e300td sticks in gear when warm

[e300]

Hey everyone this is my first post just got myself a 1997 e300td elegance which is my first mercedes and i love it! Bt i think theres a problem with it, when i drive the car it is fine and has a load of power until it warms up, once warm and i use kickdown the car accelerates reallllly slow and stays in gear, doesnt even change at almost 5000rpm! if i dont use kick down i feels like theres no turbo on the car, i already brought a dipstick and the atf level seem fine. If anyonce can point me in the right direction to fixing this id probly be the happyest mercedes owner here

If you can help.. thankyou in advance

 

[e300]

Forgot to say, it only has 75000 miles on it

 

[DrNick]

A common problem is the MAF sensor fails. This can lead to strange revving issues. A quick test is to unplug the sensor and see if the car performs much better. Sensor is located downstream of the aircleaner. Should be obvious

 

[Dieselman]

Most likely to be the EGR valve not working, which is then sensed by the MAF sensor.
After a number of failed cycles the ECU adopts limp home mode.

 

[e300]

thanks alot, ill go for a drive in a few minutes with it disconnected and see if it makes a difference, does the car even need the sensor?? and will it tell me if it is the egr valve too if i dissconect the MAF?

 

[Dieselman]

Forget disconnecting the MAF sensor, you can monitor the EGR either by disconnecting the vacuum pipe with the engine idling and listen, connect a vacuum gauge, or meter pin5 of the MAF and check the voltage increases by 0.4v with the EGR pipe pulled off.

 

[e300]

wow! i disconnected the MAF sensor and went for a drive and it feels like a different car!! would it cause a problem leaving it disconnected until i get a new one? and thankyou very very much for the help

 

[neilrr]

What's the part number of your MAF?

 

[e300]

im not sure, does it say it on the side or something?

 

[Dieselman]

I'm surprised disconnecting it worked, but leaving it off won't do any damage as all it does is tell the ECU how much air is being ingested.
All fuel metering and timing control is mechanical on your car.

 

[neilrr]

im not sure, does it say it on the side or something?

Yes. it'll be a sequence of 10 numbers, XXX XXX XX XX,