Reconditioned Mercedes Vito Gearbox

Vito diesel: 5-speed or 6-speed gearbox, OM601 from the 1990s or OM651 from the 2010s — which generation is your vehicle?

The answer lies in the engine block and the generation of the Vito. The Vito covered here spans three distinct diesel engines — 110 D 2.3, 2.2 CDI and 1.6 CDI — produced between 1999 and 2019, and the gearboxes that correspond to them are not interchangeable from one engine to another.

OM601, OM611, OM646, OM651: twenty years of engine blocks, two types of gearbox

The 110 D 2.3 (engine code OM601) is the oldest version in this selection; it takes a 5-speed manual gearbox. The 2.2 CDI accounts for the majority of the catalogue, with five references spread across three engine codes — OM611, OM646 and OM651 — and depending on the period may take either a 5- or 6-speed gearbox. The 1.6 CDI (engine codes OM622, OM622.951, R9M) is paired exclusively with a 6-speed manual gearbox. The presence of the engine code R9M in the 1.6 CDI list indicates a block developed in partnership with Renault-Nissan, whose mechanical mating with the gearbox differs from that of the purely Mercedes OM blocks.

The 2.2 CDI trap: one name, three engine codes, two gearbox families

It is on the 2.2 CDI that identification is most critical. The OM611 belongs to Mercedes's first Common Rail generation, the OM646 succeeded it, and the OM651 represents the third generation with a revised architecture. These three blocks do not share the same gearbox bell-housing interfaces. Ordering on the basis of engine capacity alone, without checking the engine code stamped on the block, risks ending up with an incompatible gearbox. The references in this collection — among them A 638 260 00 00, 711680, 700730, 716652, 716637, 711698 and 711651 — cover these different configurations; each reference is linked to a specific engine code.