2006/2010 smart CDI in the US rebuild

[Evolution]

Hey all! I bought an 06 CDI without the engine. The seller took more than I was aware of at the time. I have been slowly buying and rebuilding the car from there. I am missing about 40 parts, all fittings gaskets, screws, and some bigger stuff. The vehicle is an 06 but the engine and its components are from the 2010 54hp model. I figured while I wait for the last batch of 70 parts from the Mercedes dealership I should get the subframe and everything ready to receive the brand-new components in the next several months. This thing went from Canada to lake effect snow New York. I will need to have body work done and the subframe is rusty but good enough with no holes. However, the subframe is bad enough to reinforce the top to be safe. I will probably patch the body with stainless. I really want to remake the subframe out of stainless or titanium but I just can't spare the funds right now. I am in New England and I can't really go to the South or California. I might have found a few quite clean subframes on eBay between $200 and $350 with $200 shipping. There are also a couple I have found from the UK or Germany. The biggest question I have is can I mix and match the subframe from model year 06 and 2010+ without it interfering with the 06 body and the 2010 engine? Fabrication is not beyond my capability. After this, I am between $1000 and $2000 from having a street legal title and registered CDI.

 

Also

 

There was a transmission switch between the 06 and 10 model years. It went from a 5 to a 6 speed I believe. I am not sure if I should switch from the older one (which I have) to the newer one. I will likely be the last owner of this and want it to last and be its best. Additionally, there might be a need to buy a new ECU and or TCM for the new transmission if I go that route. I can get them it's just good to know.

[Mjolinor]

The 45 451 is quite similar to the 450 CDI but the 54 is a lot different. You will need the heater control unit from a 54 as the heater plugs in the 54 are fast ones. That is why they cost five times as much. If you put a 45 controller with the 54 heater plugs they will all instantly blow, I have the T shirt on that one.

 

I doubt you could use the 6 speed box with the 54 engine because of the gearbox controller under the passenger seat, you will need that for the 5 speed and 54 HP combination.

 

You are embarking on a torturous project that will be full of problems. You should have gone with a 45 engine in my opinion. I doubt that you will find answers to a lot of the problems you are going to face but I, for one, would be interested in your progress.

 

[Willys]

Great to see there's another insane member in our club other than me...lol.   Damn it man it would be easier to buy a wrecked car and scavange the parts from it no...????
These cars demand things are perfect when it comes down to the electronics side of things.....I have been fighting an over fueling issue for a life time it seems.....mechanically it all fits and is as it should be but electronically it's sending too much fuel....I can't imagine what you will run into.....augh...BUT...keep at it and Good Luck...!

Edited December 24, 2023 by Willys

[Evolution]

@Willys you are not alone haha. I was fully committed to importing a working one. I talked to every agency, importer, and seller. After each agency cleared me none would officially sign off. Each agency wanted a signature from each other and none would. To my knowledge, I talked to the head of the national Department of Transportation for an hour TWICE and was told ok. I was getting ready to just swap the diesel stuff into the a gas body. But I ended up LS swapping the gas one haha. @Mjolinor  That is all very good info to know that I have not found anywhere. Thank you.

I have spent about $6000 so far and the sunk cost fallacy is real. BUT the problem is I am so close to done and would almost have a completely brand-new vehicle for $8000 total. I have purchased almost every single component from the engine to the tailpipe, even the cat/muffler. A lot of those modules might have to be changed but they aren't actually to crazy in price. I can't buy any/most of them hear of course, the Mercedes dealership can't either. I either buy them from Germany, OR have to mail them to an overseas friend who will then mail them to me if they won't. I am so close that it would be throwing away money on technically rare parts, but juuuuust far enough to still be a money pit. For god's sake I am going to the garage in a few to do bodywork with 316 stainless steel.

Someone on Smart cars of America mentioned https://www.evilution.co.uk/ even if it's a membership.

[Mjolinor]

fq101 is also a good source. Evilution is OK but as you say, it is a pay site.

 

I do not think that either fq101 or evilution will help you at the level you need, neither of them go deep enough.

 

[Mjolinor]

Are you using the 54 exhaust / EGR system?

[Willys]

OK, I'm back at it again....and THINK I have found my problem in my lack of sleep last night...!!!!   
Yesterday I took the engine and transmission out of the sub frame and now it's in complete pieces once again.  I am hunting either an over fueling or an over oiling issue causing thick white smoke. What I did do that may have caused the intercooler to get a large amount of oil inside it was the fact I added a double banjo fitting at the oil feed/top side of the turbo and sent a oil line to an oil guage. I also drilled out the centre of the banjo fitting and also the side hole to allow more oil flow. In doing that I may have upset the flow or pressure for the turbo and it is getting past the oil seals in the turbo. The other thing I did was lap my oil pump to increase the oil pressure for the entire system...hmmm...? I then have removed the oil feed for the oil pressure guage but shortened the double banjo fitting to work, maybe that wasn't correct?
So today is a clean up day and finding a stock banjo fitting and ordering new head studs and gasket and copper seals for both injectors and oil banjo. 

