Turtle343
New member
Hi folks!
I’m a long time reader, first time poster.
2002 MB OM612 (tagged Freightliner) with 271,000 miles.
I bought it 2 1/2 years ago and have driven it 40,000 miles.
I have been experiencing intermittent black exhaust for the past month or so. Mainly during acceleration or on hills. This problem suddenly got worse, to include exhaust in the cab(!), large clouds of smoke and finally loss of power, to where the van can not climb the small hill to exit my driveway. So i’m stuck at home, in a rural setting not sure what to do. I have read a lot of posts and tried different solutions, but no luck. I do not have a scanner or way to read codes (I know, I know! It’s on my Christmas list!). But I could use some help on this one, something seems off! Please read on, i’ll set out a timeline in bullet-points:
Two Weeks Ago:
-van seems to be putting out more black smoke on hills or under sudden acceleration. To the point that i’m beginning to feel a little embarrassed.
-the next three things happened within three or four days, but I am uncertain as to the order of events:
...slight loss of power (can’t keep up with traffic. Sluggish on hills)
...added Seafoam Diesel Additive. (1 can to a 20 gallon tank)
...started to experience what I can only assume was carbon monoxide poisoning.
-On a Sunday night I was reading the Sprinter-Forum regarding black smoke, and I had a visceral feeling that I had been unknowingly inhaling exhaust. (luckily the windows have been down due to the warm autumn that California is having!)
-Monday morning I opened the hood to find a fine layer of soot everywhere. Called my local technician saying I had a problem.
-Tuesday morning stopped into see him. We found that when the vehicle revved, smoke was coming out of a hole in the intake manifold. The hole was slightly smaller than the diameter of a pencil. (yikes!)
At this point, I should say that I am not all that experienced in automotives (except for what I have learned over the past 2 years here on the SprinterForum...you can incur from that what you wish!) and while my technician has over 40 years of experience, I am not sure if diesels, let alone Sprinters are in his wheel house. That said, we decided to research some more.
-Wednesday afternoon I plugged the hole with JB Weld.
-Thursday through Saturday I commute to and from jobs observing that while she seemed to run better, she was still smoking and sluggish on hills.
-At this point I can’t decide if it’s an internal problem, a Limp Home Problem or the fault of the Seafoam Additive (a product which I had used a few times a year or so ago, but started to associate with this same “sluggish acceleration” phenomena... at which point I stopped using additives.) I had burned through 1/4 tank so far.
-Sunday I decide to remove and clean my EGR valve. Remember, this is the ‘02-03 valve, which is apparently unique to the other models. I read the instructions on the forum and followed the directions. It was an interesting experience.
-The intake manifold looked pretty caked with gunk. But I didn’t want to touch it. Would it be bad if pieces of it fell into the crevices and got sucked downstream? Clogged injectors? I kind of figured this was more of a job for pros, so I cleaned my EGR up nicely and replaced it.
-I did observe on the inside of the EGR what looked like “chipping” ... or “chipped-off” metal.
I took a picture of it and filed it away as ‘information’.
-Returned EGR to it’s home, and then turned ignition... choked a bit, started, then stalled. Over the next few minutes I tried again, “gasping”. then again, and again. At some point she started, blowing a huge cloud of exhaust that engulfed the yard. It was starting to get dark and I was too worried to take her for a test drive.
-Monday morning, she fires up fine, nice idle, not a ton of smoke, idled for 20 min, put her in drive and headed toward the gate, but she doesn’t make it up the short hill. Lots of smoke, (black as far as I can tell from my passenger mirror). Reverse her back to the house. Cancel client. Consult SprinterForum.
-Cleaning soot from engine, find a crack in the large (elephant) hose! Crack is underneath the hose and about 3” long! (Was this here all along, or did I cause this while replacing the EGR?)
-I found a thread on SprinterForum about repairing the hose with duct tape and hose clamps.
-BTW... thank you, everyone on this forum, what an amazing amount of knowledge, experience, humor and kindness! I am so grateful to this site. Thank you especially to those who contribute above and beyond the call.... you all are a life line to sonmany peoples dark night!
-I continue.
-I thought I had it all figured out, and so I tape/zip-tie the crack. I did a pretty good job. But, same situation. She won’t make it up the hill.
-Next I replaced the Air Filter (I know, that should have been first!) Nothing.
-She ain’t going nowhere!
-Checked injectors. They look alright.
-Checked Turbo hoses. They look alright.
-I really don’t think i’m in LHM. Though I suppose I could be. It just seems if I was restricted to 2nd gear, the small hill in my driveway wouldn’t be enough to stop me. And I lost power at one point reversing to the house (on flat ground.)
-BTW. The exhaust smells/tastes really bad. I sorta like the smell of diesel, but this is different.
Anyway, sorry for the long opening post. But I wanted to explain as much as I could, so that you all don’t have to ask questions later. I probably shouldn’t count on Santa for a scanner. Which one should I buy? This is my work truck and my only rig, so getting her running again is really important. Her name is Bertha.
