any/all cats, DPFs, from the exhaust system...

Thank you Brusk. I have contacted CB Engineering and they recommended Malone or Green Diesel. Both sites didn't seem to categorize the stock specs right, so I have reached out to them for more information.

Aside from no longer dealing with DPF regens, have you noticed any perceivable gains in performance and/or fuel mileage?

Unfortunately the vehicle I bought has been a bad example. Somebody that had to right working at a dealership has broken several bolts, not tightened things down properly etc. I've been through the hell of a leaky oil cooler, broken swirl valve parts etc. Latest is a brittle inlet pipe that fell apart and wiped the turbo. Putting the turbo back together I dropped a bolt that happened to find an access panel that somebody didn't put a cover back on. and it goes on and on. lol. I hopefully will have it back on the road and not experience any further problems tomorrow but I did notice the oil pan is also leaking so it might be torn apart next week to get that fixed.

I wish I would have talked to him first as those seem like better financial options than what I chose but the biggest thing is just getting all the options turned off in the ECU.

Sorry to hear that and hope you're back on the road soon. I've had pretty good luck with mine over the 90K I've owned it. The only mechanical items were a speed sensor in the 7g-tronic transmission which necessitated a valve body replacement (problem on all early 7gs) and then some duct work for the turbo splitting and separating at high boost causing a limp condition, which was easily fixed by replacing the duct work.

did you ever get the tune?