1997 W202 Misfire

[DuFFmAn]

Okay...so just got this car yesterday... Test drove it, drove it home 150 miles.. ran perfectly... Today however... It has started to develop what sounds like a misfire and is lacking alot of power :| The exhaust is also popping...

Any ideas on how i can fix this... Its wierd that it didnt have any problems yesterday... What did the previous owner do to fix it temporarily.. The car has done 103K...

Please help

 

[ADY1983]

Hi I bought a C180 last week, had a simalar sort of problem, all I did was changed the plugs made alot of differance, you never know...
Cheers

 

[Ian B Walker]

As Addy says, start with the plugs. Look for Vac pipes that may have come lose on the inlet manifold. Might be worth checking out the MAF. Loads of things come to mind but some are too scary to post right now

 

[DuFFmAn]

Yeah... Im dreading it... Driven Jap cars all my life with no problems.. Now a Mercedes on the second days starting to give problems...

Is it something that the previous owner tried to hide? Its ironic that its happened a day after purchase :|

A little more to help diagnose the problem.. It mostly happens under heavy acceleration, but stays okay when going REALLY gentle...

Also.. Nothing happens with the clutch down or in Neutral...

Do you guys think some fuel cleaner will do the job?

 

[Shude]

Yeah... Im dreading it... Driven Jap cars all my life with no problems.. Now a Mercedes on the second days starting to give problems...

My car does the same thing, at about 50% pedal movement on a level road the engine starts to pop a bit, sometimes if I detect it early then I can lift off and it recovers, otherwise it gets into a miss-firing fit and the engine has to be "power-cycled" as we say in IT (not convenient at 70mph on the motorway).

It is probably a sensor. I have been given a business card (by the stealership!) for an independent mercedes technician (former employee) who has all the qualifications, experience and equipment to diagnose this kind of problem without it costing me £100+ per hour for a "no fault found". When I get it fixed I will let you know what it was

 

[DuFFmAn]

My car does the same thing, at about 50% pedal movement on a level road the engine starts to pop a bit, sometimes if I detect it early then I can lift off and it recovers, otherwise it gets into a miss-firing fit and the engine has to be "power-cycled" as we say in IT (not convenient at 70mph on the motorway).

You sound like your driving my car

Please let us know... Ive contacted the previous owner of mine and he said he had this problem repaired a few months back with a garuntee for around £90 but doesn't remember what it was.. He's going to chase up the mechanic later on tonight so i'll keep you all updated..

 

[Shude]

Please let us know... Ive contacted the previous owner of mine and he said he had this problem repaired a few months back with a garuntee for around £90 but doesn't remember what it was.. He's going to chase up the mechanic later on tonight so i'll keep you all updated..

I took the car for the mother-of-all-services (about a grand) and the car ran superbly for 3 months, then it did it again. Further servicing has not made a difference, including swapping the spark plugs again.

for more info:

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=12235

 

[DuFFmAn]

You say yours is slow... mine is sluggish at the moment and i keep hearing a popping sound from the engine and not the exhaust as i first thought...

Most mechanics are telling me to do a diagnostics at £30 with no garuntee of finding the problem, but a different one says that the diagnostics is pointless as the engine management light is not on.. He reckons that because the popping is coming from the engine, the problem is associated with the sparks and the fuel should be okay....

Im gonna go check my spark plugs for the time being... working my way up from the cheapest item first lol.

 

[DuFFmAn]

Result... I changed the Spark Plugs and now she purrs like a kitten...

But I have a gut feeling its only temporary...

Anyway... Im off for a gooooddddd long drive

 

[Shude]

Result... I changed the Spark Plugs and now she purrs like a kitten...

But I have a gut feeling its only temporary...

Anyway... Im off for a gooooddddd long drive

Excellent! If only my car's problem was that simple!

 

[DuFFmAn]

But I have a gut feeling its only temporary...

Okay... so Its been okay since yesterday.. This morning I pour £20 of petrol in it and now its started again but only really minor and when i put my foot down... It looks like im gonna sell her.. Ive had it for 3 days and find it really unreliable.. I have to head up north for a couple of days and may end up renting as i don't really want to trust this car..

