1999 C230K - Cleaning intercooler and intake
 

Hello:

Our car runs badly at full load and all symptoms point to oil contamination of the intake system. Therefore, I am planning to clean the entire air intake system of this car from air filter to intake manifold including the intercooler and all the other parts between. It appears that this is the best action for long term correction.

I have the following parts - check valve, breather hoses, oil separator, air filter, and intake manifold gaskets.

Has anyone here done this and can offer advice? I have read scattered bits of info from this site and others. I have the Bentley Manual (which is somewhat helpful but still incomplete) but don't have access to the on-line MB sources for doing the various components of this work.

For instance, removal of the intake manifold allows easiest access to the check valve and removal of the front bumper is necessary to gain access to the intercooler for removal and cleaning.

Any comments from anyone who has done this will be appreciated! Any other parts that should be replaced while this is being done? Any issues that may come up while doing this? Any surprise parts that should be considered? How do you ensure that the intercooler is truly clean? The MAF sensor will be carefully removed and I'll carefully use CRC cleaner to (hopefully) clean this expensive part.

Anything else will be very helpful.

Thanks,
Paul

Sorry I can't answser your question. I assume the check valve is the PCV valve? I have heard that if the PCV valve goes then you get what you have there. I don't kave the Kompressor so I don't know much about it. My friend has the '99 C230K. He asked me to find the PCV valve and I looked around the engine compartment and didn't have a clue. I am interested also since he needs to change his as preventative maintenance.

I think that it is the same device. This check/PCV valve is immediately under the intake manifold and thus very difficult to see and access. In another website, it is recommended to remove the intake manifold which appears to be not that big a task. According to the Bentley manual, you need to remove the fuel rail and injectors from the manifold, move to the side, and then the manifold can be removed. You need to replace the two manifold gaskets (about $12 each at the local dealer) when you are re-installing.

I hope that there is someone here who has done this to provide some guidance to this work. This issue seems to be relatively common to the C230K and CLK models.

Cheers,
Paul

Where does one get the check valve aka PCV valve for the C230K? I have searched every site including this one under both names and nobody shows it.

Search here again using part number 1110100091.

http://catalog.peachparts.com/searchitem.epc

How did you find it?

Googled it! :computer:

C230K Intake System Part Numbers
 

The parts that I bought:

Intake Manifold Re/Re
- intake manifold gasket (111 141 12 80) x2
- fuel injector seals (014 997 68 45) x8
- fuel line sealing rings (007603 012112) x2

Crankcase Ventilator Valve Replacement
- check valve "CV" (111 010 00 91) x1
- oil separator "OS" (111 018 03 35) x1
- hose from air cleaner to OS (111 018 31 82) x1
- hose from OS to valve cover (111 018 16 82) x1
- hose between OS and oil return pipe (111 018 18 82) x1
- breather hose from CV to crankcase (002 094 01 82) x2
- breather hose from CV to crankcase (111 018 15 82) x1
- brass nozzle vents (111 017 00 12) x2

Other
- Engine air filter (604 094 13 04)
- MAF sensor (000 094 09 48)
- CRC SensorKleen (to avoid replacing the expensive MAF sensor)
- Socket Torx E12 (to remove fuel rail)

It seems apparent that very good cleaning of the entire intake system is necessary to properly restore the car to optimum running order. That's why all the parts above have been purchased for my car. I've read that others have cleaned the original parts but apparently this is not really effective and problems seem to return because of the oil film still on the parts. So, to avoid contaminating the MAF again or requiring to replace the MAF, I decided to simply replace all the small hoses and critical parts.

However, I am not sure about cleaning the rotors of the Rootes blower (supercharger). Is this easily possible, difficult, or unnecessary? Any one help with this aspect?

Hopefully starting tomorrow with this exercise.

Cheers,
Paul

Replaced the check valve and cleaned the intercooler...
 

Replacing the check valve was fairly simple about 1.5 hours and used all the parts except the brass nozzles which should only be removed if the head comes off. The short hoses from the check valve to the block were hard as rock and easily broke. One of the brass nozzles was completely plugged.

The intercooler, on the other hand, was a bigger problem. It is much more work than simply removing the front bumper. The intercooler is well protected within the front structure and we could only remove it after removing all the radiator mounting devices including removal of the fans. It is a tight fit but pushing the rad back and up allowed the intercooler to be removed for cleaning.

Anyhow, it took 3 cans of brake cleaning fluid to clean all the oil out of the intercooler and another 2 cans to clean the other intake system components. I used a whole can of CRC SensorKleen to clean the MAF.

We stopped for the day as I also took the time to replace the A/C and PS belt but have to wait a day for the supercharger belt. These are easy jobs!

At any rate, I can hardly wait to take this car for a spin and see if all the work was worthwhile.

Hope this is helpful!

Paul

The car runs superbly!
 

After all this work a few test runs at full throttle has no hesitation at all.

About $400 in parts and cleaning supplies and 7-8 hours labour was my cost.

I think that checking/replacing this PCV/check valve should be done every 5 years or so. Our car was 11 years old when done and the hoses were exceptionally brittle and partially clogged - well past their replacement date.

I'd post pictures but they are too large for posting.

Regards,
Paul