When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I have the M272 engine. It had around 130,000 miles and i was looking to do some preventative maintenance. I noticed oily gunk around the intake manifold and around the throttle body.
I bought a new oil drip pan, passenger side breathe cover and drivers side breather cover.
The oil drip pan looked fine to me, no worn grooves where it fits into the cover but i replaced it anyways. There was some oil in the breather hose leading to the throttle body i cleaned out. Replaced the cover because that gasket is so thin i cant see reinstalling it properly.
Can see where the drivers side breather cover hose leads to the top of the throttle body.
I removed and cleaned the drivers side cover. I didnt know what it looked like in there until i took it apart. realized there is nothing to wear so I reinstalled it. That gasket is alot more durable so had no issues reusing it.
The passenger side breather hose looked fine in good condition. Just ran a cloth towel thru it to clean out any oil. It is attached with an oetiker single-use clamp to the plastic elbow below the air mass sensor so just left it attached. Good thing is the hose just slip fits on to the passenger breather cover so the inside can be easily inspected, just pull it off and stick your finger inside to check for oil.
I removed and cleaned everything back there leading to the throttle body. I did not clean the air mass sensor itself, I just cleaned the housing with a clean towel. Cleaned and reinstalled all the gaskets. I did replace the large gasket (green arrow) on the air box that fits on to the air mass sensor. I replaced it because the metal wire piece that snaps on over the top of the air box was loose and floppy, replaced that gasket and then it snapped on tight.
I think this coming spring I will replace the breather hose on the drivers side. I want to replace the spark plugs and think I will replace the injectors so might as well replace that hose while in there. The hose looks fine on the outside still, no cracks or anything. Unfortunately theres some oily gunk on the injectors i want to clean up. Aslo the metal clips are rusting.
The gaskets are what fails , you should not reuse them . You cant tell they fail it’s that they expand over time and leak vacuum . On mine it was only bad gaskets .
I would rather buy a used drivers side breather cover than buy a new aftermarket cover. I did buy an aftermarket Beck/Arnley cover just for the gasket and it did not match up with the Genuine Mercedes cover. I've seen alot of used covers on ebay where the gaskets look just fine.
The passenger side cover no way, those gaskets are originally thin and soft and cant see reinstalling it without it leaking oil. Looks like the M276 covers have a more durable gasket and i can even find replacements. I cant seem to find a replacement M272 gasket for that cover.
And my old drip pan looked fine and I sold it on ebay for a few bucks. Only reason I had replaced it is I didnt want to deal with returning the new one to FCP. I have seen a few used oil drip pans that have a nice groove worn in the shaft part.
I replaced mine today, original drip pan at almost 373000km, and second time replacing the cover. The first time I did the cover it was leaking on the cat converter, this time no external leaks but oil in hose, elbow and TB as usual, usually clean this area and the MAF sensor every 2-3 years, maybe a bit more oil this time but not sure.
The drip pan had a worn ring and could feel the edge with finger nail.
I’ll do the driver side oil separator and hose when I replace the intake manifold sometime in spring or summer.
For people expecting a really worn inner gasket on the cover, it’s actually not bad for around 200k km, it seals up the drip pan pretty good, I even poured some oil in the inside of the cover with drip pan attached and the oil didn’t get by the seal after an hour, obviously it’s not spinning at thousands of rpm.
I’m thinking the seal does a pretty good job, the channel that is right behind the seal on the cover was free of crud, just some liquid oil, whereas the caked on oil was right at the wall where the oil vapours would be existing the drip pan, or “drip” out of.
The internals of the drip pan, not an expert with centrifuges so not sure how effects design is. You can see where oil enters the centrifuge close to the cam and the square external holes on the outside that oil gets slung out of, with vapour entering the metal drip pan core eventually leading to the intake. It wasn’t that dirty, the black bits are plastic shavings from cutting. No blockages or bad oil build that was noticeable.
another thing that came to my attention this time when changing the cover, when I ran my finger around the matting surface that the cover attaches to, the valve cover and cylinder head meeting points, higher intake side was perfectly flush, whereas the lower exhaust side you can slightly feel a little difference in alignment, not bad but noticeable when you compare it to the flush higher left side. Coupled with the very thin gasket on the pcv cover maybe that contributed to the external leak with the factory pcv cover.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