Now back to your project.....About your subframe, why change it for the later model the stock frame works well if not rusty. I would simply find a rust free frame up here in Canada land of salt and shit from a province that uses less salt. I also wouldn't mess with swapping the transmissions either, the stock one works well and it would mean you wouldn't need to change electronics and wiring.(my worst nightmare is electronic, my brain just will not learn it). Did you say you are leaving the car in a stock form or raising it or lowering it? OR are you doing the same as me lifting it a few inches just to get slightly wider wheels and tires under it to soften the ride...?  Or dropping it lower and suffering the kidney busting ride?  No judgement either way....or simply making a new car from an old one.   I fully understand the mental thought of getting a basically new car for less money by rebuilding and replacing anything and everything questionable. I also have done this 100%. Every moving part, and rubber bushing etc has been changed for a new one, In the engine the only old parts are the block, head,cam,crank , I bought everything else new from Germany, great guys to deal with. The block and head were reworked to be new again with 3 over pistons, head had a complete valve job, seats,guides,seals,lifters,rockers,push rods....the oil pump was new and I lapped the surface to tighten the pressure like I've done in many other far higher HP engines with success. So I fully understand where you are going with this .....Except the subframe and choosing to rebuild it if it requires you to think of having to do it....simply buy a good used one and get it shipped as used car parts .....get in touch with Izzy, his handle here is Stickman007 as he has many cars now and I bet he might have what you are looking for......entirely. He's a great guy to deal with and a wealth of information. 

Keep up the great work and post up some pics of what you are making.  Always good to see another idiot like myself, enthusiast that is working to make their car better.

Keep posting.

 

[Willys]

5 hours ago, Mjolinor said:

fq101 is also a good source. Evilution is OK but as you say, it is a pay site.

 

I do not think that either fq101 or evilution will help you at the level you need, neither of them go deep enough.

 

Both are great sites but imho, Evilution is the best site still even if you have to pay a subscription. The cost of that is nothing compared to the frustration of trying to figure out something you can't on your own or by going to many sites digging for help. I simply paid the smallest donation and learned all I could. I have even messaged Kane personally and is done right he will help all he can. He is an old school guy from what I figure and like common sense and good mannered people. If you rub him the wrong way he won't help you. I have seen this a few times when I was there full time. Someone would bitch and complain or not thank him for figuring things out for them and it seemed to get uder his skin, so next time he was silient and rightly so....he has gathered a huge amount of knowledge for all to use for a small fee. Again peanuts imho.  You stay long enough to learn what you need and move on.....it's a yearly donation if I remember correctly.

I am also not connected with his site in any way, this is just my opinion.  Just want to let others know it's available and worth it.

 

[Evolution]

Sorry, the @ function isn't working right now. So Mjolinor, I am using the 54 exhaust system. I just managed to get the EGR pipe sent to me. I have the used dirty OEM EGR valve that I do want to replace. But then again, if I don't have to... I really want to though. I did just get one of these cats though. I am a little worried that it might be the wrong one.

[Evolution]

As for Willys. I was thinking a newer frame would be easier to get and in better condition. It is also quite rusty all over. It isn't bad enough to fail the classic "try and put a screwdriver through it" test. Rust is all over but no holes. Seeing as I am going to be getting a lot of miles out of this and owning it for a very long time I want something that will last and preferably not have to do or fix this again. Not to mention rust is a cancer and will just grow. I also basically live in southern Canada with real winters. I have had a couple of days to cool off and probably won't get a replacement frame. Instead, I will be cleaning and reinforcing parts of the top with some 16 gauge steel I have lying around. I MIGHT get some more of that stainless and bring it into my welding class and slowly build it that way as a project. I still have some time before all the parts get here AND I can install it.

I do not know if the 06 year of CDIs also had trans issues either. I will prob get a new new clutch actuator though. I can install the old trans I suppose. See how it works first.

As for once it's built I did want larger tires and suspension. We have potholes here that will eat small cars sometimes. I have hit a couple not quite spine shatterers in my first smart before I LS swapped it. Which also means I know how to mod the suspension for non standard applications. This one I wand the lambo doors and everything. I am going to have it black and white and name it after a cartoon penguin haha. I do want to build it to have all the bells and whistles. I do have 3 lug bolt to 6 lug nut adapters if I want to be stupid and put my tractor tires on it for a little big haha. 

A few years back I ordered the engine from MWsmart and It came built I got the head gasket and put it together. I hope everything is up to snuff or I will cry.

