190D Front Exhaust Flex Pipe
 

Mine is shot, ripped right at the joint between the flex and hard pipe. Mercedes reports the front pipe on "worldwide backorder", with no production date scheduled. There doesn't appear to be any shelf stock. I thought about welding in a new flex section, but the pipe is 55mm, or 2 3/16" (unique to the 2.5 Turbo). Nobody in the US carries this size flex section or pipe. Before I order a flex joint from the UK, has anyone found a clever solution to this problem?

I went through this same problem myself. The whole front section of the exhaust looked like it was available but this ended up being an easy and inexpensive fix. I don't remember exactly what size flex pipe section I got but it came from sladvanced mauto farts. One pipe slipped right into the inside diameter of the other. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/382714-something-happened-my-exhaust.html

I don't have an answer but if there is any flanges on that have be indexed be sure if someone makes one for you the index the flanges properly.

Not they made something similar for a large Turb at the ship yard I worked for and no one told the ones that made it the holes in the flange on each side had to be line up properly and they ended up with an expensive scrap metal at tax payer expense.

Any chance of getting a copy of those photos?

I'm not familiar with the 190, but something like this might work....

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1501985371

I used a similar flex joint on my 617 swap into a 107 as the stock flex joint was broken in half. Even though it's stainless I just ran a bead of MIG weld and it's held 110k miles with no leaks or cracks. As stated, make sure you maintain the clocking.

It all comes down to the pipe size. The 190DT uses that odd 55mm (2.17") pipe. I'm going to pull the pipe this week and see if a 2.25" flex would work.

Honestly, you should consider 2.5" as the bigger the better stands when it comes to turbo diesels

Looks like the off the rack pipe fit inside the Mercedes pipe. Snug fix iirc.

Nice welding! What sort of wire did tou use? If I can find a 55mm flex, I may give that a try.

0.035 flux core

Stainless or mild steel wire?

After pricing out a welded in flex joint, I found my own fix. It may turn out to be temporary, but it will keep me on the road while I look for true love. Since the flex was broken right where it joins the lower tube, I used a lap joint band clamp:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-692250-1

The original flex joint is about 65 mm OD and mates to a similar size flare on the pipe, so I used a 2.5" joint. I coated the inside of the joint with a messy application of Walker Acoustiseal, and wailed in the bolts as tight as I could make them. The result is a gas tight joint, with good mechanical strength. I'm happy for now.

Any decent exhaust shop would stock flex joints, they can either expand a 2 " or shrink a 2 1/4"

Low grade ( exhaust ) stainless welds just fine with regular steel mig wire. I've fixed countless cracked GM Iron Duke 2.5 and Jeep inline 6 tubular exhaust manifolds.