hesitant starts on 190e

[hoggett]

First start of the day , engine fires and struggles from 500rpm to 800rpm. Once at 800revs it's ok., runs smoothly and all subsequent starts are fine.
The car has done 130k, and fully serviced. Just renewed leads, dist cap, rotor, checked leads , hoses etc. and all seems well............Had this problem
since Sept. Any ideas?

 

[Brian WH]

First start of the day , engine fires and struggles from 500rpm to 800rpm. Once at 800revs it's ok., runs smoothly and all subsequent starts are fine.
The car has done 130k, and fully serviced. Just renewed leads, dist cap, rotor, checked leads , hoses etc. and all seems well............Had this problem
since Sept. Any ideas?

When were the plugs changed?

 

[hoggett]

less than 2000k... merc. dealer purchase. took them out last weekend and rechecked gaps. straw clutching.........

 

[hoggett]

more.....car owned by me for 9 years, so history known. tried wet start, no better. also tried injector cleaner, again no better.new injectors were fitted 70000k ago. i'm now on my second tank of optimax. apart from this starting problem, it runs superbly.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Have a look at your coil. If the little plug ajacent to the king lead is proud then the oil in the coil is suspect. No fix for that apart from a new coil.

 

[hoggett]

Have a look at your coil. If the little plug ajacent to the king lead is proud then the oil in the coil is suspect. No fix for that apart from a new coil.

thanks, didn't know about this.... have now checked and it appears ok. pity.......

 

[Brian WH]

less than 2000k... merc. dealer purchase. took them out last weekend and rechecked gaps. straw clutching.........

more.....car owned by me for 9 years, so history known. tried wet start, no better. also tried injector cleaner, again no better.new injectors were fitted 70000k ago..........

I'm confused???

Plugs and Injectors??????

Is this a "Diesel" or a "Petrol" engine????

 

[hoggett]

I'm confused???

Plugs and Injectors??????

Is this a "Diesel" or a "Petrol" engine????

190e is petrol, injected.........not carb.

 

[Shude]

i'm now on my second tank of optimax. apart from this starting problem, it runs superbly.

Be careful using optimax, it was designed for modern engines and might make a 190e engine run very hot, it might also clean some of the carbon deposits out which very often help to plug up gaps in the head gasket etc . My friend with the 1990 300CE-24 was advised not to use optimax, the early unleaded-friendly engines prolly run a lot better on 4-star anyway

 

[hoggett]

Be careful using optimax, it was designed for modern engines and might make a 190e engine run very hot, it might also clean some of the carbon deposits out which very often help to plug up gaps in the head gasket etc . My friend with the 1990 300CE-24 was advised not to use optimax, the early unleaded-friendly engines prolly run a lot better on 4-star anyway

thanks... dealers rec. me to use leaded every fifth tankful when it was available. more recently have used unleaded4-star instead. been advised against supermarket fuel recently, hence the optimax.

 

[Shude]

thanks... dealers rec. me to use leaded every fifth tankful when it was available. more recently have used unleaded4-star instead. been advised against supermarket fuel recently, hence the optimax.

My old 1989 astra should have been fueled like that, but it never was. When I took ownership, all those years of only unleaded fuel had done the damage I think. I ran it on LRP once though, which it loved! That was the only thing left during the petrol crisis, and not having a catalytic converter meant LRP was just the ticket, although it costs a bomb in comparison.

 

[Sp!ke]

There is a similar thread going on HERE where the suggested fault lies with the OVP relay.

 

[hoggett]

thanks.....i've read this, checked the fuse and it's ok....

 

[Sp!ke]

The fuse being ok doesnt guarantee the OVP relay is ok.

 

[UKEvo]

What year 190E do you have? I would be looking at a baseline mixture setting problem, a clogged up air idle speed valve, clogged cold start valve, or a tired coolant temperature sensor.

You might also want to change the fuel filter and consider the fuel accumulator.

I replied to that thread on MBOA so you may want to take a look at that, however your problem is quite different.

 

[hoggett]

What year 190E do you have? I would be looking at a baseline mixture setting problem, a clogged up air idle speed valve, clogged cold start valve, or a tired coolant temperature sensor.

You might also want to change the fuel filter and consider the fuel accumulator.

I replied to that thread on MBOA so you may want to take a look at that, however your problem is quite different.

thanks.....fuel filter was changed by dealership 21,000k ago <at least it was on the invoice!>air idle speed valve i've checked also cold start valve. mixture was rechecked by non dealership, who said it was weak, and adjusted. coolant temp. sensor may be worth changing. the relay mentioned by shude is not cheap, so may look at your suggestions first.
year is 1990....2.0 ,190e auto.

 

[hoggett]

I still have this problem. A mercedes specialist did a full fuel injection test, and diagnosed the air flow sensor as the problem. This was subsequently changed and the problem was not solved. The ovp has also been changed as has the coolant temp. sensor. Where does one go from here....?

 

[Robby]

My 190E is also rather rough at tickover - you can feel the shakes all over the car, smooths right out from about 1k rpm up.

However, I know my throttle body is horrendously dirty, from a general lack of care on the car from the last owner or owners. One of the jobs in the uber service that I'm giving it in stages will be to scrub the crap off the inner walls of the thottle body and hoover it out, then wash the inside of it with some petrol and run some more injector cleaner through the tank.

A decent set of new HT leads is also on the way from euro car parts. I got a cheap pattern set from my local motor factor, and noticed that at tickover big fat sparks are arcing from the HT lead shielding into the block.