A160 Breather Hose Photos

[aliddle]

Right.... All you "rusty" dipstickers! Some photos...

1. The inside of my timing cover - the breather and conection are just to the right.... THIS is the colour of your dipstick if you have a faulty breather...

2. A shot of the inside of MY sump.... That black stuff is rubber crumbs....

3. A shot of the inside of the 2nd hand sump <50,000km .... That black stuff is also rubber crumbs....

4. The breather hose (both engines the same!) 'puking' black rubber crumbs...

5. The breather hose cut lengthwise - note how perished it is.....

6. The inlet that blocks from all the crumbs of rubber (both engines were totally blocked). You can just see the hole at the back of the inlet connection on the manifold...

So..... Any "rusty dipsticks" out there??? If your dipstick is this colour then your breather system will definately be blocked, causing accelerated contamination of your oil because the blow by gases are not being drawn out of the sump. Your oil will be black and smelly and your engine may soon start sounding noisier as your hydraulic tappets start to malfunction.....

 

[area51]

A160 Breather hose

If the breather system is blocked then presumably this would lead to oil vapour being passed through the MAF sensor. I have just had to clean the MAF sensor on my car to cure idling problems. The throttle body and pipework were quite oily. This leads me to suspect that perhaps the breather on my car is also blocked. Would it be possible to change the breather hose with the engine in situ ? Do you think i would need to remove the inlet manifold to unblock the breather stub ?

 

[aliddle]

Hi Area51,

I am fortunate enough to have a stripped engine in my garage. BUT, I am a "hacker" merc owner, so get your final advice from a source you trust.

There is another (larger) breather from the tappet cover to the air inlet just before the throttle actualtor and just opposite the resonator (or dampener), so even if the breather that I am referring to, from the sump to the inlet manifold, is blocked there will be ventilation of the crankcase from the top of the engine. I understand that (on the 1999 engine at least) the MAF is situated upstream of this breather hose.

My theory is that if you had a problem your sump breather hose it would be indicated by that obvious stain on your dipstick - do you have this stain (not rust)?

 

[television]

I am shocked by your pictures, but they do remind me of the time when I had enthusiasm

 

[Aussie Nick]

Who claims to have manufactured the breather hose. Is there any writing on the hose ? Is there a merc badge stamped on it?

 

[aliddle]

Hi Ausie Nick,

Thanks for the comments, have amended the writeup accordingly and will submit to King Street on Tuesday.

The hose is Merc number A166 018 09 82.

 

[Aussie Nick]

In my humble opinion Mercedes must accept primary responsibility for your mechanical failure. The problem is that they will do everything in their power to avoid an admission at this point and supply, at least half a dozen alternative reasons as to why the breather hose failed .

I suppose this is forewarning to every other member here on the forum to be concerned inrespect of the quality of their breather hoses, irrespective of the model which they own. The consequences of ignoring a failing breather hose appear to be catastrophic (at least on your experience) for the proper functioning of the engine.

 

[aliddle]

Area51, Sorry, I did not answer your question completely. If you have an A160 and you want to check if the breather inlet at the manifold is blocked, you can do this with the engine in place. Depending on how nimble and small your hands are you can do it without removing anything except the dipstick to get your hand past. The inlet is just beneath the top dipstick guide. If your hands are too big then you may have to remove the air filter. Do this on a pre-2001 model by:

1. Remove the airfilter inlet from the front grill to the air cleaner housing.
2. unscrew and remove the Dampener from the ECU (3 torx head screws), pull the hose out at the bottom of the dampener.
3. unscrew the ECU from the air cleaner and pull the ECU away to oneside.
4. Take the oil cap off and then 'bang' the air filter off it's 3 rubber mounts with the heel of your hand (on the ecu side).

You may also need to remove the dipstick guide bracket by unscrewing the inlet manifold bolt that holds it in place, pushing the bracket down the dipstick guide till it is below the breather inlet and also pushing the dipstick guide over to the left and out of the way.

Undoing the breather hose is difficult and you do end up with some pretty mean looking holes in you knuckles (like you have just been in a fight!). I then replaced it with a 300mm (or so) length of 8mm clear PVC tubing. To make it easier to slip the pipe over the inlet, cut the end of the PVC tube at an angle of about 30degrees - practice over something to see the easiest way to slip it on. It may also help to dip it in hot water first.

Once you have the tube over, you can blow and suck into the tube to see if air flows. On my engines there was absolutely no flow in either direction. If it is blocked you may be able to unblock it by inserting a toothpick into the inlet and feeling around for the 1mm diameter brass orifice in the bolt-way for the inlet manifold that also forms the breather airway distributing the breather gas to each inlet next to each injector (see the last photo above).

To replace the Breather hose you need to lower the engine - I can post a full description of this if anyone is interested (as I have just done it myself).

