W163 ML 270CDI Boost Pipe Fault

[michael8554]

I recently carried out the EGR disable on my 2005 W163 ML270 CDI (44K miles).
I noticed that the boost hose from the EGR valve was not fully home in the EGR.
I released the horseshoe spring clip and pushed the pipe home, but a few days later it was half out again.
I took the hose out of the EGR and found that one of the two spigots on the hose's metal collar, that the spring clip locks behind, was missing (see image).
The other spigot was half gone too.
I did a search and found this fault is not uncommon.
New hose from MB (MA163 501 61 82) was £41.52 including VAT.
A lot of money for a rubber hose.
That's because one end has an expensive metal collar on it.
The other end is secured with a jubilee clip.
Why didn't MB fit the EGR end the same way, which would be cheaper to produce and probably be more reliable!
Perhaps it has something to do with the effect of boost pressure on a male to female connection, versus the female to male on the jublilee clip end.
When I fitted the new hose I degreased the EGR socket and put a trace of silicone bathroom sealant on the mating surface, in the hope this might ease the load on the spigots.

 

[panason1c]

Mine was the same, you have no choice but to buy a new pipe (as i eventually did), trying to fix it any other way results in an escape of boost (and oil dripping onto the a/c compressor).

 

[Jane270ML]

+1 ^
Michael, same thing happened to me when doing EGR shunt/clean.
Being a retired engineer I looked at every combination as to why the lugs should fail, my conclusions were -
Badly installed from new
Removed/replaced by a thug (don't know why tho')
Someone leant on it whilst doing another job in engine bay (probably same thug)

I reckon it's best to fit and secure to EGR first, then slp other end over intercooler connection and secure jubilee clip. Prevents any twisting action on alloy lugs.

 

[michael8554]

Trust me to do it the other way!
My reasoning was that persuading the new pipe onto the intercooler stub would put quite a load on the metal end, the metal end slipped then slipped in easily.
My theories are:
Gorilla tried to pull it off without releasing the spring clip.
Varying amounts of boost pressure pushing against the clip gives a backwards and forwards movement that eventually wears the lugs down, my top one was half gone.

 

[trevmack]

I have worked all over the ml270 cdi and have concluded that I was wrong about German engineering what you pay is what you get, how wrong I was