Good Morning All,

There are numerous posts about the issue of the loose connection between the throttle body and the intecooler hose.

I have been dealing with an air leak at the throttle body connection for some time, with soot building in the DPF too quickly at around 1 gram per mile. Yesterday I stripped down the throttle body and cleaned it out along with the EGR pipe. I then removed the Oring from the intercooler connection and cleaned that out and refitted everything.

Previously the connection of the plastic connection to the throttle body had been very loose and did not seal properly resulting in a build up of gunk underneath the connector.

When I dismantled the intercooler connection to the throttle body, I removed the rubber hose from the plastic connection first, and the screw clamp at the plastic coupling end of the rubber hose slipped off and fell down the front of the engine, it was easily recovered using an extendible magnet tool.

The rubber hose has two clamps, on one end it is loose and can be removed from the rubber hose. The clamp on the other end is fixed to the rubber hose.

After cleaning everything up and reassembling the throttle body, I had a look at the shape of that rubber hose and thought to myself that the shape of the hose could have a bearing on the seating of the plastic connection to the throttle body.

I intentionally fitted the rubber hose the other way round, with the fixed screw clamp towards the plastic coupling. To my amazement the connection was still not totally tight, but was considerably tighter, than with the rubber hose fitted the other way round with the loose clamp towards the throttle body.

After reassembly I went for a lengthy test drive from Folkestone to Maidstone and back on the M20, about 30 miles each way and the increase in the soot levels in the DPF was around 0.1 gram per mile, as mentioned above, previously it was building far too quickly, at closer to 1 gram per mile.

It might be worth those of you with the loose throttle body / intercooler connection issue having a look at that rubber hose connection to determine which way round the rubber hose is connected.

It worked for me.... I hope it may help some of you guys.

John 2012 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Current
2015 E220 with AMG Sport Pack - Currently driven by my son
2010 3.6 TDV8 Vogue - Written off by my son