Thank you for any and all insights.
I’m a long time reader, first time poster.
2002 MB OM612 (tagged Freightliner) with 271,000 miles.
I bought it 2 1/2 years ago and have driven it 40,000 miles.
I have been experiencing intermittent black exhaust for the past month or so. Mainly during acceleration or on hills. This problem suddenly got worse, to include exhaust in the cab(!), large clouds of smoke and finally loss of power, to where the van can not climb the small hill to exit my driveway. So i’m stuck at home, in a rural setting not sure what to do. I have read a lot of posts and tried different solutions, but no luck. I do not have a scanner or way to read codes (I know, I know! It’s on my Christmas list!). But I could use some help on this one, something seems off! Please read on, i’ll set out a timeline in bullet-points:
Two Weeks Ago:
-van seems to be putting out more black smoke on hills or under sudden acceleration. To the point that i’m beginning to feel a little embarrassed.
-the next three things happened within three or four days, but I am uncertain as to the order of events:
...slight loss of power (can’t keep up with traffic. Sluggish on hills)
...added Seafoam Diesel Additive. (1 can to a 20 gallon tank)
...started to experience what I can only assume was carbon monoxide poisoning.
-On a Sunday night I was reading the Sprinter-Forum regarding black smoke, and I had a visceral feeling that I had been unknowingly inhaling exhaust. (luckily the windows have been down due to the warm autumn that California is having!)
-Monday morning I opened the hood to find a fine layer of soot everywhere. Called my local technician saying I had a problem.
-Tuesday morning stopped into see him. We found that when the vehicle revved, smoke was coming out of a hole in the intake manifold. The hole was slightly smaller than the diameter of a pencil. (yikes!)
At this point, I should say that I am not all that experienced in automotives (except for what I have learned over the past 2 years here on the SprinterForum...you can incur from that what you wish!) and while my technician has over 40 years of experience, I am not sure if diesels, let alone Sprinters are in his wheel house. That said, we decided to research some more.
-Wednesday afternoon I plugged the hole with JB Weld.
-Thursday through Saturday I commute to and from jobs observing that while she seemed to run better, she was still smoking and sluggish on hills.
-At this point I can’t decide if it’s an internal problem, a Limp Home Problem or the fault of the Seafoam Additive (a product which I had used a few times a year or so ago, but started to associate with this same “sluggish acceleration” phenomena... at which point I stopped using additives.) I had burned through 1/4 tank so far.
-Sunday I decide to remove and clean my EGR valve. Remember, this is the ‘02-03 valve, which is apparently unique to the other models. I read the instructions on the forum and followed the directions. It was an interesting experience.
-The intake manifold looked pretty caked with gunk. But I didn’t want to touch it. Would it be bad if pieces of it fell into the crevices and got sucked downstream? Clogged injectors? I kind of figured this was more of a job for pros, so I cleaned my EGR up nicely and replaced it.
-I did observe on the inside of the EGR what looked like “chipping” ... or “chipped-off” metal.
I took a picture of it and filed it away as ‘information’.
-Returned EGR to it’s home, and then turned ignition... choked a bit, started, then stalled. Over the next few minutes I tried again, “gasping”. then again, and again. At some point she started, blowing a huge cloud of exhaust that engulfed the yard. It was starting to get dark and I was too worried to take her for a test drive.
-Monday morning, she fires up fine, nice idle, not a ton of smoke, idled for 20 min, put her in drive and headed toward the gate, but she doesn’t make it up the short hill. Lots of smoke, (black as far as I can tell from my passenger mirror). Reverse her back to the house. Cancel client. Consult SprinterForum.
-Cleaning soot from engine, find a crack in the large (elephant) hose! Crack is underneath the hose and about 3” long! (Was this here all along, or did I cause this while replacing the EGR?)
-I found a thread on SprinterForum about repairing the hose with duct tape and hose clamps.
-BTW... thank you, everyone on this forum, what an amazing amount of knowledge, experience, humor and kindness! I am so grateful to this site. Thank you especially to those who contribute above and beyond the call.... you all are a life line to sonmany peoples dark night!
-I continue.
-I thought I had it all figured out, and so I tape/zip-tie the crack. I did a pretty good job. But, same situation. She won’t make it up the hill.
-Next I replaced the Air Filter (I know, that should have been first!) Nothing.
-She ain’t going nowhere!
-Checked injectors. They look alright.
-Checked Turbo hoses. They look alright.
-I really don’t think i’m in LHM. Though I suppose I could be. It just seems if I was restricted to 2nd gear, the small hill in my driveway wouldn’t be enough to stop me. And I lost power at one point reversing to the house (on flat ground.)
-BTW. The exhaust smells/tastes really bad. I sorta like the smell of diesel, but this is different.
Anyway, sorry for the long opening post. But I wanted to explain as much as I could, so that you all don’t have to ask questions later. I probably shouldn’t count on Santa for a scanner. Which one should I buy? This is my work truck and my only rig, so getting her running again is really important. Her name is Bertha.
Thank you for any and all insights.