Cover Story Diesel Engines

The New Mercedes-Benz

Four-cylinder Diesel Engine
for Passenger Cars
Following a successful optimisation programme lasting several years for the previous four-cylinder diesel engine
whose basic dimensions are still based on the OM 601 prechamber natural aspirated engine of the year 1983,
Mercedes-Benz has developed a completely new engine, bearing the internal designation OM 651, to production
maturity. The potential of this engine in terms of consumption, emissions and performance was achieved through
the systematic advancement of familiar technologies and the use of important new engine-related innovations.

 MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69

1 Introduction and Objective – optimise and standardise of modules The Authors
and assembly processes with the aim
The four-cylinder diesel engine is tradi- of boosting quality while at the same
tionally of high importance to Daimler time improving the cost situation. Dr.-Ing. Joachim
AG, not only due to its market share in Schommers
the E-Class and C-Class, but also in com- is Director Development
mercial vehicles with traction weights 2 Engine Design Passenger Car Diesel En­
up to 7.5 t and in transversely installed gines at the Daimler AG
drive units, which account for similarly Given the planned scope of applications in Stuttgart (Germany).
high unit figures. of the OM 651, the designers had to rise
With regard to the need to reduce CO2 to the challenge of designing a basic en- Dipl.-Ing.
emissions, the key objective was not only gine that was as compact as possible and Johannes Leweux
to develop a four-cylinder engine capable uniform across all applications. An en- is Senior Manager
of setting the class benchmark in terms gine that they could expand to meet the Development OM 651
of consumption, but also to offer it as an packaging or specification requirements at the Daimler AG in
alternative to a six-cylinder entry-level of individual vehicles by integrating the Stuttgart (Germany).
engine with similar torque and output relevant additional modules to create an
potential. overall system, Figure 1. Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Betz
Based on these requirements, the The key packaging challenges for pas- is Manager in the
following development objectives were senger car applications arose, for exam- Combustion Department
derived: ple, in connection with longitudinal in- Development Passenger
– significantly improved fuel consump- stallations and the need for upward slop- Car Diesel Engines
tion compared with the previous en- ing engine hoods that meet pedestrian at the Daimler AG in
gine with better driving performance protection requirements. These factors Stuttgart (Germany).
at the same time affected the engine height, while the en-
– maximum torque to be increased by gine length was an issue that arose in Dipl.-Ing.
25 % from 400 Nm to 500 Nm connection with transverse installations. Jürgen Huter
– maximum output to be increased by Since the camshaft drive is one of the de- is Manager Design
20 % from 125 kW to 150 kW termining parameters that affects the Charge Exchange at the
– the agility of a larger-displacement engine height, it is located on the trans- Daimler AG in Stuttgart
six-cylinder engine mission side of the engine. In order to (Germany).
– the EU5 emissions level including test achieve a simultaneous reduction in the
bench approvals for commercial vehi- engine’s length, the camshaft drive fea- Dipl.-Ing.
cle applications without active NOx tures a combined gear and short chain Bernhard Jutz
aftertreatment, and the scope for ad- drive, Figure 2. is Manager Design
ditional significant untreated emis- Base Engine at the
sions potential with regard to EU6 2.1 Crankcase and Oil System Daimler AG in Stutt­gart
– a common engine design for in-line The crankcase has an apron design and is (Germany).
and transverse installations and for made of cast iron. The deep connection
commercial vehicle applications of the cylinder head bolts enabled the Dipl.-Ing.
Peter Knauel
is Manager Turbochar­
ging Diesel Engines at
the Daimler AG in Stutt­
gart (Germany).

Dr.-Ing.
Gregor Renner
is Manager CR-System
Development at the
Daimler AG in Stuttgart
(Germany).

Dipl.-Ing. Heiko Sass

is Manager Mechanical
Development at the
Daimler AG in Stuttgart
Figure 1: Component sharing principle: basic engine with additional modules (Germany).

MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69 

Cover Story Diesel Engines

cooling on or off based on the perform-

ance map features a HC emissions mod-
ule due to the higher piston tempera-
tures during the warm-up phase.
The oil pump in the Mercedes-Benz
OM 651 is a closed-loop vane cell pump
that provides for automatic and adaptive
control of the delivery volume.

2.2 Main Dimensions

The basic dimensions of the new OM 651
four-cylinder diesel engine were derived
from the following considerations:
– the optimum design in terms of start-
ing torque, emissions and the most
compact dimensions proved to be a
uniform displacement of 2.15 l
– a peak power model with 150 kW.
This equates to a specific output of
70 kW/l
– combined with a compression ratio of
16.2 suited to cold idling, this resulted
in an optimum thermodynamic max-
imum peak pressure of 200 bar and
an absolute degree of turbocharging
rate in the intake manifold of just un-
der 3 bar
– in the interest of high peak pressure,
a long-stroke concept with a bore of
83 mm and a stroke of 99 mm was
chosen.
Figure 2: Camshaft drive as a combination of a gear and a chain drive The high thermodynamic requirements
that apply at 70 kW/l demand bridge di-
mensions that provide for effective cool-
ing while at the same time ensuring that
cylinder shape of the barrels to be sig- plies the oil injection nozzles is located the mechanical limits are adhered to. The
nificantly improved compared with the in the crankcase. The oil supply to this chosen bridge width of 11 mm results in
predecessor engine. A corresponding re- oil duct is controlled by an electric valve. a cylinder clearance of 94 mm. The valve
duction in the tangential forces in the In addition to the consumption potential angle of 6° enables extremely effective
ring assembly leads to lower friction in due to the lower oil delivery volume, the cooling of the combustion chamber roof,
the piston assembly. This is accompa- resulting capability to switch the piston Figure 4. In order to minimise the thermal
nied by outstanding oil consumption
and blow-by values. The honing of the
barrels is finer than in the predecessor
and also contributes to the reduction in
friction losses.
Another main focus of the economy-
driven configuration of the OM 651 was
the design of the oil system, Figure 3. The
controlled variable for the delivery vol-
ume of the pump is the oil pressure in
the main oil duct of the crankcase. This
arrangement offers the benefit of a re-
quirement-driven control system that is
independent of the load condition of the
oil filter and works perfectly together
with the switchable piston cooling. For
this purpose, a separate oil duct that sup- Figure 3: Oil circulation OM 651

 MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69

 senger car applications, the engine is fit-
ted with a single-stage exhaust gas turbo-
charger featuring variable turbine geome-
try. Higher engine outputs are achieved
using two-stage turbocharging with two
different exhaust gas turbochargers and
wastegate turbines. This system is de-
scribed in more detail below.
The two-stage turbocharging system
first used by Daimler in the predecessor
engine OM 646 and installed in the “Sprint-
Figure 4: Section cylinder head/valve angle er” commercial vehicle was advanced and
optimised for this engine. This engine uses
a KP39 turbocharger as a “high-pressure
Table: Main characteristics of OM 651 in comparison with its predecessor turbo” and a K04 turbocharger as a “low-
pressure turbo” equipped with project-spe-
Engine OM 646 evo OM 651 cific compressors and turbines.
Cylinders R4 The engine features a compressor by-
Valve / cylinder 4 pass with an active switchable flap that
can open a parallel air path in the engine’s
Capacity cm3 2149 2143
high-output range. This has the effect of
Cylinder spacing mm 97 94
reducing pressure losses and preventing
Bore mm 88 83 the KP39 turbo from becoming overload-
Stroke mm 88.3 99 ed, Figure 5. As a result of the high super-
Stroke / bore ratio 1.004 1.193 charging rate in combination with in-
Length of connecting-rod mm 147 143.55
creased exhaust gas recirculation rate –
when compared with the predecessor en-
Nominal performance kW 125 150
gine – an optimized combustion efficiency
at rpm min-1 3800 4200 can be achieved on the one hand. On the
Nominal torque Nm 400 500 other hand longer transmission ratios are
at rpm min-1 2000 1600 – 1800 possible. Referred to as “downspeeding”,
Compression 17.5 16.2 this concept contributes significantly to
lower consumption. Figure 6 illustrates
Maximum mean pressure bar 23,4 29.33
which turbocharging systems are used at
Emission standard EU4 EU5
Mercedes-Benz and the performance and
torque figures generated as a result.

