Gdt858

I had a diagnostic today for my W212 for an oil leak and the dealer said it’s the PVC plate that needs replacing. I’m opting to try and do this myself but I don’t see this part online. The closest thing I see is a crack case vent valve kit. Does anyone knowing if this is the same part?

Input is appreciated.

ygmn

DO you mean PCV?
Positive Crankcase Ventilation?

nc211

I’m curious, what year is your car and how many miles?

Mud

Yes that's the crankcase breather kit also called pcv separator assembly. Mine was done under extended warranty at 58k miles along with the camshaft oil galley plugs. These are just plastic plugs with o-rings that are on the back of the left cylinder head (2011 E350). Easy to pop out and replace.

That pcv breather is critical to reduce oil being drawn into the throttle body and intake. The oil cokes up and those deposits affect TB operation but they can also reduce and finally stop operation of the movable flaps inside the intake. Can wind up breaking the plastic control linkage at the front of the intake. In worst case can cause a metal flap to break inside the intake which is bad news. Thats why the linkage is plastic as a weaker link to hopefully break outside the intake vs. internal trouble.

This is also why the TB needs cleaning as maintenance - even as the pcv separator works properly the oil vapors will eventually build up on surfaces and linkage. Initially shows up as a rough idle.

Gdt858

Yes you’re correct, it’s PCV, not PVC. Thanks.

My car is 2010 with 148k miles. Trying to see if we can make 200k, I dropped over $4k repairing all the front suspension last year.

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

LILBENZ230

200,000 should be no problem. The W212 is not without issues - especially the earlier ones - but overall very solid, reliable platform.

cetialpha5

You can get the breather kit on FCPeuro, but those parts you can just get from an online Mercedes dealer cheaper. Keep in mind that the oil separator which is behind the cover is reverse threaded so you turn it in the opposite direction to loosen/tighten. There's actually several videos on youtube about replacing those parts. I just did the intake on my car a few weeks ago. No levers broken but it was a stored MB specific code, didn't trigger the CEL light yet. I played with it afterwards, it was basically hard to move the flaps by hand and once it was moved to one position, it didn't spring back unlike the new one.