Hi, was inspecting the belt areas on my 2002 CL230K (W203) Sportcoupe & noticed this frayed (radiator? condenser?) hose & fabric wrap covering near the power steering pump on belt 1. See attached pics 1~3 (for spatial reference I’ve colored the common large black hose purple in all pics).


Left view

Closer left view

Right view (smaller hose exits at bottom left of pic & enters from center area)


Re. the smaller hose: I am not 100% sure what that one is for (radiator? condenser?) but this seems like a friction contact point & an accident / hazard waiting to happen??

Questions:

1. Can someone tell me what this smaller hose is? &
2. Share a pic of the routing of this hose in their car? (Surely this can’t be to OEM spec???)
3. Can I safely disconnect (, cut down to size?) & reroute this to the other side of the larger hose? or is this a high pressure line that will most likely bleed all over the place & need re-pressurization?

Thanks!

 

I'll take a lookl later and see.
And......

What is that crap?

 

@C230SportsCoupe thanks.

PS: I think your image didn’t post correctly? It just shows a pic of a static spinner?

 

That looks like a coolant hose. It doesn’t look like an A/C or power steering hose to me.

Do what you can to move it out of harm’s way. Inspect to see whether the hose itself has been nicked, or whether the damage is merely to the cloth. If the hose has been nicked, then I would recommend to replace it. You can probably still drive on it for a short while, but keep in mind that any damage will cause that spot to be weakened.

Do allow the coolant to reduce its temperature to a reasonable level before working on any part of the cooling system. Have some coolant available to top-up any spills. You can use distilled water if you’re in a pinch, but remember that you’ll have less protection against freezing - especially with winter around the corner.

 

It's just your photo with comments
Click the spiny thing. I hope you trimmed those hanging threads.
I may be under the hood today, swapoing goodies back to stock from the 262k mile C to eventually put on the 'new' one ie AMG brakes and sway bars, plus ASP pulley, I might use the opportunity to make a video.
Are you still in need of help? You definitely need to replace that one hose before it bursts the the belt is grinding a groove into it.

 

@C230 Sport Coup that’s just more of the threaded wrap apparently coming apart. In that angle it looks more obstructing than it is.

Yes, that is my concern that the belt is grinding into it & yes, I’m still in need of help.

@C230 Sport Coup / @smgak , I appreciate the tips but I think both of you are misunderstanding the main question though, ie: is that hose supposed to be (stupidly) routed like that from the manufacturer? Can you share a pic of that area of your 2002 C230K? (if it’s routed differently, I am thinking this was some body shop’s botched repair. Obviously now I will need to figure out some way to shorten it w/o losing whatever is in there (& if it bleeds, how/where the reservoir opening is to refill it))

 

Time to check your motor mounts.

 

You had asked how to remove the belt. I can across this plus the attacheement. You can get the entire repair manual at charm.li
Maybe you can find the hoses routing shown there.
Sorry I didn't check the belts. I'm removing AMG brakes, and sway bars from my old car as well as ASP pulley.
I was sick for most of last month low grade cold that sapped all my energy and finally getting some stuff done.
This pic is from the owners manual. You'll need some an E Socket to move the tensioner.
I looks like bolt but it doesn't turn. you put a socket on it, and pull it back.
There's likely some videos on you tube iahout it.





Regarding the hoses, check on charm.li around the water pump and also here's an online
EPC that shows the hoses or some of them
https://webautocats.com/epc/mercedes.../?fg=20374769V
BTW- When you using this resource, know that your car is 203.747 (there are many variations)
and the engine is 111.981

 

@OldManAndHisCar , probably, but what do the motor mounts have to do with this (mis?)routed hose abrasion issue??

@C230 Sport Coup , I never asked about belt removal in this thread?

Thanks for the EPC link, sadly it doesn’t seem to list what that hose part is.

Re. charm.li: thanks for reminding me of it, I am aware of it, but alas I am having difficulty finding a diagram showing what this hose part is (I will have to see if I can just do a search for all images in the offline version to make it easier to quickly look through them visually)

PS: Sorry to hear about being sick, I too have been recovering from a cold myself! (working on my car during my recovery has been my only solace!)

 

The hose might not be mis-routed. In my cars there are many things that seem "very close" to other things...a bad motor mount can lead them to contact.

 

@OldManAndHisCar interesting thought… although I assume the motor mounts get more “squished” as they get older, so wouldn’t the engine sit lower & provide better clearance to that hose? (still not sure what it’s for) - assuming the 2 attachment points aren’t on the engine block (one seems to attach to the front radiator/condenser?)

 

photos looked so zoomed in I dont know what we are looking at.

Should things be contacting the drive belt, no.

 

When my second set of motor mounts in my AMG went out, it was a MESS. The OE motor mounts failed...I knew they were bad. The after market ones went out...the engine was jumping all over the front end of the car.....seriously, it was bouncing in there.

 

@TimC300 , I described it in my 1st post:

> “hose & fabric wrap covering near the power steering pump on belt 1”
See this post for a diagram of the belts for the M111 engine in the 2002 C(L)230K Sportcoupe: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ml#post9204571

Having said that, if you have a C300, yours may be different.

(My hope with this post was that someone with a 2002 C(L)230K Sportcoupe could share a pic of that area to confirm the botched size/routing of this hose- @C230 Sport Coup , hoping that’s you )

 

Sorry man, car got put on back burner. Started the other day doing some stuff and then
had to hold off as other stuff intervened. Hopefully back at it today and get u some photos.
SOON!

