Was it a specialist Mercedes independent that diagnosed the fault? Reason is I'd only be trusting a garage that had used the official Mercedes diagnostic tool - STAR - to diagnose the fault. STAR does loads more than most other diagnostic tools eg those from Snap-On. The first thing I would be investigating is the turbo actuator - pretty certain on this engine/turbo, the actuator will be electronically (as opposed to older vacuum operated) controlled. The motors for the actuators can seize up over time, leading to turbo issues. If the garage who diagnosed the fault are using STAR then the actuator can be dry-run from the diagnostic tool, to check the function.
If it is the actuator, these can be replaced (as opposed to the whole turbo) - if you do get a new actuator, they can not just be bolted-on/plugged in - they have to be calibrated to work with the turbo, in-situ (again, you'll need someone with Mercedes STAR or a turbo specialist), as the actuator has something like 200+ individual positions for boost control.
Only once I'd ruled out the actuator/had the car thoroughly checked via STAR, would I start looking at new turbos. Also be weary of remanufactured turbos that aren't supplied by an official turbo dealer ie Garrett or Borg Warner. I'm sure many have bought cheap ones from ebay and they have been fine, but I got one and it failed prematurely (and the reasons why matched the warnings given by Garrett about using non-official reman turbo's).
Turbo Dynamics in Poole are a good source of parts/info/service.
Edited by cws on 31/03/2014 at 16:09
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