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I have just done a valve cover gasket replacement. And so I connect the diagnostic and got a
P0400
Exhaust gas
Recirculation Flow
code. So I was in the process of cleaning out my EGR valve. And while I was back there I saw the thing I was tripping on after I put car back together. I couldn't see it and it felt like a plastic tube that could be pulled out so far and pushed back in. I believe that it's coming out of manifold between firewall and manifold. Just to the side of the MAF. I have taken a pic and placed a arrow pointing to it. Could anyone please tell me what the name of it is? Or what it connects to? Thank you!
That is where the vacuum hose for the brake booster would go if you didn't have SBC braking. That is a plug to block that port as it is not needed on your particular vehicle. There should be no vacuum leak in that area.
Last edited by jpeter6981; 11-24-2022 at 09:38 PM.
You can definitely get the "plug" out if you pull hard enough. It shouldn't just fall out, and you should have no vacuum leak around it when the car is running
I can pull center part out like maybe half inch very easily. It wont come all the way out. So you said that it is for brakes? And that my car just doesnt require the hose in center of that plug? And thank you very much for your time Im very appreciative. I owe alot to this site if it wasnt for this forum Id probably be walking. Im from San Diego and with pandemic I had to move couldnt afford it there anymore. And I had good friend who was a mechanic and he took care of my car. Since Ive had to move from there Ive had to work on my car myself. And Ive never worked on a car before this car. So far I have successfully changed radiator, coolant recirculation pump, water pump, rear shocks, fuel pump, spark plugs, coils, front bumper a few times, valve cover gasket, breather hoses just to name a few things. So thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. With the knowledge that people have shared it has changed my life. Literally I could not afford to of had any of those things I listed done by a MB mechanic or any other mechanic as I struggled with just buying the parts. This is my first Mercedes and Im hooked. There was a period I considered selling to buy a newer car that parts would be less expensive and it would have less miles. But when I looked at whats out there in that price range I couldnt sell my car. I get pissed off about how many things have broke or went wrong but I would absolutely HATE having to go back to a Honda or Chevy even if newer even if it had less miles even if replacement parts would be half price! Funny thing is when I had those cars I saw nothing wrong with them. I love the look of Mercedes. Not as far as value but as far as looks even though my car is a 2004 and its only a e320 I prefer the look of my car over a new Accord. Its hard to explain.
Last edited by LoweredE320; 11-30-2022 at 03:25 PM.
Your car looks great, and always happy to help. Your vehicle has what is known as a Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC) system. The brakes are controlled by a computerized "pump", instead of the more common system with a vacuum controlled brake booster. This same engine is used on many different models / years, so the vacuum port is utilized with some of those. The SBC system is known to be troublesome and was replaced by a conventional system after a few years... however, the good news is that the components of that system are covered under an extended warranty from Mercedes for up to 25 years. One of my vehicles has had the system totally replaced by the MB dealer; this is basically a $2,500 parts and labor job that was entirely free.
I'm on the east coast, but my brother in-law lives in El Cajon... love the SD area. J
Specifically for this car, I don't believe so. Weak points tend to be front suspension components, the braking system, some electronics. If you do not have one, you should get yourself a decent DTC reader; the ICarsoft MB line is pretty good and fairly inexpensive. The M112 engine and 722.6 transmission in these are very reliable and durable if you service and take care of them.
Wow right on man thank you! That is good 2 know. Are there other things that you know off that still have warranty? I didn't think that was possible.
There was a 15 year warranty on the gas tank, but it's expired for your car now. Basically the fuel tank would leak when the tank was full. You'd remove the back seat and see gas pooling on the top of the tank. Mercedes would normally replace the entire tank/fuel pump/filter but with it out of warranty you would just replace the pump/filter.
Yes I've ran into the front suspension issue a few times now. This is before I started working on car myself. I bought the front suspension kit almost right after I got car and I had friend put it in and I guess he didn't install correctly. I'm not positive but I want to say it had to do with tightening up everything under pressure or not under pressure. Then my car started squeeking so bad people literally could hear me driving up a half block away. So I bought another front end suspension kit and it had to of been like 4 months later and had mechanic install it. I still have it now but it's looking like I need bushings soon. I've been told that the cheaper I guess Chinese suspension parts kits don't last anywhere as long as real Mercedes ones. I've had car around 2 years I think. And I've been told a thousand times that lowering it and 20 inch rims and tires don't help any either. I definitely believe all that. I had bought Pirelli P Zeros all the way around 20s and I took trip back to San Diego (around 4-5 hour drive)was there for a week and drove back home and the inner side of rear tires had metal showing. So then I bought adjustable camber arms and they seemed to have fixed that issue. But it was not the easiest thing to install for me.And as far as a diagnostic I only have a cheap one. My boss had a car repair shop and she has lent me her Autel if I remember correctly MX808 and it worked great I was almost going to buy the iCarsoft but then for some reason I got idea I wanted a diagnostic with Star then I saw how much they were and just kept using my cheap one. I do plan on getting a better one. And I change oil regularly but I was trying to figure out what was in the maintenance that they call Service A or something like that I have 140,000 miles so I'm sure I'm past A. Is there a place that lists what checks they do for specific Services? I've looked a few times and found different people saying different things for same Service B or whatever. This is practically a book now so I'll end it here. Once again thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and taking time to do so.