 

[aliddle]

Here with a photo to assist in removing the filter to access the inlet manifold end of the breather hose:

Here is a shot of the rather tight working space to get at the inlet!

Mnnnh??... looks like I need to increase the text size next time....

 

[mattkh]

I am fortunate enough to have a stripped engine in my garage. BUT, I am a "hacker" merc owner,

Hi
You are a star.
Thanks very much for the writeup.
After a MB service, I noticed the oil level on the dipstick was 2mm above the max mark. So I removed the excess at the first opportunity.
Looks like your engines might have been treated that way by the Service guys at MB.

 

[area51]

A160 breather hose

Hi aliddle , many thanks for your reply and all the extra details. I shall get some 8mm hose and check my car as soon as i have time.
I still think that my car will need a new hose, could i trouble you to post details on how to change it?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[aliddle]

No problem, will get something posted later today...

 

[aliddle]

Lowering The A160 engine to change the breather hose

To change the breather hose from the sump to the inlet manifold, you will probably have to lower the engine so as to get access between the top of the engine and the chasis firewall.

At the same time as doing this, you may want to consider replacing the Poly-drive belt and even the tensioner unit. Perhaps even servicing the starter motor whilst it is accessable!

When you lower the engine, you also need to lower the gearbox and front axle carrier. This weighs up to 200kgs and you will need to use some sort of "table" to hold and lower the kaboodle from the car. I show below what I made up out of some scrap, however you could hire something perhaps.

This frame I made actually bolts onto the floor jack. The floor jack is really good to use because it sits very low (150mm) off the floor.

The adjustable arms I then slipped under the axle carrier frame and tied them off with strong cable ties - however as you are not completely removing the engine you probably don't have to do this.

Once you have made up the frame you can then lift the front of the vehicle up far enough to get under; and put the car safely on stands.

Before you lower the engine you need to disconnect (depending on how LOW you want to drop the engine):

1. Battery Earth Cable;
2. Air intake hose (from front grill to air cleaner);
3. You may need to unplug the ECU from the car plug (not the engine plug);
4. Fuel line to injectors (at the firewall);
5. Disconnect the exhaust just after the catylitic converter (2 bolts on springs);
6. Check which coolant hoses you need to disconnect - probably the short ones near the firewall;
7. Steering Joint at the front near the steering fluid reservoir. Pretty simple to do.
8. Cables for the power steering (bottom RHS on car body near radiator);
9. You will probably have to disconnect the brake caliper (tie to the suspension strut with a cable tie) and also the sensors for wheel speed at the outer CV).
10. Disconnect the suspension struct at the top end under the bonnet by removing the 2 bolts (when you lower the engine you will need to guide the two white clips through the holes in the same area);
11. There is a small earth wire at the bottom RHS front near the radiator, connecting the engine mount to the body - you may have to undo this depending on how low the engine goes;
12. Under the engine at the back of the auto transmission there is an electronic plug that will need undoing (quarter turn and release);
13. Under the car, at the back of the axle carrier frame there are 2 struts that need undoing (you may have to remove a few rubber covers off the underside of the body to access these);
14. Now you need a torx socket on an extension bar to access the 8 bolts holding the front axle carrier ti the chassis (4 each side) - these are fairly easy to access. There are 2 close together at the back of the frame.

Make sure that the jack and the "table" are holding the axle carrier up (the bolts should loosen without the frame lowering!). You may want to place 2 spare stands under the axleframe to act as a safety stop in case your floor jack fails or is not too sensitive on releasing! You can access the 8 bolts from OUTSIDE the vehicle collapse line!

Lower the engine slowly and keep checking that there is nothing still connecting the engine to the car that is too short to handle the drop. You should NOT have to disconnect the Aircon or alternator, however - be mindfull that you will be limited on how far you can lower the engine.... keep watch! Don't forget those 2 plastic clips on the top of each suspension strut under the bonnet - you will have to squeeze them to allow the struts to drop down with the axle carrier.

I will stop here and take a breath.... hope I have not forgotten anything....!

 

[aliddle]

To change the poly drive belt you can access the useful A-class website by Lofty:

http://www.aclassinfo.co.uk/mypage.1.htm

 

[television]

Thank you for your informative post and enthusiasm

 

[area51]

A160 breather hose

Thanks aliddle for your quick reply. Plenty of very useful info.
Looks like i need to set aside a day [ or two ] to check my car out thoroughly.
Have you seen the post on your other thread regarding mods to the breather system? Sounds expensive to me. Heated throttle valve...

 

[aliddle]

Here is a really good explanation for engine ventilation that may help you solve your problem - don't be put off by the graphs and formulas - just read it.

http://www.106rallye.co.uk/members/dynofiend/breathersystems.pdf

 

[television]

Here is a really good explanation for engine ventilation that may help you solve your problem - don't be put off by the graphs and formulas - just read it.

http://www.106rallye.co.uk/members/dynofiend/breathersystems.pdf

Just read the article very good reading