Kane sounds like a lot of old-school tradesmen I grew up with so that checks out.

As a side note to all. Canada will send me NOTHING. Every part has to go through Europe. Mercedes Canada would also not send me anything. This is sad because I have to use Google Translate on my phone and hold it over my German smart manual with good lighting to assemble anything. Everyone so far has said that an English version either doesn't exist or just "good luck finding one".

[Mjolinor]

Personally I would not even fit an EGR, they cause too many problems. On the 54 it is very easy to make and fit an emulator so the ECU thinks the EGR is there. If you have no EGR then the DPF rarely regenerates. It is only the lowering of the combustion temperature that makes soot for the DPF to collect.

Is that picture supposed to be a 54 exhaust? It is obviously aftermarket but I cannot see the connections for the pressure differential sensor that the DPF needs and that temperature sensor does not look to be replaceable and believe me they are about as reliable as crapple phones.

The whole emissions regulation shite on the 54 makes them a nightmare and is the main reason I would have gone with a 45. If the extra power of the 54 is appealing to you then there is no reason why you cannot remap the 45 to be a lot more.

 

 

 

 

[Willys]

Just my opinion on things of course, we sound very similar in our way of thinking and doing things.
My thoughts on the whole process is the same as you, I want this car to be as close to a new or better than new car for fractions of what a new car would cost me. 
I also used MW-Smart for all of my parts including every engine part required to build my engine. Also all other parts. 
As for the German manual, not worth the paper it's printed on as I also used my phone translator to be able to almost read it. Insane no-one has written a manual yet...augh!  That is why I swear by Evilution.co.uk and gladly pay their smallest donation whenever I need assistance.
The stock transmission is great and so far I haven't had a single issue with one. I have taken it apart completely, for no other reason than to wipe out the case which has a slight film of particles, dirty oil etc etc which came of easily with a rag. I found no wear or damage after 180,000 kms. No wear or damage to speak of on the clutch or flywheel either but replaced them also. Slight wear on the clutch fork arm or release bearing arm. I did find wear in the release bearing and plent of dirt etc.
My engine was originally taken apart simply to change the oil pump drive sprocket and chain as a precautionary thing. But I kept going as usual and found badly warped cylinder walls. I saw this by installing the rings and shining a flashlight up from below and seeing light between walls and rings in many areas of the cylinder. The only pistons I could at the time get were 3 over. So that is what my engine is bored out to. No other performance mods besides EGR removal. Now running an IZZY emulator. Excellent. Do you "NEED" a catt to get it on the road? Just use a stock can which has a cat inside as small as it is, then once passed cut it out and weld it back up from the front side. That is unless you have to get sniffed where you live still? On the 2005-2006 Canadian CDI cars there's no regen system, that must be for the later models etc....it's basically an agricultural pump engine so to speak.
Again I would suggest a better frame to work with if you need to weld yours because as you say and we know, rust never dies. I've been building cars/Jeeps for 40 years and only found that acid dipping and plenty of good primer and paint then a coating of grease kept it at bay. They banned acid dipping here many decades ago so that's out...lol.
Also the added weight you are going to weld onto your frame will effect the power to weight ratio badly considering it doesn't have any power in the first place, no?  Especially if you have gone to all this work and expense to get the rest of the car like new.  Again just my bent nickle's worth.  I know of a few cars in Alberta that might have rust free frames, if you are interested? I'd be very wary of anything from this side of Manitoba so to speak...lol. I also find almost all cars from Quebec are beaten to death on their extremely bad roads so those would be out also, Anything from Ontario unless never driven must in the winter and stored inside would be as bad as your own perhaps.....love the gov't's plan to force us to buy a new vehicle every 7-10 year due to rusting out...augh!!!!

As for getting parts from Canada you simply need to find a like minded person who can buy the parts and ship them to you, all pre-paid of course....lol.  OR you need to get a trailer and a few days to drive up and drive back...?  Not sure how getting used car parts works at the border but I have a neighbor who brings stuff back up for me for my van all rust free from florida.....at half the cost of what I can buy rusty parts up here.   PM . me if you like...?   He goes down a few times a year.  If it fits in his Grandcaravan it travels.....

Edited December 29, 2023 by Willys

[Evolution]

Oh, for Clarification I live in Maine. We don't test emissions here (except in one county). The only thing I have to worry about is it's sort of old time "Don't go bringing your big ideas here we like things simple and how they used to be" at least the people I have to deal with in my area are. So we don't test but I will probably have the screw put to be and I'm trying to button up all the loose ends. I wasn't 100% sure that it was an aftermarket cat. but seeing that it is welded together and some of the wire from the welder I now know and am unsure if this will be a problem later. I might have been scammed. There is one screw and one bracket that comes off of it that is if for mounting anything other than the flange on one end. Also modifying the ECU is a big no no I believe if not as a whole is it specifically for emissions which is dumb since we don't test. I can look into that closer to installation though. The big question is, is the 45hp exhaust stuff a better option and is it compatible with the 54hp stuff? The car is a 45hp modal after all...
 

