Intercooler... super gunk... stumbly idle at stop light
06-12-2016, 06:49 PM
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02 C32, 03 ML55
Intercooler... super gunk... stumbly idle at stop light
So I finally took a look at removing my plenums. It turned out to be much easier than I imagined. The reason I am looking there is my car has a bobble / stumble / jerky / (is it missing? - I don't know how to tell a miss). There have been no codes.
I have long suspected my intercooler has been leaking as two summers ago living in LA and trekking the 405 often, she was drinking coolant and this is where I first got the bobbly / jerky / stumbly motion when going from high speed traffic to almost stopped traffic. When car is a low low speed (5 MPH) it seemed to be lurchy. Now its doing it at stop lights. Drives me crazy when it does this... I have never pulled the intercooler to check in deep and doing things like putting seafoam in the engine pre oil change and also a few cans down the gas tank seemed to make the jumpy / jerky / lurchy go largely away and I figured it was fine and could live with it. She does fine on acceleration and high speed - really well actually - except for my new tranny vibration which I have another thread for...
I have had green mist up in the y splitter for a while now. This was my first sign that its been leaking a while. So... now to the plenums... yummy.
I have updated my thoughts on if this funk is my problem at the stop lights... I think it 'might' be... interested in your thoughts here..
Plenums..
They are full of gunk. I also used a mirror to look where the plenums meet the intercooler intake? (air exit point?) screen - coated with black oily stuff... not a full block... but still, maybe the culprit on the stumble / jerk / lurch at the stop light.
It has not used much coolant in a while and maybe the leak has blocked itself.. So my question is how do I clean out the plenums and all the funk in the cylinder (where the plenus drop into the engine is also pretty heavy gunky). Can I drop these things in a bucket of mineral spirits and leave them for a bit and then just spray them out with a hose?
And then for the gunk in the engine piston areas... can I just scrape the funk out and then use a paper towel to get in there and clean them up a bit? I figure I can't just spray brake cleaner in there - or seafoam - and then fire her up and let it cook off... is it possible to use oven cleaner spray (reaching here... - dont know unless you ask - might be a great trick for all I know).
One other question... taking the intercooler off - not my first choice. Can I simply spray some funk remover stuff into the area where the plenums and intercooler meet... thinking this wont be super helpful if I am understanding the air flow right as this would be cleaning the exit point of the intercooler and not the entry point... I figure the intercooler 'may' be full of funk as well depending on where it is leaking on the inside.
Also air flow... is this right?... air boxes => super charger => intercooler => plenums => engine cylinders => manifold => Exhaust.
How hard it is to pull the supercharger and pop in a new intercooler? Guess I should prepare myself for some more fun... I am not liking the lurchy action at the stop lights.
Thanks
I have long suspected my intercooler has been leaking as two summers ago living in LA and trekking the 405 often, she was drinking coolant and this is where I first got the bobbly / jerky / stumbly motion when going from high speed traffic to almost stopped traffic. When car is a low low speed (5 MPH) it seemed to be lurchy. Now its doing it at stop lights. Drives me crazy when it does this... I have never pulled the intercooler to check in deep and doing things like putting seafoam in the engine pre oil change and also a few cans down the gas tank seemed to make the jumpy / jerky / lurchy go largely away and I figured it was fine and could live with it. She does fine on acceleration and high speed - really well actually - except for my new tranny vibration which I have another thread for...
I have had green mist up in the y splitter for a while now. This was my first sign that its been leaking a while. So... now to the plenums... yummy.
I have updated my thoughts on if this funk is my problem at the stop lights... I think it 'might' be... interested in your thoughts here..
Plenums..
They are full of gunk. I also used a mirror to look where the plenums meet the intercooler intake? (air exit point?) screen - coated with black oily stuff... not a full block... but still, maybe the culprit on the stumble / jerk / lurch at the stop light.
It has not used much coolant in a while and maybe the leak has blocked itself.. So my question is how do I clean out the plenums and all the funk in the cylinder (where the plenus drop into the engine is also pretty heavy gunky). Can I drop these things in a bucket of mineral spirits and leave them for a bit and then just spray them out with a hose?
And then for the gunk in the engine piston areas... can I just scrape the funk out and then use a paper towel to get in there and clean them up a bit? I figure I can't just spray brake cleaner in there - or seafoam - and then fire her up and let it cook off... is it possible to use oven cleaner spray (reaching here... - dont know unless you ask - might be a great trick for all I know).
One other question... taking the intercooler off - not my first choice. Can I simply spray some funk remover stuff into the area where the plenums and intercooler meet... thinking this wont be super helpful if I am understanding the air flow right as this would be cleaning the exit point of the intercooler and not the entry point... I figure the intercooler 'may' be full of funk as well depending on where it is leaking on the inside.
Also air flow... is this right?... air boxes => super charger => intercooler => plenums => engine cylinders => manifold => Exhaust.
How hard it is to pull the supercharger and pop in a new intercooler? Guess I should prepare myself for some more fun... I am not liking the lurchy action at the stop lights.
Thanks
Last edited by c32jet; 06-12-2016 at 06:59 PM. Reason: added info..
06-12-2016, 07:36 PM
#2
So I finally took a look at removing my plenums. It turned out to be much easier than I imagined. The reason I am looking there is my car has a bobble / stumble / jerky / (is it missing? - I don't know how to tell a miss). There have been no codes.
I have long suspected my intercooler has been leaking as two summers ago living in LA and trekking the 405 often, she was drinking coolant and this is where I first got the bobbly / jerky / stumbly motion when going from high speed traffic to almost stopped traffic. When car is a low low speed (5 MPH) it seemed to be lurchy. Now its doing it at stop lights. Drives me crazy when it does this... I have never pulled the intercooler to check in deep and doing things like putting seafoam in the engine pre oil change and also a few cans down the gas tank seemed to make the jumpy / jerky / lurchy go largely away and I figured it was fine and could live with it. She does fine on acceleration and high speed - really well actually - except for my new tranny vibration which I have another thread for...
