A week ago, I posted that there is a rubber hose of about 1/8" ID dangling between the block and AC compressor. The advice at the time was to look under the hood. Fair enough so I did. From the below, it disappears between the block and compressor. From the top, there is no angle to see or feel where it emerges.

The car runs fine, or well enough, as is. The idle is slightly rough -- not enough for me to want to pull the compressor.

6+ inches of rubber vacuum hose is not something I expect to see in any MB. Question, should this hose be there? Is it a drain of some type? If not, is there any factory use of such a lenth of Detroit/Nagoya-type rubber vacuum hose in an M103?

Thanks,
Sixto
91 300SE