W123 California Air Cleaner Mounts
 

Hello,
I took the plunge a few weeks ago and got myself a 1985 300D, California model. Thanks to the information on this site, I was able to diagnose and resolve most of its issues, but I haven't found much on here regarding the air cleaner housing. There are two metal supports for the housing, one that comes down from the coolant expansion tank, and another that extends back from the front of the engine bay, about where the intake on a Federal W123 would be. The ends of these arms are supposed to line up with slots on the air cleaner housing, and there is supposed to be a rubber bumper that fits into the slot and connects to the end of the arm. The first picture attached shows the mount on the expansion tank side. Note that the rubber piece is not seated fully in the slot on the housing; this is because the arm and slot aren't lined up well. The other side is even worse; the arm isn't anywhere near the slot, and the rubber piece is missing. There is a third, unused slot on the side of the housing facing the engine. I noticed that on the housing cover, there are two markings with arrows underneath them: W123 and W126. My housing is positioned such that W126 is pointing toward the front of the car, as shown in the second attached picture.

So, a couple of questions:
Does anybody know the part number of the rubber pieces? None of the sites/catalogs that I usually order parts from list California air cleaner mounts, just the Federal type.

Is it possible that the air cleaner housing is installed incorrectly? Since the ends of the arms don't line up with the slots on the housing, it seems like rotating it 120 degrees in either direction might be the answer to getting the correct alignment. I'm also puzzled by the W123/W126 markings on the housing cover. On a Federal W123, I'd expect that arrow to point toward the intake. Is it possible to put the cover on wrong? Seems like it would be impossible to attach the breather hose if the cover weren't lined up right, unless it's more adjustable than it looks.

Thanks,
Nate

Mine only uses the front-radiator support mounting arm--it doesnt have the one on expansion tank side, its from an 85 w123.

Mine is swapped into a 85 fed car.
I cut/used the old fereral rattle can aircleaner oil seperator and blocked off the one in the 85 cal air can--its possible to do that on a non cal car because its got the oil seperator drain line heading down into the oilpan. then i ran a hose from the oil seperator to the littlepoirt in the turbo inlet hose to suck only vapor back into the intake.

My 85 300D KaliKar has the same air filter housing and the arms, etc all line up, but the rubber mounts are ripped so nothing holds correctly.

Yours looks pretty close to lined-up. You might need to check the lower rubber mount that looks like a donut under the housing.

To get the housing completely out, I do the following:

1. Get the air filter arms loose. Your look pretty loose already.
2. Disconnect the radiator overflow line at the expansion tank.
3. Loosen the screw holding the intake rubber accordion tube from the air filer housing to the turbo at the turbo. Pull the tube off of the turbo.
4. Carefully slip the tube running from the air filter housing to the fender off of the fender attachment. This tube can be fairly fragile.
5. Tilt the top of the air filter housing toward the engine while keeping the fender tube and the turbo tube disconnected and moving.
6. Once the fender tube clears the fender, you can continue to rotate the air filter housing and pull the housing up and out of the engine bay.

Then check that the bracket that holds the air filter housing from below is present and attached and has the rubber donut. Re-installation is in reverse order.

Hopefully when you get around to replacing your air cleaner element I will have stopped being lazy and will have posted my instructions for replacing the stock filter element (~$50+) with a Ford F-150 Fram element that costs about $10.

Per the EPC the part number is A126 528 00 85. I may have to order two myself. I have some sort of rubberized/tar type of tape in the front bracket and I always have wondered if Mercedes did something that inelegant. The back bracket was removed at some point on mine so I just copied the front bracket solution when I found a bracket. I do remember it was a pain to line it up. I think I loosened the bottom bolt too and had to jostle it around until the air cleaner lined up reasonably well. Once you tighten the various screws/bolts the air cleaner holds firm. Is the bolt/screw combination for the front bracket original? I always assumed someone lost a screw or bolt on my California wagon.

Here is a thread of this idea...
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=289984




.

Thanks for the R&R instructions, Mike... I'll be taking the whole thing apart this winter to install a bypass pipe... for test purposes, of course. The EGR may get "misplaced" in the process. ;)

Thanks for the part number... interestingly, when I Googled it, I found this Russian parts site: http://partscatalog.ru/mercedes/F/car/123/133/68K/617.952/67K/09/045/p/2

So I guess I need a grommet (1269970381) as well as two of the rubber mountings. The correct fasteners for the brackets are combination bolts (914031004201), looks like somebody replaced one of mine with a screw some time ago! :rolleyes:

I performed these same changes about a year ago. The test pipe can be a bear for several reasons; rusted exhaust manifold bolts and my new kit had replacement bolts for the test pipe-to-turbo flange which were too short!

Once the EGR falls off and gets lost there are some other vacuum control systems which can also fall off.

Yes, this was the inspiration for my experiment. Short form of story is that I found a PVC sewer flange that reduces from just over 4" down to just over 3". Once I shortened it it fits between the air filter housing lid and the F-150 air filter after removing the black plastic cone.

I have a bunch of pics and measurements; just need to learn how to download from my phone.