Cetiapha5
Thats also very interesting to me. I had no clue manufacturers would warranty any part that old on a car. Crazy. I may have just never ran into this issue because I've never really totally filled tank 100%. I'm guessing 75% is the fullest I've ever got it in 2 years. And with current prices here in California ($5.79 per gallon) I doubt I'll be filling it anytime soon but that is also good to know. I have already ran into having to replace the fuel pump. When I saw that for first time it terrorfied me. I thought somebody must have rigged this thing before i owned it until I saw replacement. I don't like how it looks. I also thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.
I am really very grateful to both of you once again for sharing your knowledge with me. I firmly believe KNOWLEDGE IS KING! And taking time to answer. I'm not normally a reader or writer. But with this forum I've been doing a lot of reading. And I actually enjoy it I wish it had been like that in school.
Last edited by LoweredE320; 12-03-2022 at 04:22 AM.
You should consider using FCPEuro for your part purchasing. They carry many OE, MB branded as well as OEM parts, and everything is guaranteed for life. You can even return filters for a refund as you replace them. Definitely better quality than most low price parts you can find on eBay or Amazon.
You should just get the Autel AP200. It'll do a full system scan and scan all subsystems. It's basically limited to one car brand which is why it's cheaper than more expensive systems that do all car brands. About $62 now but was as low as $51 around black friday. And yes lowering it and having large wheels has a lot of trade offs. Around here, you'd get a lot of cracked/bent rims and flat tires with that combo. But if you have smooth roads and no potholes from the frost heaves then you can get away with it. But larger tires also cost more and don't last as long with non standard heights.
As for the gas tank, I always fill up the tank when filling it, otherwise you're just spending more time at the gas station giving it a little gas here and there. As for service A and B, service A is basically an oil change and they check a bunch of stuff and B is also an oil change plus the same checks and also a brake fluid flush. Stuff like cabin filters, air filters, wipers are also lumped in there somewhere but you don't need to pay Service A/B prices to do those yourself. There's a booklet out there that's goes into more detail and then there's also transmission flushes at 40k and also spark plugs/coolant at some point.
Thank you both again for some good advice I really do appreciate it. I've heard of and seen advertisements for what was it fcpeuro and I'm going to check into the Autel. Have you seen the diagnostic I guess ill call it packages that come on a laptop and they have Star on them? Out of curiosity what do you think of those?
So you said the Autel AP200 right that is one of those devices that plug into your OBD2 right? And run on Bluetooth? But how do they work? Is there a Android download in Play Store? Is it specific software or will a number of apps work with it? And how do you know which is good for Mercedes? I hope I'm not bugging I am interested but really have no clue.
Wow ok I looked it up and that's pretty crazy. Seems like it goes at lot deeper then the what is it iCarsoft or something like that? I now understand what you mean about being car specific. Thanks on that advice I'm 100% ordering that payday. It will be handy because my mom recently bought a S550 it's not new and she is having a issue currently. I'm really thankful for this board and it's members! There is so much helpful info here and when you can't find it all you have to do is ask. I really like how people tell you then explain why it is. It really does help me lots. When I've come across info from different places I don't always understand what I'm reading it's worded like it's out of a manual which isn't always clear to me. It could be the correct names or terminology but me not knowing correct names its sometimes difficult to understand. Everywhere you look or the things you hear about nowadays can make you wonder sometimes where the good has went in people. But here it's different and I can't thank you guys enough for sharing your knowledge.
Have you seen the diagnostic I guess ill call it packages that come on a laptop and they have Star on them? Out of curiosity what do you think of those?
Those are full systems that the dealers you and you basically get a knock off version and they range from $500-$1000. A lot more than $62 for the Autel. They can do a lot more like programming and diagnostics, but a basic code reader will probably do 99% of what you need if you just want to fix the car and not do crazy modifications or programming. They are not exactly easy to figure out how to use either, lots of people have them and don't know how to use them. You can also pick up an old copy of EPC/WIS on eBay in the $10-$20 range and will give you the full parts lookup and repair procedure that the dealers also use to use. Those are older versions now but still work on our old cars.
Originally Posted by LoweredE320
So you said the Autel AP200 right that is one of those devices that plug into your OBD2 right? And run on Bluetooth? But how do they work? Is there a Android download in Play Store? Is it specific software or will a number of apps work with it? And how do you know which is good for Mercedes? I hope I'm not bugging I am interested but really have no clue.
You download the Autel software and register it so it allows you to use it on one car brand. And yes it works on Mercedes, I have one and it scans about 40+ subsystems for error codes.
Originally Posted by LoweredE320
Wow ok I looked it up and that's pretty crazy. Seems like it goes at lot deeper then the what is it iCarsoft or something like that?
There's many scanners out there, iCarsoft is another one that's popular. But if all you need is MB specific subsystems scanned, the Autel is one of the cheapest out there.
Your car looks great, and always happy to help. Your vehicle has what is known as a Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC) system. The brakes are controlled by a computerized "pump", instead of the more common system with a vacuum controlled brake booster. This same engine is used on many different models / years, so the vacuum port is utilized with some of those. The SBC system is known to be troublesome and was replaced by a conventional system after a few years... however, the good news is that the components of that system are covered under an extended warranty from Mercedes for up to 25 years. One of my vehicles has had the system totally replaced by the MB dealer; this is basically a $2,500 parts and labor job that was entirely free.
I'm on the east coast, but my brother in-law lives in El Cajon... love the SD area. J
Yes, I just had my SBC system replaced (fixed?) in 2021 - MB Stealership near me covered 100% of diagnostic, parts and labor. Imagine the liability MB could face potentially for alleged catastrophic brake failure in these vehicles. 2003 E500, 55k in 2021.
11-24-2022, 08:08 PM
