1984 230 CE (W123) - running issues (with new car pics)

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mg1pa1

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Feb 9, 2010
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47
Good morning all,

I have just taken delivery of a 1984 230 CE (hopefully with pics attached).

Unfortunately i have yet to drive the car owing to the following problem:

The car starts fine and idles nicely at around 500 rpm, however when i apply throttle the car will only increase in revs to about 1500rpm before it starts to cough, pop and splutter. If i increase the throttle beyond this stage, the car's revs retreat until it stalls - as if the car is being starved of fuel.

The fuel pressure appears good at the injector unit/fuel distributor (although i dont know what constitutes "good" in a technical sense) and there appears to be a steady flow of petrol from the injector unit via the return pipe.

Whether it should be greater than what it is and as such fingers should be pointing at the fuel pump, i just do not know.

There appears to be a good spark so i am tempted to rule out distributor cap/ rotor arm/HT leads etc.

Have any other members experienced such symptoms and what has cured this for them?

Many thanks in advance.

Paul
 

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I would be inclined to stick to the ignition side of things...

I would change rotor arm, cap and leads just so they are ruled out. They arent expensive. Then after that you are looking at intake side so air leaks or maybe fuel distributor...
 
I would be inclined to stick to the ignition side of things...

I would change rotor arm, cap and leads just so they are ruled out. They arent expensive. Then after that you are looking at intake side so air leaks or maybe fuel distributor...

Thanks Jay.

i discovered a missing tension spring on part of the throttle linkage. I found a spring and attached this and the engine revs and runs sweetly.

I then took it for a drive and after around 3 minutes of working fine, it returned to the coughing, spluttering and popping under acceleration. I got a tow around 15 minutes later. Shortly after i started the car in ran fine for 1 or 2 minutes before playing up again. Could it be temperature related?
 
I've had similar with some M103 engined cars and found that a new set of spark plugs cured it - even though the old ones looked fine !

Got to be worth a try since they are cheap to change ,
 
I've had similar with some M103 engined cars and found that a new set of spark plugs cured it - even though the old ones looked fine !

Got to be worth a try since they are cheap to change ,

Thanks Derek. Ive checked the plugs and they were a bit sooted up, cleaned them off, ran it then checked again an sooted up. Running a bit rich.

Indeed we have now adjusted the fuel/air mixture and it idles at 2,000 rpm and revs smoothly thereafter on the throttle so we think enough fuel/air is now getting to the engine. We just need to adjust the idle back down now and see where that leaves us.

If anyone knows what an 84' 230 CE auto should idle at id be interested to know. IF anyone knows where the slow running adjustment is as well id be very grateful to hear.
 
From memory , there is an indentation in the underside of the air filter housing on the engine side - if you peer across the top of the engine , the indentation allows access to the slow running screw on the side of the air metering unit .
 
From memory , there is an indentation in the underside of the air filter housing on the engine side - if you peer across the top of the engine , the indentation allows access to the slow running screw on the side of the air metering unit .

Perfect. found it! thanks.
 
morning all. Went out to start the car this morning, started on first turn and then sat at just under 2,000 rpm owing to the adjustments we made last night. Engine revved perfectly up to redline and held revs on the throttle.

I then did a number of short drives up and down the drive way and within 5 minutes the car had returned to old ways - coughing and spluttering and popping.

Now the car idles at just over 1,000, dies a little upon application of full throttle (coughing and popping if i hold the throttle down), then the rev's surge to around 1,500 / 1,600 upon lift off before settling back down to the previous idle.

I am going to check for water in the petrol but if anyone else has experienced this particular issue, id be keen to hear how you resolved. The engine has been running fine a couple of times now only or it to revert to old ways once ive engaged drive and driven it briefly.
 
Could it be temperature related?

My 300CE had a duff rotor arm that caused hot misfire and then a complete halt. After cooling it would run fine until the same again. Replaced the new Bremi rotor with ancient MB one and that worked fine. Finally got a new MB cap and rotor and all's been well ever since.

On the W124 series, only the best HT components will do. I'm tempted to say the same of W123 series as our old 280TE never had anything but MB parts and was super reliable.

All the best.

RayH
 
I also suffered from sub-standard ignition components on my 380 SE (126).
Genuine items from MB cured the problem.
 
i probably should have mentioned that the car had been sat for the last 3 years prior to my purchase.

I took the tank and strainer out today and both were gunked up. Ive cleaned it out now but will wait a few days for it to thoroughly dry out before re-fitting and see if this has made any difference.

A couple of the fuel pipes have degraded over the years so ive taken the opportunity to replace those whilst there.

Giving it a clean certainly wont have done any harm, time will tell if it has helped rectify the running issue.
 
If its not started for 3 years I would be changing the cap and rotor as has been advised and I would also drain off the old fuel or at least top up with fresh fuel as modern fuels degrade rapidly. Also clean out the throttle body butterfly flap.

If it then mis-fires when its warmed up a bit have a look at the HT leads and see if they are sweating out moisture and if so, replace accordingly....if it were me I would probably replace them with a new set anyway.
 
good evening all. Still not having much look with the running problems.

I was hoping that a few of you might be able to help in the continued absence of a decent manual/workshop book and help me identify the following components in the photos below.

For ease of reference, the hose set up in the final photo is the collection that route underneath the airflow meter / k-jetronic unit. The hose towards the top left of the photo is the one that connects to the component in the green circle on the first photo.

As always, your help is greatly appreciated.
 

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sorry all, regards the hose, the circle is to show it has split. If anyone has a spare i could acquire, or know if this hose is still available from Mercedes (and knows what it is called), id be grateful.
 
Apologies, cannot help with the technical bits but have to comment on the car.
Lovely looking motor in that colour.
 
Apologies, cannot help with the technical bits but have to comment on the car.
Lovely looking motor in that colour.

Thanks BME63, if i can find the time and resources id love to sort out the bodywork and get it resprayed in the original colour. It is called Cypress Green - ive got the colour code from the spec sheet from Mercedes Benz - let me know if you want it!
 
Critical to this CIS fuel system is the fuel pump, filter and pressure regulator - standing for 3 years then the whole fuel system needs a good clean out.

Also all vacuum and breather pipes should be changed.
 

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