mysterons23

My mom owns a 2002 ml500 and was complaining about horrible gas mileage also once driving, from a complete stop when she presses the gas the engine rumbles and refuses to accelerate for a quick second. I'v read afew thread's about air leaks in air intake hoses causing the MAF sensor to miscalculate how much air is going in the engine thus compensating the malfunction by chugging down gas like crazy.

so I take a look under the hood and noticed that the air intake hose where the plastic hose meets the metal hole on the manifold(I guess its called a throttle body) was dangling disconnected and the screw on the side of the plastic hose inbetween that end and where it meets the MAF sensor was missing.

I am not a mechanic (just learning my way here and there as of recently) I'v seen other cars have clips on them to where the hose is installed to the engine. So I tried to remove the hose completely off to visually inspect but could not seeing as its tightly traped infront of the firewall and a coolant hose is blocking the space above.

my question is, should the intake hose be installed with a vacuum tight seal? should there be some kind of rubber O ring or a clamp besides the one screw on the side of the hose? I managed to slip the hose onto the throttle body but its a fairly loose enough fit to where I suspect it will fall off once she get on the road and hits a bump.

Ausmbtech

It should be a fairly tight fit, there is 2 clips that should hold it to the throttle body and one bolt on the rocker cover for the pipe to the air filter. If the pipe was off the throttle body then it is likely that the seal has fallen out. Best option is to unbolt the coolant tank, don't disconnect any hoses, just push it aside and get a better look at the pipe. If you're not confident then I'd suggest you leave it to your mechanic to do it.

mysterons23

I haven't had a chance to remove it for further inspection but by feel I can say that where the clip to the throttle body should be is broken off, there is just a sharp pointy broken end, and the seal is no where to be found.

I'm wondering if I can at least duck tape the hose to the throttle body nossle or would that just melt the adhesive off and maybe even have for loose tape debris to get sucked inside the intake manifold... that thought just makes me uneasy. I need to find a solution for the meanwhile until I can drop the 100+ dollars on a replacement.