Air intake housing....

[Spanner110]

I had hoped that the New Year would start off all jolly and fluffy...... it didn't!
There has been a persistent smell of fuel inside the wife's little runabout (2004 A160 CDi) for about a month; this was traced to a weeping union on the injector and a very porous leak off pipe, happily both are now sorted.

However the same cannot be said for the air intake housing. This will be the smallish plastic moulding which connects the air filter to the turbo intake, it sits in the most awkward spot hidden from view and prying fingers, costs more than the car is currently worth and was clearly designed by someone with a malevolent sense of humour.... The short piece of connecting rubber hose which is part of the assembly has a rather sensible 'jubilee' union on the turbo side which gets my thumbs up, but at the other end of the same short bit of rubber hose things get very deeply immersed in the realm of stupid. It may seem like an ideal testament to efficient German engineering to have a push on 'once it's on it's on for all eternity' plastic ring/collar, but why for the love of god does it have the tensile strength of cheddar cheese??? it appears to have been designed to break if you even look at it in the wrong way, leaving you with a potential £300 bill for a replacement because just making aftermarket replacement collars is too sensible to contemplate for the Mercedes Benz design team.....

So where do I go from here? well I'll have to bodge it for the time being but there's not a hope in hell that I'm shelling out a triple figure sum for a component which I know for a fact can be made for under £27

A longer term solution needs to be found and I have two options on this front - buy a replacement intake housing from e**y; or manufacture a connecting collar from aluminium which will outlast the remaining life of the car.. or indeed my own, whichever is shortest.

Anyway, Now I've shared that particular knot of stress I'm much more relaxed. Happy New Year guys.

 

[brucemillar]

Thank you for your great post. If you cannot bodge it. Try giving Dronsfields a call. Sometimes it is better to buy or bid the bigger bit to get the smaller bit you actually want. I have noticed that Dronsfields are keen users of hammers for even the most delicate of tasks.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Spanner110]

Just checked out the Dronsfields website. Thank you for sharing that resource, their prices seem quite reasonable too.... especially the engines, I got a feeling one of those is going to be purchased soon ( I'm a great believer in the "drop out/drop in/repair at leisure" maintenance ethos as it minimises downtime for our vehicles - and because most of the running repairs have to be done overnight so they can be used in the morning to get us to work again)

 

[brucemillar]

I bought a complete V6 C240 engine from them. Delivered next day with warranty and a mileage guarantee. Perfect service. Just be sure to tell them what you need as they do chop through looms etc when removing, unless you say don't.

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Spanner110]

Yesterday was a blur of Blue Peter activities, trying to come up with an appropriate bodge. Everything within reach got used, glued, cut, rolled and hit with a hammer before being launched into the corner of the garage; frustration got the better of me at 3.57pm after which I considered myself officially driven round the Benz and an abject failure!

My Norwegian next door neighbour who had been keeping up with my progress and supplying 'craft materials' to assist my pitiful attempts at bodging popped round to offer her commiserations, a conciliatory hug and a cup of coffee.

Today however, I had a shell of a plan. Having completely removed the offending part and had a closer look at it I surmised that the collar was surplus to requirements. What was required was more 'Jubilee' unions and something that would serve as a collar to envelope the original hose; in the end I happened upon a short length of fuel filler tube from a Land Rover which as luck would have it was exactly the required diameter.

Next stroke of genius I had and one that would have secured my lifelong membership to the 'A' team was the discovery of a plastic plumbing fitting in my other neighbours garage which perfectly matched the void left by the redundant German 'cheddar cheese' clip; this collar's vital function was to prevent the rubber hose collapsing under the jubilee union!

At 11:56am this morning we had an epiphany. In short, the whole kit and caboodle actually fecking worked!!! More importantly it was a 100% bone fide British bodge using parts from a Land Rover..... ok and B&Q..

My credentials as a master bodger are restored, my Norwegian neighbour too is really pleased for me and the wife's runabout is ready for driving... once I change the back tyre which somehow is flatter than it was before Christmas. Not entirely sure how that happened

 

[Tim203]

Hi, I am trying to picture this part you need, could you do a sketch and I will make it for you.

 

[Spanner110]

Hi, I am trying to picture this part you need, could you do a sketch and I will make it for you.

Thanks for the offer, however I've already had the design office run up a 'sketch' on Solidworks so all that's needed is to download the data into the lathe and I'll be able to get it made; a few mods to include at the post turning stage and it'll be ready to fit.

Now that I've organised this you can almost guarantee a production work issue will get in the way....