I've seen a number of references to problems with this component - rough idling and poor starting in particular. Through reading this forum it was decided that this was probably the cause of the above symptons on my dad's W124 (it's been like that for years now!!!!). A recent post showed a picture of the Idle Vale Control and alarm bells rang.
One of my cars is a SAAB 9000 Turbo, a common performance 'tweek' is to clean out the IVC, which also prevents a problem with rough idling ...... hang on a minute, the Bosch IVC looks exactly the same as the one on the W124. As it costs 80 - 100 GBP for a new IVC for the W124 I thought I would try the cleaning tweek on the W124. Hey its works, the result is a 260E that runs a lot smoother than when it joined the family five years ago!
The tweek is really simple - take the valve out / off (about 5 minutes if you are slow and careful), check the pipework. Spray / blast the IVC with a can of carb. cleaner, don't be tempted to lubricate - just leave it to dry out, then rebuild (a little longer than removal). Hey presto - a smoother faster MB stright six!!!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps somebody else (and saves them some cash!!)[:)]
Not a problem....
Take off the frying pan (air filter housing) - three 10mm nuts, no need to remove the filter fron the housing! Stand in front of the car (ready to be run over position) and look down at the injector 'spider' (where all the fuel pipes originate) - look slowly forward (towards the radiator) it's there held in place by a 'U' clamp, its about 6 inches (15cm!) long. From this position it will form a T shape. The 'U' clamp is held down by two 10mm bolts/screws which hold down the rubber collar in which the IVC is held - you should be able to make out the Bosch label. The pipes are a little difficult to get off, but not too bad - probably a one swear and knuckle scrape job! Do not forget to note which pipe goes where - there is an arrow on the body to remind you.
Inblues provided this picture elsewhere on this site thanks M8[:)]