2006 Mercedes 450HP with 168,000 miles 4329 hours

they have stopped putting the motors in trucks. weak point the heads 6 to be exact, coolant leakage around the heads

 

coolant leak problem is easy to solve. OM460 is pushrod designg with six heads, one per cylinder. It is so easy to fix coolant leak problem, that drivers do it on truck stops

 

comparing with ISX15 ore OM502LA this one OM460LA is gutless, runs well when you rev it up over 1500 rpm. But with some experience it is better on MPG.

Fuel system is PLD (other motor makers may call it EUP (Mack), ore UPEC (Paccar). It is high pressure pump - line - injector, so this fuel system is easy to fix.

The only one wiring problem is usual for this engine - pair of red wires (run from starter to 16 pin connector, positive power supply) and pair of brown wires (engine ground). Broken wires make engine die on road, usually corroded in winter in starter ares. It is 10 minutes of work to let it run. so Mercedes wiring is very good, much better the volvo.

early Euro-2 and Euro-3 engines got no EGR, DEF and other emission stuff, but ufter 2003 they got EGR and in 2007 they got DEF (for Europe generally).

To delete EGR it easy if you find pre EGR ECM (Temic, mounted on engine) and do swap.

Really now all PLD/EUP/UPEC engines are discontinued by all truck manufactures (only Russians keep them in production) becouse they cant meet Euro-6 and EPA2012.

The big problem of this engine in USA that there are no skilled mechnics for European engines, and more and more EU engines are in USA now (Paccar MX, MAN/Navystar, DD11/13/15/16).

 

I bought one new in '05. was still pre egr. poor power. average fuel mileage. sold mine with 350000 miles. I was hauling 80000 gross in a walking floor trailer. tall trailer flattop Western Star.

 

If all you doing is dump truck work you should get along just fine with the mercedes. It is a little weak on power but it's nothing a performance module can't fix & yes there fairly easy motors to work on. Compared to the newer trucks with DPF's & DEF the mercedes isn't a bad alternative. If your buying from a dealer ask him if you can use the truck for a day or two to see how you like it or try to rent it for a few days before you lay down the cash for it. One thing that does concern me is the availibility of parts in the future, as far as I know nobody makes aftermarket parts or rebuild kits for these motors so if you need something you gotta go to a freightliner/western star dealer or detroit shop. Since they quit putting these motors in US trucks how many dealers are gonna keep parts on hand for them??