Tasos your English is great, I have no problem understanding you. Thanks for these videos, your knowledge of the M157 and other engines is unbelievable. I disconnected the solenoid on my 2015 ML63 eight months ago, I also live in a temperate climate and change my oil every 5k km's with Mobil 1 0W-40. So far so good, I won't be plugging the solenoid back in.
To another point while manufacturers won't show you the exact temperature. For example when you shut an engine off after a really hot drive if you check the temperature about 20 minutes later the cooling gauge is going to be about 20 degrees hotter than it should be just because the heat has soaked through the block into the coolant and the engine is off.
I have heard the timing chain sprocket (central one with brass bush inside) can potentially fail due to this mod as it has the hydraulic tensioner on it which will be constantly getting high pressure when perhaps its not designed for that. Thats the suggestion on one of the german youtube (motoren zimmer I think) which shows catastrophic failure of one of these engines and thats what the mechanic that inspected that failed engine suspected caused the failure.
The video from Motoren Zimmer is called "Unbelievable reason for this severe damage!" It affects M276, M278 and M157. All engines have the same chain sprocket with brass bearing with 278 part number. He also had engines with damage where the front main bearing had moved out to the front. This caused the chain to break. He also suspected that it could be related to the disconnected solenoid valve. But that is only a guess.
M157 in particular is just junk until its rebuilt properly by someone like Tasos that knows all the issues. All these things with the biturbos on them are not worth the headaches unless you can fix everything yourself. I had the biturbo 4.7 and sold it once I learnt about all the issues just keep my m156 and m113k until m177 is cheap enough. IMO its just too many potential faults in one engine with the m157 But the steel bore m278 march 2015 up is probably worthwhile. I think the 2013 and 2014 3.5v6 m276 is good engine, my wife has e350 with this I like it its enough power for run around (tuned to 330hp) and has been totally reliable for us.
When these engines are running, they are really great. But as you said, they all have a lot of expensive weak points. You definitely need to know a specialist like Tasos who can eliminate as many weak points as possible. Maintenance and handling also play a big role, of course. The broken engine in the Motoren Zimmer video was an M276 from a GLC43 AMG. The M177 is currently much more stable than an M157.
If someone is going to proliferate "I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend" statements like that, provide the evidence. On its face, it sounds like made-up nonsense. "...consistently getting high pressure when perhaps its [sic] not designed for that" simply shows a lack of understanding of how the oil pump works and affects other components. First, it's NOT high pressure, it's linear pressure increasing to a maximum of 4 bar. I'm also tiring a bit with the "German RUclips or German mechanic" references as if somehow that makes the statements more credible -- it doesn't. As I say, being an American does not automatically make me expert on Ford, Dodge, or Chevrolet.
Tasos your English is great, I have no problem understanding you. Thanks for these videos, your knowledge of the M157 and other engines is unbelievable. I disconnected the solenoid on my 2015 ML63 eight months ago, I also live in a temperate climate and change my oil every 5k km's with Mobil 1 0W-40. So far so good, I won't be plugging the solenoid back in.
Thank you for taking some of your personal time to explain!
To another point while manufacturers won't show you the exact temperature. For example when you shut an engine off after a really hot drive if you check the temperature about 20 minutes later the cooling gauge is going to be about 20 degrees hotter than it should be just because the heat has soaked through the block into the coolant and the engine is off.
I have heard the timing chain sprocket (central one with brass bush inside) can potentially fail due to this mod as it has the hydraulic tensioner on it which will be constantly getting high pressure when perhaps its not designed for that. Thats the suggestion on one of the german youtube (motoren zimmer I think) which shows catastrophic failure of one of these engines and thats what the mechanic that inspected that failed engine suspected caused the failure.
The video from Motoren Zimmer is called "Unbelievable reason for this severe damage!"
It affects M276, M278 and M157. All engines have the same chain sprocket with brass bearing with 278 part number.
He also had engines with damage where the front main bearing had moved out to the front. This caused the chain to break.
He also suspected that it could be related to the disconnected solenoid valve.
But that is only a guess.
M157 in particular is just junk until its rebuilt properly by someone like Tasos that knows all the issues. All these things with the biturbos on them are not worth the headaches unless you can fix everything yourself. I had the biturbo 4.7 and sold it once I learnt about all the issues just keep my m156 and m113k until m177 is cheap enough. IMO its just too many potential faults in one engine with the m157 But the steel bore m278 march 2015 up is probably worthwhile. I think the 2013 and 2014 3.5v6 m276 is good engine, my wife has e350 with this I like it its enough power for run around (tuned to 330hp) and has been totally reliable for us.
When these engines are running, they are really great.
But as you said, they all have a lot of expensive weak points.
You definitely need to know a specialist like Tasos who can eliminate as many weak points as possible.
Maintenance and handling also play a big role, of course.
The broken engine in the Motoren Zimmer video was an M276 from a GLC43 AMG.
The M177 is currently much more stable than an M157.
I hear a lot of things too, but until I see proof...Besides, that failure and their explanation lacks merit.
If someone is going to proliferate "I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend" statements like that, provide the evidence. On its face, it sounds like made-up nonsense. "...consistently getting high pressure when perhaps its [sic] not designed for that" simply shows a lack of understanding of how the oil pump works and affects other components. First, it's NOT high pressure, it's linear pressure increasing to a maximum of 4 bar. I'm also tiring a bit with the "German RUclips or German mechanic" references as if somehow that makes the statements more credible -- it doesn't. As I say, being an American does not automatically make me expert on Ford, Dodge, or Chevrolet.