General 1.2 Airbox Repair

[Srhutch]

Just purchased a 2010 500 Sport for my twin daughters to learn in.

Doing a service I noticed a pipe on the airbox had snapped and been bodged in an attempt to fix. Pipe was just hanging there.

Looked online for replacement airbox but most were £40+ and most of those broken just like the existing one.

So I attempted a fix. Purchased some ABS pipe connectors. Cut one down, drilled the hole out to 6mm and plastic welded in place. Works a treat an appears to be nice and strong.

I have a build thread on Detailing World for the car.

www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=427545

 

[jrkitching]

Doing a service I noticed a pipe on the airbox had snapped and been bodged in an attempt to fix. Pipe was just hanging there.

This issue has been around since the car's launch; in the early days, quite a few were broken by franchised dealers. I'd imagine there aren't many 500's of that vintage that still have the original airboxes in an unbroken condition. The cost of a replacement OEM airbox is eyewatering, and almost all those in breakers yards will already be damaged, so folks have little practical choice other than carry out this type of repair.

If you are fortunate enough to have a car with an undamaged one, I'd suggest you unbolt and loosen the airbox before trying to remove the small breather hose; I'd also suggest leaving the hose unclipped on replacement.

If you try to remove the small breather hose with the airbox firmly attached, there is a substantial risk of breaking the spigot, particularly on an older car when the plastic will likely be more brittle.

 

[typecastboy]

I've plastic welded the original broken ones back on before.