Water in my MAF !

[wilbo123]

Hi guys I'm in need of some help

My MAF failed about 3 years ago and shortly after the oxygen sensor went the same way, luckily just outside the stealership !

Now some 3 years later my MAF has failed again, its not that oily, there is a little oil on it but not so much as to bother it, much less than the first time round, however, like last time there is quite a bit of water in the pipe work ? is this normal ? the car only does short runs most the time and I only use Bosch parts

Any ideas ?

 

[television]

What is the car please

 

[wilbo123]

Hi guys I'm in need of some help

My MAF failed about 3 years ago and shortly after the oxygen sensor went the same way, luckily just outside the stealership !

Now some 3 years later my MAF has failed again, its not that oily, there is a little oil on it but not so much as to bother it, much less than the first time round, however, like last time there is quite a bit of water in the pipe work ? is this normal ? the car only does short runs most the time and I only use Bosch parts

Any ideas ?

DOH missed a vital part of info, its a R170 SLK 230 Kompressor

 

[television]

Did this car have the camshaft seal go that caused the oil in the loom in the first place, or is the oil coming from the turbo

if the MAF is just oily you could wash it clean

 

[100%Bitch]

Did this car have the camshaft seal go that caused the oil in the loom in the first place, or is the oil coming from the turbo

if the MAF is just oily you could wash it clean

TURBO????????

 

[television]

TURBO????????

Turbo - compressor just a miss use of words, they do the same thing

 

[whitenemesis]

But very differently...

 

[wilbo123]

The original MAF was fairly oiled up, but that was the original part by the looks of it and my SLK had done 78K by then, so I wasn't that surprised it was a bit gunked up.

The MAF that has just filed was still pretty clean, a light coating a best, however there was plenty of water in it and the aluiminium block that it mounts in, the MAF it's self was wet through, once I dried it out it still worked, just not that well, lumpy lumpy engine.

As far as I know there are no problems with the cam shaft oil seal or the Kompressor, don't ask me why but I still have the car serviced yearly at the Stealership, mind you they did miss a broken suspension spring last year !

I replaced the MAF sensor it's self, with the aid GSF for £50, the complete part was £200 and there is nothing wrong with the plastic body that the sensor mounts in.

The thing that worries me is the amount of water in the air intake pipework, is this just condensation from short running, or is it all this water that is soaking the MAF and causing it to fail coming from somewhere it shouldn't be coming from, if so, where ?

I do love my car, I don't know why, its getting a bit old, a bit costly to run, a bit tatty round the edges, but if it doesn't do what it's supposed to do, go from A to B 99.9% of the time then I will have to let her go, for what ever reason I really don't what to have to do that.

 

[mattkh]

But very differently...

Hi
Please elaborate.

 

[wilbo123]

A Turbo is a fan driven by the exhaust gasses that blows air into the engine

A Compressor is a fan driven directly from the engine (usualy by a belt from a pulley on the crank shaft) that blows air into the engine

Air under pressure = more fuel under pressure = more power

Turbo's suffer from lag, it takes a while for the fan to spin up, but don't drink so much fuel as power is only increased when needed

Compressors dont suffer from lag but use more fuel as the fan is always spinning, even if that extra power isn't really needed

That's the way I understand it, maybe a Techhead will correct me if I am wrong

 

[teddycatkin]

You are not over filling the oil level by any chance Wilbo ?

 

[wilbo123]

No I don't think so, the level in the engine is between the marks on the dip stick and she doesn't use any oil, I don't have to top her up between services, will have a rummage around the engine, the window screen wipers are getting slower and slower, bet they are a pig to get to !

 

[LYNALL]

Take it for a good run nice and hot then remove maf and see if its dry.

I assume engine breather pipe is upstream from the maf? which it must be to get oily.

Brake cleaner is an excellent cleaner, evaporates fast




Lynall

 

[meanie]

Hi guys I'm in need of some help

My MAF failed about 3 years ago and shortly after the oxygen sensor went the same way, luckily just outside the stealership !

Now some 3 years later my MAF has failed again, its not that oily, there is a little oil on it but not so much as to bother it, much less than the first time round, however, like last time there is quite a bit of water in the pipe work ? is this normal ? the car only does short runs most the time and I only use Bosch parts

Any ideas ?

I assume that the water that you refer to is more in the form of droplets-this sounds like condensation which would be quite normal on a car that mostly does short runs,particularly at this time of year.

 

[television]

To all involved in this post, thanks the information is great. One thing though, what is the MAF? Sorry for being thick, but can't even guess at this. I have a R170 slk200k.

MAF is a air filter gauge, its name Mass air filter / sensor on some cars.
It is able to measure the speed and temperature of the air going into the engine, this enables the fueling to be set accurately by the engine ECU

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

hi wilbo, my daughter used to have the same car, most of the time short runs, winter being the most testing time, she never had any problems and sold the car to my brother at 45k miles, still no problems..

in germany etc. the environment in winter is much more testing for short run condensation etc. the cars have to be ok on short runs.

you have a problem, it could be you have just been unlucky with your MAF purchase? where is your water comming from ?

i once fitted three MAF'S untill i got the right one, there are piersburg, bosche and siemens, "dronsfields" at oldham in lancashire ( 35 yrs experience ) use only piersburg, this sorted my problem out. the MAF ( mass air flow sensor ) is a pitot tube measuring minute dynamic and static pressures as well as air temperature, this sends electronic signals to the ems ( engine management system) or ecu ( engine control unit), same thing, controlling timing and fuelling etc.

my advice is to find a good "inde" ( independant merc expert), somone on this club site will reccomend one to you, i am sure. i feel confident the inde will know about your problem and you will learn from it. i have also learned that money spent on a merc. is money well spent. i paid £51,000 on my e-300 td . 7 seat. est. elegance, with every extra you could buy, in 1997. it is still a dream machine. now covered 190,000 miles. spent £5,800 to date to keep it perfect, no rust , runs like a dream.

i am an engineer, and i would never let a car performance puzzle beat me, i learned the hard way thinking my local garage could solve problems, reality is they make more problems, or i could do it with info from the club, somtimes the club can put you in the right direction, but after much experience the good inde is the right way to go, you will also feel better and the merc breed is worth it. herbiemercman.

 

[124coupe]

There are well documented issues with the 230K engine at higher miles in regard to the low and high pressure crankcase beather systems - one of the symptoms is oily MAF! These are details on the forums or indies should know what to do.

For short journeys, the vapours will be wet as the car will not be hot enough to avoid condensation.

All engines cause oscillations in the inlet airflow as they "breathe" and so the oily air can reach back to the MAF in small quantities and so foul it over time.

I would clean the MAF and pipe as a short-term measure and then look at getting the breather pipes and valves looked at - the parts are cheap but getting to them and changing them is a couple of hours or so of labour.

The part of the MAF to be cleaned is the tiny 3mm "blade" towards the tip where the heater sensor is. If you buy isopropyl alcohol from the chemist, the MAF element can be dunked and the oil will dissolve away.

These is a pdf floating about that gives MAF output voltage curves for the 5 different HFM5 elements used - you need the part number off your element (not the tube/housing) to be able to get the right curve.

Looking up the engine in WIS then gives a STAR Kg/hr value for airflow at 5,200RPM that can be translated to a MAF output voltage (using the curves in the PDF) to see if yours is still serviceable (after cleaning).

If it under-reads its contaminated beyond use and will cause lean running and misfires a 3-4,000 revs while on full throttle.


Or just buy a new one....ECP is cheapest for genuine at about £100.