[Evolution]

I do get most of my stuff from there as well Willys. They have most everything and they ship here, so that's nice. Good point on the transmission. I don't think I have heard of the trans failing just the actuator. What sucks is the trans module for the 54hp costs about $350 freedom dollars used. Engine control is $315. I just really hope I don't need to fix engine stuff right off the bat. Down the line is ok. Maybe after some power adders or something. Mentioning the oil pump drive sprocket reminded me that that might still be original... 

On second thought about the EGR though. I believe it is illegal to remove or delete. It then becomes off-road use only. However, it was damaged and cut off of the vehicle, not by me. I am not removing it I am repairing it. I do need a cat installed and one that is for the vehicle I believe. So the one I got might not count but the original was stolen so I am fixing/replacing it so I think I am fine. Almost no one state side has seen one of these so they likely wouldn't even know if it wasn't stock. I do want to get its emissions tested just to see where it comes even with stuff missing.

As of now the budges it kicking in and I don't have extra money to spend on a new frame sadly. I got over the initial shock of seeing it though. I have a whole bunch of that thickness of steel in the garage. It would only be 50lb. at most. I might just hammer it out and form it over the old one. I can cut out and replace it instead of adding it. I can see what stainless is left over after the rockers and maybe go that route.

That is also a good system you have there. I have someone over in Europe doing the same on occasion. Whey I get ready for the next round of parts I'll hit you up for sure.

[Evolution]

Actually, both of you. Since you two are from different countries and together those are two or three languages that the German manual is not in how do you work on them? Here even the Mercedes dealership cant really do anything to this car because they don't have any information from Germany and there really isn't any English literature. 

[Mjolinor]

WIS has the manual and you are going to need some sort of Star system anyway so bite the bullet and buy one but do make sure WIS is included and Vediamo.

[Willys]

On 1/3/2024 at 3:16 PM, Evolution said:

Actually, both of you. Since you two are from different countries and together those are two or three languages that the German manual is not in how do you work on them? Here even the Mercedes dealership cant really do anything to this car because they don't have any information from Germany and there really isn't any English literature. 

All the dealership needs to repair these cars is a Star system just like the one you are going to have to buy, there is no way you will get everything working without imho.....so many things that can stop it from running, ask me how i know!   Maybe you don't want to know....lol.  There are so many electronic issues or headaches that you may come across just like I have done, none an easy fix.
Ebay sells the Star systems but you must get the version 3 multiplexer if it's a CDI 2005-2006 car.  It will work on other years but as far as I hear that is the best one for these years of the CDI.  It'll be arond the $1,000 freedom dollar range last time i checked for one.

[Mjolinor]

You can do it for a lot less. I used  a laptop I had and just bought the multiplexer. All in it cost me under £150.

[Willys]

17 hours ago, Mjolinor said:

You can do it for a lot less. I used  a laptop I had and just bought the multiplexer. All in it cost me under £150.

You obviously know your way around a computer far more than the regular folks who come here, me included that's for sure.
I would love to be able to understand the land of the white smoke like you do.

[Mjolinor]

5 hours ago, Willys said:

You obviously know your way around a computer far more than the regular folks who come here, me included that's for sure.
I would love to be able to understand the land of the white smoke like you do.

 

1987 - 1995 studying it at various universities.

 

[Willys]

I graduated from the University of Best way to let the white smoke out..!!!!!   

[Mjolinor]

Despite all that I still have first class certificates in letting the smoke out.

I did it today on a TV I was trying to sort.

 

[Evolution]

Glad to see we got some experience in the forums here haha. I can't remember which is first, my LS swapped smart or the diesel but before that, I had only done routine maintenance on my truck lol.

[Evolution]

I have good news though. I do have a copy of the Mercedes software program up to 2021 I think. I believe is a virtual computer but I used that to find a lot of the parts. Even the dealership was surprised that I found them. I do also know someone who builds drag-racing mud trucks so he has a powerful scan tool and some programming tools. I might have seen them before but I am however unfamiliar with some of the terms you guys used. WIS was one of the tabs in the virtual computer with the exploded views of various systems of the vehicle I believe. I don't remember seeing the manual though. I do not know about Vediamo though. The version 3 multiplexer sounds like some sort of Star Trek warp drive modification.

[Mjolinor]

WIS is the worklshop manual or the closest thing to it.

Vediamo is part of the suite of programmes that come from Mercedes for making changes to which computers that are registered to the vehicle.

For the "virtual machine" that you have to work you need a box that goes between the computer and the car that connects to both. That is the multiplexer.