2.4 Air Ducting

The raw air line, damper filter (engine-
mounted) and clean air line make up the
air intake and their design is matched
such that uniform loading of the damper
filter cartridge results in an even inflow to
the hot-film air-mass meter (HFM) and
compressor. To achieve the high specific
output, the engine uses a large air-to-air
intercooler that provides 20 % more cool-
ing power than the predecessor engine.
The rest of the air ducting, consisting of
the air manifold, intake air throttle,
Figure 5: Packaging of the two-stage turbocharger charge air manifold with EGR introduc-
tion, charge air distribution line with inlet
port shut-off, is made of plastic.

load on the combustion chamber plate, 2.3 Turbocharging and Air Ducting 2.5 Exhaust Gas Recirculation
the water jacket in the cylinder head has This engine uses two different charging and Cooling
a two-piece design. The Table summarises concepts depending on the engine output. The EGR precooling system, electric EGR
the key data for the OM 651. For engine outputs up to 120 kW in pas- valve (rotary disk valve), EGR-cooler by-

MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69 

Cover Story Diesel Engines

pass flap, EGR cooler (“u-turn cooler“)

and the EGR introduction in the charge
air manifold form the exhaust gas recir-
culation tract and are arranged above
the charge air distribution line. The new-
ly developed EGR valve is based on the
rotary flap principle. The EGR valve is
common to all applications.
The exhaust gas is precooled via the
precooler and, depending on the engine
operating point, introduced into the air
ducting via the main cooler, either
cooled or uncooled (bypass). Figure 6: Comparison of turbocharging systems

2.6 Common Rail Injection System

The injection system was designed with
reference to the different requirements activated, this injector concept features than is the case with a high-pressure bore
of the engine line-up. direct control of the nozzle needle. In in the servo injector [1]. This delivers clear
The key features of this system are this design, the needle directly follows benefits in relation to controllability in
– maximum injection pressure of the stroke specified by the piezo stack the case of multiple injections and re-
2000 bar and enlarged by a travel transmitter. duced shot/shot variations. Contingent on
– optional use of solenoid or direct driv- The maximum achievable rail pres- its activation concept, the injector is capa-
en piezo injectors sure was increased to 2000 bar. This ad- ble of completely leak-free operation.
– up to five injection events per com- ditional injection pressure potential rep- The concept of direct nozzle needle
bustion cycle resents a key building block for increas- control continues to offer the possibility
– double-stamped high pressure pump ing the engine output to its current fig- of realising an injection rate that is inde-
with volume regulation on the intake ure of 150 kW and of the torque to pendent of the rail pressure. This injec-
side 500 Nm while at the same time achiev- tion pressure can be varied by a control
– fuel-quantity drift compensation by ing significantly improved untreated logic specially developed for this pur-
means of structure borne noise sensor emissions behaviour, as well as improved pose. The injector exhibits a steeper in-
control. fuel consumption. jection rate, particularly at low rail pres-
In order to minimize the entry of heat The injector is displayed in Figure 7. The sures, which has a positive impact on the
into the fuel system, an inlet-metered central component is the piezo stack, emissions performance [1].
high-pressure pump is used. Conse- which is located directly inside the high This injector concept, which is the first
quently, there is no need for a fuel cool- pressure chamber. Compared with a servo of its kind to be used in a diesel engine
ing system. injector, this generates a fuel volume that world-wide, opens up significant poten-
is greater by a factor of 2.3. The configura- tial with regard to maximized flexibility
2.6.1 Solenoid Servo Injector tion as a ring volume also allows for sig- and stability of the injection procedures,
The solenoid injector is a further develop­ nificantly higher damping of the pressure maximum achievable injection pressure
ment from the predecessor engine. It us- wave triggered by the injection procedure and complete freedom from leaks.
es a compact design with a balanced
pressure servo valve in close proximity to
the nozzle. The injector is characterized
by an extremely low dead space in the
hydraulic circuit and significantly re-
duced leakage volumes. Thanks to a vol-
ume optimisation in the injector’s high-
pressure range, controllability in the pi-
lot quantity range at high rail pressures
and the shot/shot variations have been
further improved.