I have had green mist up in the y splitter for a while now. This was my first sign that its been leaking a while. So... now to the plenums... yummy.
C32 2002 Intercooler leak plenum lots of gunk - YouTube
I have updated my thoughts on if this funk is my problem at the stop lights... I think it 'might' be... interested in your thoughts here..
Plenums..
They are full of gunk. I also used a mirror to look where the plenums meet the intercooler intake? (air exit point?) screen - coated with black oily stuff... not a full block... but still, maybe the culprit on the stumble / jerk / lurch at the stop light.
It has not used much coolant in a while and maybe the leak has blocked itself.. So my question is how do I clean out the plenums and all the funk in the cylinder (where the plenus drop into the engine is also pretty heavy gunky). Can I drop these things in a bucket of mineral spirits and leave them for a bit and then just spray them out with a hose?
And then for the gunk in the engine piston areas... can I just scrape the funk out and then use a paper towel to get in there and clean them up a bit? I figure I can't just spray brake cleaner in there - or seafoam - and then fire her up and let it cook off... is it possible to use oven cleaner spray (reaching here... - dont know unless you ask - might be a great trick for all I know).
One other question... taking the intercooler off - not my first choice. Can I simply spray some funk remover stuff into the area where the plenums and intercooler meet... thinking this wont be super helpful if I am understanding the air flow right as this would be cleaning the exit point of the intercooler and not the entry point... I figure the intercooler 'may' be full of funk as well depending on where it is leaking on the inside.
Also air flow... is this right?... air boxes => super charger => intercooler => plenums => engine cylinders => manifold => Exhaust.
How hard it is to pull the supercharger and pop in a new intercooler? Guess I should prepare myself for some more fun... I am not liking the lurchy action at the stop lights.
Thanks
I have long suspected my intercooler has been leaking as two summers ago living in LA and trekking the 405 often, she was drinking coolant and this is where I first got the bobbly / jerky / stumbly motion when going from high speed traffic to almost stopped traffic. When car is a low low speed (5 MPH) it seemed to be lurchy. Now its doing it at stop lights. Drives me crazy when it does this... I have never pulled the intercooler to check in deep and doing things like putting seafoam in the engine pre oil change and also a few cans down the gas tank seemed to make the jumpy / jerky / lurchy go largely away and I figured it was fine and could live with it. She does fine on acceleration and high speed - really well actually - except for my new tranny vibration which I have another thread for...
I have had green mist up in the y splitter for a while now. This was my first sign that its been leaking a while. So... now to the plenums... yummy.
C32 2002 Intercooler leak plenum lots of gunk - YouTube
I have updated my thoughts on if this funk is my problem at the stop lights... I think it 'might' be... interested in your thoughts here..
Plenums..
They are full of gunk. I also used a mirror to look where the plenums meet the intercooler intake? (air exit point?) screen - coated with black oily stuff... not a full block... but still, maybe the culprit on the stumble / jerk / lurch at the stop light.
It has not used much coolant in a while and maybe the leak has blocked itself.. So my question is how do I clean out the plenums and all the funk in the cylinder (where the plenus drop into the engine is also pretty heavy gunky). Can I drop these things in a bucket of mineral spirits and leave them for a bit and then just spray them out with a hose?
And then for the gunk in the engine piston areas... can I just scrape the funk out and then use a paper towel to get in there and clean them up a bit? I figure I can't just spray brake cleaner in there - or seafoam - and then fire her up and let it cook off... is it possible to use oven cleaner spray (reaching here... - dont know unless you ask - might be a great trick for all I know).
One other question... taking the intercooler off - not my first choice. Can I simply spray some funk remover stuff into the area where the plenums and intercooler meet... thinking this wont be super helpful if I am understanding the air flow right as this would be cleaning the exit point of the intercooler and not the entry point... I figure the intercooler 'may' be full of funk as well depending on where it is leaking on the inside.
Also air flow... is this right?... air boxes => super charger => intercooler => plenums => engine cylinders => manifold => Exhaust.
How hard it is to pull the supercharger and pop in a new intercooler? Guess I should prepare myself for some more fun... I am not liking the lurchy action at the stop lights.
Thanks
06-12-2016, 11:01 PM
#4
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E63 SL55 996TT C5Z06
wow good that you are cleaning that crap out. makes me wonder my 2003 probably has some of that gunk going on in my intake plenums.
is there any mercedes guideline for C32 servicing of the intake plenums and getting those cleaned out of the build up????? i've not seen anything on that but at 115k miles am guessing there has to be build up that could be removed to help optimize performance of the car...????
is there any mercedes guideline for C32 servicing of the intake plenums and getting those cleaned out of the build up????? i've not seen anything on that but at 115k miles am guessing there has to be build up that could be removed to help optimize performance of the car...????
06-12-2016, 11:08 PM
#5
Hi, your intercooler definitely leaking coolant. It's not that hard to replace intercooler, you have to pull whole supercharger out. Require two people to do the job. T here is nice write up here DIY
https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...placement.html
I have used intercooler for sale 79k miles on it. Pm me if interested.
https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...placement.html
I have used intercooler for sale 79k miles on it. Pm me if interested.
11-24-2016, 12:08 AM
#6
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Mercedes Benz W203 AMG MOD,2016 Lexus GSF, 2006 Mercedes Benz E350, 2004 BMW 325i, 2016 Ducatti Mons
Oil Catch Can will do the trick! There are lots of options to choose from, I would recommend Burgertuning.com N55.
This will save you some headaches
This will save you some headaches
