Peculiar- oily air filter housing
03-05-2022, 05:30 PM
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
Peculiar- oily air filter housing
I had brought my car to a well regarded Indy shop in my area for a B service. They did all the work but I decided to change the air filter myself, getting the filter from FCP. No problem. I took out the old filter and very surprisingly, there was oil inside the air filter housing. Cleaned it all with a rag, but there was enough oil in there that literally, it was more than a coating and oil dripped out of the housing.
uh, what’s going on?
uh, what’s going on?
03-05-2022, 05:58 PM
#2
Super Member
Thread Starter
I think I found my own answer- maybe I need an Italian tuneup more frequently! From another thread -
“I just wanted to chime in on this issue as I worked at a Mercedes dealership for two years. This is completely normal on the M276 engine and will not hurt anything. Every air filter I changed on those engines had oil in the bottom of the box. It’s just due to the PCV system design, it’s not ideal but it gets the job done. It won’t hurt anything but it may leak down onto the alternator if too much accumulates. It also tends to accumulate more on cars that aren’t driven hard. With higher rpm’s and higher velocities the oil doesn’t get a chance to build up. There is no repair because there is no problem. It’s just the positioning of the PCV breather in the intake tract that causes it.”
“I just wanted to chime in on this issue as I worked at a Mercedes dealership for two years. This is completely normal on the M276 engine and will not hurt anything. Every air filter I changed on those engines had oil in the bottom of the box. It’s just due to the PCV system design, it’s not ideal but it gets the job done. It won’t hurt anything but it may leak down onto the alternator if too much accumulates. It also tends to accumulate more on cars that aren’t driven hard. With higher rpm’s and higher velocities the oil doesn’t get a chance to build up. There is no repair because there is no problem. It’s just the positioning of the PCV breather in the intake tract that causes it.”
03-05-2022, 07:36 PM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
Yep, sounds about right. These cars have no oil catch cans, so some of that oil that doesn’t get vaporized and burned up will collect in the filter area.
The following 2 users liked this post by KEY08:
pierrejoliat (03-06-2022),
Zavato (03-06-2022)
03-05-2022, 10:14 PM
#4
MBWorld Fanatic!
Good post. Nothing to worry about and a good excuse to stomp on the pedal once in a while. Catch cans are fun, too. I bought one of these each for my 212 and 221, haven't had time to install either yet, but I'll get a post up when I do:
https://www.addw1.com/collections/oi...l-carbon-fiber
https://www.addw1.com/collections/oi...l-carbon-fiber
The following 3 users liked this post by Senecat:
03-06-2022, 10:10 AM
#6
MBWorld Fanatic!
Yes. High performance cars, like a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, designed for occasional track use. I had catch cans on my Shelby GT350 and they would grab a fair amount of oil. They need to be manually emptied and so you aren’t going to find them on your garden variety sedan.
The following 2 users liked this post by KEY08:
pierrejoliat (03-06-2022),
Senecat (03-06-2022)