2.6.2 Direct Driven Piezo Injector

The more powerful variants of the OM
651 use a new injector concept that was
jointly developed with Delphi. Compared
with conventional CR injectors in which
the nozzle needle is servohydraulically Figure 7: Direct driven Piezo injector

 MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69

3 Thermal Management in the OM 651

The thermal management used in the

OM 651 is a key prerequisite for achiev-
ing the demanding objectives of the
overall system comprising the engine
and the vehicle. Along with achieving
reductions in consumption, these in-
clude achieving a further reduction of
untreated emissions, thermal protec-
tion for all components, preventing
sooting and oil dilution as well ensur-
ing effective climate control for the pas-
senger compartment. Figure 8: Sectional view of a switchable water pump

3.1 Component Development Based

on the Example of the ­
Switchable Coolant Pump The base temperature is defined as in this context. At normal operating tem-
The main criteria during the develop- 100 °C in order to achieve good efficien- perature, load and engine speed are the
ment of the switchable coolant pump cy rates. Depending on the load, engine decisive parameters used to activate the
were as follows speed and the type of driver, the coolant switching valve in the switchable piston
– ensuring zero delivery temperature is lowered to 80 °C under cooling system. In addition, the range in
– reducing the drive output at zero de- heavy load conditions. Furthermore, the which piston cooling is deactivated is ex-
livery target value is further reduced – as far as panded during the warm-up phase. This
– low additional weight compared with 70 °C – if the conditions of warm envi- has a clear impact on the combustion
conventional coolant pumps ronment and high load apply as they chamber temperature. Untreated emis-
– low installation space requirement pose a challenge in terms of NOx emis- sions of HC and CO can be significantly
– low additional costs for switchability sions. The arrangement of the EGR cooler reduced in this way, particularly during
– no restriction on drivability in the on the coolant inflow side and the provi- the critical emissions phase before good
event of failure (fail-safe principle) sion of a separate coolant supply to the conversion rates have been reached in
– durability and resistance to residual cylinder head, with no prewarming the oxidisation catalytic converter. Apart
contamination. through the crankcase results in a re- from this, avoiding the need to dissipate
A new switchable water pump jointly duced combustion process temperature heat leads to an increase in exhaust gas
developed with GPM is used, Figure 8. along with lower NOx emissions. On the enthalpy, which in turn causes the cata-
The pump actuator is operated by vacu- other hand, systematically increasing lytic converter to warm up more quickly.
um. If zero delivery is requested, the the coolant temperature in conditions Under higher loads, piston cooling may
regulating valve moves across the impel- where sooting is likely to occur safe- be switched on in advance of the compo-
ler and completely blocks the coolant guards the stability and effectiveness of nent protection request in order to use
exit. This position prevents the flow the EGR tract. the effectively cooled combustion cham-
through the impeller and, therefore, ber to reduce the formation of NOx.
the increase in pressure. The drive out- 3.3 Switchable Piston Cooling
put falls significantly [1]. The primary The switchable piston cooling system
objective of preventing all movement of achieves the following objectives 4 Combustion
coolant is to reduce the untreated emis- – reduced consumption
sions of HC and CO by ensuring that the – reduced untreated emissions The main areas of focus when it came to
combustion chamber warms up as – increased exhaust gas enthalpy in designing the combustion process of the
quickly as possible. cold engines in order to accelerate ac- OM 651 were as follows
tivation of the oxidation catalytic con- – minimum fuel consumption
3.2 Regulating the Coolant Temperature verter. – compliance with EU5 in the passen-
Another important parameter that in- The reduction in consumption is real- ger car/SUV without active NOx after-
fluences consumption, emissions and ized by switching off the piston cooling treatment
service life is the coolant temperature. in various operating conditions. Both the – optimizing the response of the ex-
To accommodate the high dynamics of reduction of friction in the piston assem- haust gas turbocharging
the unit, it is important not only to ad- bly resulting from higher component – increasing the maximum torque and
here to the maximum permissible tem- temperatures as well as the significantly output
peratures, but to reduce the changes in reduced oil delivery volume in conjunc- – designing a modular engine concept
temperature as well as the collective tion with the vane cell oil pump for regu- to reduce the number of application
temperatures. lating the pure oil make a contribution variants.

MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69 

Cover Story Diesel Engines

EGR-systems as well as the design of the

combustion chamber.

4.2 Fuel Consumption

Particularly in terms of fuel consump-
tion, the OM 651 represents a clear step
forward compared with its predecessor.
With a 12 % improvement in fuel con-
sumption, Figure 10, in the NEDC, the
conflict of objectives between emissions
and consumption was systematically ex-
hausted. Even though the EU5 emission
standards were reached, the specific con-
Figure 9: Torque/power sumption values in the performance
map could have been significantly de-
creased and are now considerably below
the level of usual EU4-engines.

5 Summary

The engine bearing the internal designa-

tion OM 651 is a completely new four-cyl-
inder diesel engine that offers a much
greater number of possible applications
than all previous units. The engineers at
Daimler AG have created an engine with
a high degree of commonality, which
can be installed longitudinally or trans-
Figure 10: Fuel consumption versely, is suitable with the relevant ap-
plications for all-wheel drive and can be
used in commercial vehicles.
In addition, the new engine meets the
For this purpose, all engine components The output of the OM 651 of 150 kW most technically demanding targets with
were systematically designed. Familiar at 4200 rpm is 20 % higher than that of regard to emissions, consumption, out-
technologies were developed in an evo- its predecessor, which developed its put, torque, response and NVH. These
lutionary manner, and new technolo- peak output at 3800 rpm. Due to a gen- were achieved through the systematic
gies were to tap and fully exploit addi- tle speed regulation breakaway and the evolution of familiar modules and
tional potential through the use of com- early availability of maximum torque, through the use of new technologies.
prehensive functional and application the useable engine speed range has in- With its thermodynamic configura-
optimisations. creased considerably in comparison tion, the OM 651 achieves a benchmark
Compared with the predecessor en- with the OM 646. As a result of the sta- position especially with regard to its fuel
gine OM646, the torque of the new OM tionary full load course described, the efficiency and achievable performance.
651 has been raised by 25 % to 500 Nm, OM 651 sets new benchmarks for turbo- The measurement results provide im-
Figure 9, which represents by far the best charged diesel engines in the passenger pressive evidence of its performance in
performance in its competitive segment. car segment. all areas.
This equates to an effective mean pres-
sure of 29.3 bar, a new dimension in the 4.1 Emissions
area of diesel engines for passenger cars. The OM 651 already complies with the Reference
It is also extremely important that this EU5 emissions standard that will apply [1] Schommers, J.; Leweux, J.; Betz, Th.; Huter, J.;
torque is available at engine speeds be- to all new registrations from September Jutz, B.;Knauel, P.; Renner, G.; Sass, H.: Der neue 4-
Zylinder Pkw-Dieselmotor von Mercedes-Benz für
tween 1600 to 1800 rpm. Together with 2009 onwards. These limits will be met
weltweiten Einsatz. 17th Aachen Congress 2008
the excellent response of the new two- in vehicles up to the size of the new GLK
stage turbocharger, this permits the use without the use of an active NOx after-
of longer transmission ratios and, conse- treatment. The excellent emission/con-
quently, allows the engine to operate in sumption-trade-off [1] of this engine was
specifically more favourable areas of the achieved through the described design
performance map (downspeeding). of the injection-, turbocharging- and

10 MTZ 12I2008 Volume 69

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