OK, well I have a gasser, or make that two gassers, old DieselDieHard is in love with the 210 as I have been driving my wife's '99 E300 turbodiesel but she wanted a nicer car, after all the diesel was kept in the desert area where winds sandblasted the clear coat off it and the sun oxidized the silver paint.
So, I found a local E320, a 2001 sitting at a lot and as I had met the owner before he seemed a nice fellow and all so I asked if he was going to sell it, it basically had just arrived. He had $5900 and wouldn't budge but it had 92K miles and NO door dents, NO dings, NO body damage so I took it for a drive and it ran great I could detect a slight shake in the steering due to an unbalanced tire I presumed O/W it was a kick and I fell in love with the Lumbar seats! The only option I found missing was tilt mirrors when you select reverse.
OK he agreed to store it for a month while my wife was traveling so I bought it and had him store it. Flash forward a month I received the new plates and bought insurance and took possession. Well, within the first 15 miles a Check Engine light appeared. I stopped at my mechanic friend's shop and he said it had a string of resets and probably the EGR or switchover valve. But suggested a new MAF as one code showed a lean mixture and he knew the original MAF would need to be replaced eventually and this was as good time as any to install a new one.
OK, he reset the ECU put a new MAF and it was fine, I took it home and before I got home (6 miles away) the Check Engine light pops on.
I am thinking this is thermally related so back to his shop and he said I he needed time to dig into this one, the egr might be plugged or hanging up and the valve was cheap anyhow so he ordered a new one.
Pick up the car, no light and again about the time I get home ANOTHER Check Engine light!
So now he is really puzzled, as am I. I left it for him to ponder and knew my Indy was the right guy because he didn't want to charge labor for the return trip, he said this was a real puzzle and so on.
2 days later he calls me, saying I better come down and see what he found "on the manifold" so I drive over and he points a flashlight at the corners of the intake manifold and sprays some carb cleaner while the engine is idling and the RPM drops and it gets rough. So I have a corrosion or layering going on in the metal at the flanges where the 2-part manifold is bolted to the head.
I have a load of pics and hope someone can tell me WTF caused the metal to fail like it did?
There is no salt on the engine, it was sold out of Bakersfield CA, in the valley where the sun and sandstorms wold be the worst enemy of a car.
Its too late for factory recall anyhow the PO had the harmonic balancer repaired or replaced under an open campaign, as well as a few small things associated with locks etc.
I performed a careful search for anything related before preparing this thread but I could find nothing.
I wonder if this is a first?
This variable intake manifold is a stranger to me, gimme a M104 anytime. The V6 was supposed to be reliable, provided the harmonic balancer was addressed by the factory which this was so what am I going to find next?
BTW a new manifold set me back close to $1200 plus about 3 hours labor.
Maybe I should have stuck with Diesels!!?
DDH

Attached Thumbnails

         

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!