W210 E200K Cam Magnet leak

[teddyk]

Hi,

Discovered this leak today. First time I removed the front engine cover since I bought it a couple of months ago.
Will attempt the replacement myself if I can find an online supplier.
Which of the connectors "A" or "B" gets contaminated with oil?
What are the consequences of the leak? The car idles and revs perfectly at standstill, though sounds rough under acceleration.
Car is a 2001 facelift E200K W210 Estate.

Merry Christmas to you all and thanks for your help throughout the year,

teddyk.

 

[Uncle Benz]

It's connector A. Unplug it and look for oil in the plug. It travels through the wires by capillary action.

 

[television]

You buy a cam blocker plug from MB circa £30, plug it in, and the engine plug goes into that

 

[teddyk]

Quick update that may hopefully help other ROI members:

Contacted my nearest MB dealer (Newgate, Navan), who quoted me the following prices:

A1110510177 Sensor/Solenoid (replaces A1110510077) Eur 51.77 (ouch!)
A1119970186 Plug Eur 3.50
A2711502733 Blocker cable (A.K.A. Starter Line) Eur 29.72

Need to add VAT @ 23% to above prices.

Sensor not in stock so will have to come from Dublin. The helpful chap I was speaking with said the blocker cable was in stock due to large amount of them being bought throughout the year. Due to holidays etc., will be Friday 4th Jan before I can pick up the parts. I'll be replacing them as soon as I get my hands on them.

One other thing - on some of the sites I have seen, people specify using a "sensor safe" gasket/sealant. Can anyone recommend such a sealant? I presume it would also need to be suitable for high temperatures also?

teddyk.

 

[television]

Surely you just need the blocker for this job

 

[teddyk]

Hi Malcolm,

If I only use the blocker, won't there still be oil leaking out of the plug on the solenoid? My understanding was that the blocker would stop the oil wicking into the wiring loom, but would not stop the leak?


teddyk.

 

[z_a_p]

Any news in this topic?
I have the same car/engine. Today my mechanic also found this part to leak. He added some new sealing, and put it back. However, I was there, and I saw oil in the connectors too.
After back home, I read after this problem, and found it's not so simple just to "add new sealing", as it could keep leaking through the connector, which is worse than just dropping onto the engine.

@Teddyk: have you ordered those parts, and do they fix the problem?

 

[teddyk]

Hi z_a_p,

Yes, I did the replacement.
Didn't update this thread at the time, but posted the result in the "today I did something to my car" thread, 6th Jan 2013:

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showpost.php?p=965960&postcount=1496

Sorry, have run out of space to upload any more photos.

I was lucky in that I caught the leak before it started to contaminate the connector.

Regards,

teddyk.

 

[Roxie]

If you allow it to continue to leak the oil will work its way through the inside of the wiring harness to other sensors and to the control unit. Some say that this is not a problem because oil does not conduct but I can assure you that it does cause expensive problems including control unit failure.

 

[z_a_p]

Thanks guys! I think I am going to do this.
If there is already oil in the wire, but far from ECU, and I install oil stopper wire, that oil already in the wire can go further, or will not move anymore?

@teddyk:

A1110510177 Sensor/Solenoid (replaces A1110510077) Eur 51.77 (ouch!)
[Ok, this is that fat sensor which can leak]

A2711502733 Blocker cable (A.K.A. Starter Line) Eur 29.72
[Ok, this is the new piece of wire with green label]

A1119970186 Plug Eur 3.50
[??? But what is this good for?]

 

[z_a_p]

How about the idea of @television?

"Surely you just need the blocker for this job"
If I add the blocker cable only, and the sensor will still slowly leak via the connector, then what? The blocker cable will stop the oil sneaking to the ECU. What then? Will slowly dropping oil around the blocker cable?

 

[teddyk]

A1119970186 Plug Eur 3.50
[??? But what is this good for?]

z_a_p,

The plug is the brown plastic insert in the centre of the sensor.
You can see it in the pictures.

teddyk.

 

[z_a_p]

@teddyk,

Did you use/buy at the end some kind of "sensor safe" sealant?
Or on this new revised sensor, there is something by default? Or some gasket?
Thx

 

[teddyk]

z_a_p,

I used "Loctite 5920 Premium Copper Silicone" gasket maker/sealant. Says on the box that it's o2 and cat safe.
Bought from Halfords.

teddyk.

 

[z_a_p]

Finally I am going to replace next week.
One question, how did you apply the sealant?
See this pic, that's the way to do?

 

[z_a_p]

Finally I replaced it this weekend. I put the sealant on the surface as on the Pic above, then with my fingers I flattened it to cover the whole surface. Then 3 bolts, 8nm.
Since I drove ~400km, and no leaks outside/at the connector, seems to be solved for the next 60k km. Thanks all the help guys.

 

[Filipp]

Still not sure 'why does it leak to the cables'?

Hi,

Discovered this leak today. First time I removed the front engine cover since I bought it a couple of months ago.
Will attempt the replacement myself if I can find an online supplier.
Which of the connectors "A" or "B" gets contaminated with oil?
What are the consequences of the leak? The car idles and revs perfectly at standstill, though sounds rough under acceleration.
Car is a 2001 facelift E200K W210 Estate.

Merry Christmas to you all and thanks for your help throughout the year,

teddyk.

Hello guys,

I have got the same problem. I noticed very recently that some oil is going down the engine block near the water pump of my E200k 2001 and opened the front of the engine to check it out (see attached photos).

Thank you for your posts here they are really helpful. I have however got a number of questions.

So I have got two leakages:

1) leakage from/towards the cables (from point ‘A’ onwards) which I am aware risks oil going to the ECU and making more damage.

2) leakage around the magnet/cover down on the engine block.

In case 1) if I change the magnet including re-seal (part number A1110510077) and the cable which starts from the magnet (referenced as ‘A’ by teddyk) to the next connection which is no more than 10 centimetres in length – will this stop the oil leak from the engine to the cables completely? In other words does it leak because of a fault in the old magnet part itself and will its replacement solve the leakage – or it is a bad design and oil will always leak to the cables after certain mileage intervals?

In case 2) do you advise I do a replacement of the sealant of the magnet/cover only or the whole part needs to be changed.

I look forward to receive your comments and mend

Thanks