 

@C230 Sport Coup , any update by chance? I really want to see what the OEM spec layout for this hose is before I put my car back together for that other vibration issue as this will probably be the last weekend in 2025 that I can work on this… since I will have to fly out of the country for almost a month

 

I just completed my swaybar and front brake swap back to stock on C230 #1 with 262K.
Swaybars will be going on newer car #2. Brakes not for a while. Pads look new on existing brakes.
Regarding your hoses,
Ha, you must be psychic. I bunped into 'something' a while back. and it knocked my right headlight downward on #2. I had pull the bumper back, remove the grill etc and readjust the headlight housing. I got that done and just as I was closing the hood I noticed the cam cover was missing from the engine.
Yikes!, it turned up under the crankshaft, just languishing. No signs of trauma thankfully.
Anyway, yes I had to pull the air filter to get at it, which turned out to be on the hardest things I'd done all day. The rubber grommets were not wanting to let the air filter out despite me tugging at with all my migfht. FINALLY got it out and greased the grommets with some silicone grease.
AND YES I snapped a few photos.
I'm not really sure where you are having your hoses so close to the pulleys, but you are obviously missing a clip or something.
Here's what I got. I have no hoses closer than at least 1" from a pulley.
Left and right below are as you are standing in front of the car, so opposite of it you were sitting in it.

So in this photo, you see the hose on the left, it is held up and away by a clip. Download and zoom and you may see it.
but no where near a hose.


In this photo you see the other radiator hose on the right.
The hose is made with bends that prevent it from contacting the
what I do believe is the power steering pump pulley. Is this where you are having an issue?


A closeup of the left hose and the clip holding it.

Overall engine bay by crankshaft.

Hope this helps.

 

Looking at your photo, yeah, definately looks like the radiator hose over the PS pump.
Wow, it's pretty gone. Time to replace it. Not an easy job.
I know because I recently replaced a radiator. An even bigger PIA.
You will want to pay someone. Make sure to get Genuine hoses. You don't want to do this job twice.
It's a royal PIA.
You can order parts here for cheap.
mercedesbenzstarparts.com
Call 1st to see if they have the parts in stock or how long to get them.
And then order online. The price the parts counter will be 3x the price of their own website.
Go figure.

 

@C230 Sport Coup , it’s the area near the power steering pump. The closest pic you have to that area is pic #2, but it’s too dark & I can’t see if you have the same smaller 0.5” width hose which is touching the pulley in my pic & that I have running underneath the bigger 2” fabric covered (frayed in mine) hose to the upper left area of your pic.

Could you record a video of that area that pans to the right facing towards the car & “over” the black plastic pipe that runs from the back of the engine bay to the front (I think it goes to the filter box) ending where the yellow washer fluid reservoir cap is showing the end of the hose connections going into the front? (radiator?) (I seem to have 2: the large 2” hose & the problematic 0.5” one (I still have no idea what it is! ), see 3rd pic in my original post)

(I’ve attached a more zoomed out photo facing the engine bay, driver’s side, showing the filter box, plastic black pipe (with red arrow indicating the pan) & yellow washer fluid reservoir cap for reference if it helps).


Facing front engine bay, (US) drivers’ side, near filter box

PS: I think the forum only allows .MP(E)G & .MOV (QT) videos, so if it won’t post, please DM or text it to me.

This would help greatly, thanks!

 

@C230 Sport Coup , sorry to bother you again but have you had a chance to photograph/video the area to the front right of the filter box in question? (see earlier DM & thread replies). Really need to repair this soon as my car is in pieces & I want to fix this while I have the front filter box out before my HOA starts giving me a hard time. Thanks!

PS: if anyone else has a *stock* 2002 C230K Sport Coupe, I’d appreciate if you could post a photo of that area too!

 

Ummm to the right of the filter box. OK, what are you looking for ?
Do you know how to remove the filter box? Just unscrew hose on left, slide clip in
intake, and pull straght up to get a beter photo of what it is thats in issue.
From memory to the right of the filter box is a hose coming from the supercharger via the intercooler.
So....what's the question?

 

@C230 Sport Coup I want to see from a *stock car* (which yours seems to be) some lighted pics (see pic1~3 in original post) and/or a video pan as shown in my reply (post #19) above (see red pan arrow) to confirm the routing/length of this hose is incorrect & not OEM spec.

For your convenience I am reattaching the photos mentioned, below (for spatial reference the large black (plastic?) pipe right above the power steering pump is colored purple in the images below):


Closer left view of power steering pump pulley & belt showing contact point (see top right of image)


Right view of opposite side near washer fluid reservoir cap (smaller hose exits at bottom left of pic & enters from center area)


Zoomed out view facing front engine bay, (US) drivers’ side, near filter box (before removal, sorry)- large pipe on right is what is purple in earlier images

I hope this makes clear which area of the car I am talking about?

Summary: In the original post I have 3 photos showing the issue after the filter box was removed, ie: a hose of some sort that has a (frayed) fabric wrap around it that is dangerously close to the power steering pump pulley. I don’t think a zip tie will help, it just seems badly routed (I’m guessing it was too long and they were too lazy to trim it to length before installing it). I am thinking of cutting it to length but am afraid it will lose pressure & spew whatever flows in it.


Thanks!

 

I honestly thought you would have fixed this by now...
It's still not clear to me what the issue is.
So PM your ph number,. I'll text you and we'll set up a time
where I can be standing in front of the car and get this sorted out.
And provide your 1st name at least in the PM. Sound good?

 

@C230 Sport Coup PM-sent!