300e breather hose installed!!
 

From this board & the great contributors I discovered that the cause of the rough idle condition on the 88 300ce I just got was a cracked breather hose connecting to the air intake. I bought a new hose from the dealer & spent a few hours trying to attach it. Couldn't get it on. Then, I tried a heatgun to soften the end of the hose. Eureka--I got it on. What a great feeling do have done it myself. Guys, try that heat gun first.
Rich

> > spent a few hours trying to attach it?? a heat gun?


Is it any other tricks to install a breath hose?
Is it good for a hose to be heated by a heat gun?

Be cautious-you don't want to melt it, just soften it so it will slide over the barbs.

A few hours? is this the small hose that goes from the top of the air cleaner to the valve cover?

if so these are easy to get on...just need a bit of wiggling action:)

NO, it is the hose from the driver's side of the idle control valve, which goes to the throttle housing

thought it couldn't be the top hose... those small ones can be a right pain.

Luckily i seemed to solve a surging idle by cleaning my air-flow meter pot, which was filthy when i got the car.

Hmmmm.... do you mean the airflow meter? The pot (potentiometer) should be virtually hermetically sealed, the way it is mounted. They get worn, but I would not expect contamination or burning of any sort.

Steve

actually, looking it up, I meant the airflow sensor plate.

Isn't what Rich were talking about?

BREATHER HOSE 1987 MB260E
part 103 094 10 82

that's the one I thought he meant, but it's a different one attached to the ICV.

My 'snorkel' breather hose was cracked in the exact same place as yours when I got my car. Replacing that was about the easiest and cheapest repair I've done on my car.

I replaced the breather hose yesterday. The piece of cake!
It was really easy. The brand new hose is soft and goes easy. The problem could be with a used one. My old cracked hose was really hard - temperature and oil did a bad job.

Thanks everybody.