Has anyone had similar problems? Im gonna do a good search of the forum for more info

 

[Shude]

Okay... so Its been okay since yesterday.. This morning I pour £20 of petrol in it and now its started again but only really minor and when i put my foot down... It looks like im gonna sell her.. Ive had it for 3 days and find it really unreliable.. I have to head up north for a couple of days and may end up renting as i don't really want to trust this car..

Has anyone had similar problems? Im gonna do a good search of the forum for more info

It is probably just a sensor though. I am told by the stealership that they are reluctant to work on the car because they may end up buying a load of sensors and other bits and pieces that they don't end up using so may end up in stock where they'll never be sold or in the dustbin. I may consider telling them to just buy the bluddy sensors and let me pay for them, I just want the car fixing and if it means a few other bits and pieces get replaced as part of the process then so be it! If they give me the swapout parts at the end then I'm happy. Let's face it, my car is nearly 8 years old and has about 150k on the clock, some of those parts (like the MAS) are probably about to die anyway, this is preventitive maintenance!

This is dependent on me making contact with a very helpful parts guy that used to work at Whitefield, if I can get him to sort out the prices for the parts the total job will be a lot less.

The alternative, and I'm actually thinking more seriously about this, is to drive to Hull, get on a ferry to Denmark, drive to Kleemann and get them to fix the engine while fitting a performance pulley and software change, still probably cheaper than getting my local stealership to pop the bonnet open and pick up a spanner.

 

[DuFFmAn]

My cars going on to ebay later on tonight

 

[KLee]

DuFFmAn sorry to hear about your troubles. I went through the 'lost love phase' with my 1996 C220 too. After pouring about $3K into it it is touch wood fine but still has a slow transmission oil leak. You'll find my spill about them benzes in these pages. Have also seen same age Lex*s and Toy*tas with uneventful histories. Just service annually and go. Simple. My parents were itching for a second hand MB and I was eyeing the 300CE coupes for them but after much consideration decided it was not worth it to continually maintain the car - they have seen my share of problems with my C220 and the W202s do share parts with the W124s - they went instead for the tried and tested route - a Kluger AWD with all the bells and whistles - it is based on the Lexus RX330, enough said. At that age sometimes you just want to enjoy life and not enjoy seeing the mechanic ...

 

[DuFFmAn]

Reliability has always been my priority when it comes to car, thats why ive always brought jap... but ive always like a Mercedes and this one was at a good price... now i see why...lol...

 

[willy]

have u tried checking the HT leads?

 

[DuFFmAn]

Well the HT leads were apparently done the last time this problem occured...

Its wierd because the spark plugs fixed the problem but now about 5% of the problem has creeped back .. (its 95% better)...lol

 

[big x]

It might be the crank sensor or MAF,neither is expensive if you shop around.
Did the seller steam clean the engine ?
If so it might take some time for the dampness causing electrical problems to clear.My E320 started misfiring after some water from a hose went into the front vent opening of the cylinder head.
It seems to be the height of folly to sell a car after 3 days without doing basic checks.If it's on Ebay your going to have to disclose the fault and probably loose money.My C180 is the same age and mileage as yours and in 2 years I've never had a problem nor did the previous owner.

adam

 

[Shude]

It seems to be the height of folly to sell a car after 3 days without doing basic checks.

Especially when the crankshaft sensor is about £50 etc.

I've lived with this fault since early 2005 but because my car is a 230k it develops power pretty early in the revs and so doesn't take much hoofing to get going, it rarely misfires unless I push the pedal hard.

I'd get the car fixed, but it currently works hard for a living and doesn't get any time off. I will be catching the train to work soon so if it's going to take a mechanic a few days to work out what's wrong etc then I won't miss it too much. Knowing my luck it will likely fall apart due to lack of use...

 

[KLP 92]

A friend bought a C200 and had the same probs on his way back after purchasing it. 1 MAS sensor later the problem was cured.