My cars broke...

[CiaranMcKeown]

Driving my car a few days past, just cruising along in no real hurry. Join a dual carrigeway and decide to spped up a bit, so i push down on the go faster pedal and nothing happens! puah a little more............still nothing!
Push the kickdown right to the floor and still, absolutley nothing...not even changing down the gears. All sorts of crazy and expensive ideas are going through my head of what this problem could surface to be. I made my way home from this point (slowly) now and again trying to accelerate to see if this problem had stopped, but to no avail.
Once i got home i did the usual man thing, pop the bonnet and look at the engine like it is one of those 3D optical illusions while scratching the head. There was a smell of burning, i think it was burning oil actually. There was a bit of smoke noticable in the light of the front drivers side fog lamp as it had illuminated when i locked the car.

There are no error codes flashing up or anything like that, its not in "limp mode" or anything and because of this it is starting to worry me because of the lack of funds in the sky rocket this soon after Christmas.

I'll be leaving the car in soon to a fella iknow who is a merc specialist to source the extent of what is wrong and i will update on the situation.

Has this happend to anyone before or has anyone ever heard of this happening? Any help or reassurance would be greatfully appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[recycled]

could be the turbo .You may have to give a bit more details, like is there any smoke?

 

[aka$h]

Its happpened to me in the w211 e320cdi before. It ould give you enough power to maintain speed but very slow on acceleration. Its goes into limp mode, and does not shift gears. Im yet to find the cause.

 

[BlackC55]

The reason for no power could be a whole host of things.

Air mass, Vacuum transducer, blocked CAT, boost pressure sensor, split boost pipe, split vacuum pipe, inlet port shut off stuck etc etc.

 

[television]

I wonder if the car was turned off and re started to try again

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

The car has been turned off and ive tried to drive it again anumber of times over the holidays with the same problem.

Before this happened there was a loud hissing noise under acceleration, which after searching on this forum i think it is a split boost hose, have not got this confirmed yet but im pretty sure this is what it is because it only hisses really loud when tohe turbo would normally spin up.

Its getting checked hopefully this morning (monday) because with the holidays and a new baby just born it has been the least of my concerns, although saying that it does break my heart walking past it outside the house knowing that i cant drive it.

The reason i posted about this is i was hoping for some reassurance that it wasnt going to cost an arm and a leg to get right this time of the year.
Fingers very tightly crossed

 

[Harley Man]

I would put my Money on it being the hose between the turbo and the intercooler or the intercooler itself, my C220 Cdi had 2 hoses and 1 intercooler in the 140K miles I had it.

 

[fredfloggle]

Well as I PM'ed you , mine is also quite ill - what got me was the fact that the power loss etc all happened in a couple of hundred yards, while pulling up a steep hill . I noticed a power loss and a cloud of bluey white smoke, and after a bit into limp wristed mode.

I pulled all of the intercooler pipework out this morning and all was secure, leaving only the intercooler which is a bit of a mare to get to.

Also stripped back everything to the turbo so I could see if there were any leaks at the turbo->CAT joint, but this one doesn't use a spring clip and is firmly bolted . Only after ages trying to find the hiss with a bit of flexible tube did I realise that the gas leakage was coming from the downpipe joint but of course it is difficult to see. Engine is sluping diesel and running a bit hotter than usual, there is also a bit more intake roar which is caused I figure by the cylinders being under backpressure.

Also noticeable is the tailpipe volume when the car is gunned, and the fact that there is a noticeable delay in the hiss (exhaust back pressure) disappearing.

So my guess in my case is rear cat has got itself blocked (possibly because of failure of the front cat ) and tomorrow will bring much twiddling of coathangers to see if the matrix can be coaxed out without having to get the whole lot off the car .

 

[television]

The MAF is easy to check, just unplug it and see how it drives, it could just as well be the MAF as anything else

 

[fredfloggle]

Agreed, but not in this case - there is a definite leak of gas and lack of boost - the easy diagnosis was split intercooler pipe , but this didn't tie in with raise in temp, blue smoke and the hiss. The smoke quickly cleared and there is no oil slopper after the turbo which seems in good order. After a reset , boost is being generated but lazily , and only when kneeling under the car can you hear where the leak comes from . From cold the problem is less noticeable , getting worse as the CAT warms up.

I would have perhaps wrong expect that a CAT would collapse slowly, but from what I read it happens very quickly.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

I tried disconnecting the MAF as soon as it happened and it still would not give any power. Even when parked it wouldnt and still will not rev more than 3k.

Thanks for the suggestion though. Apreciate it.

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

****UPDATE****

Got the car down to a local mercedes specialist here in belfast. Described the symptoms and after he hooked it up to the laptop i have 2 blocked CATS.

The remedy for this is to remove the matrix from the inside of the CATS and then reconnect everything and flush any debris out with the force of the exhaust gas and then roberts your fathers brother.

Again, the signs were...

1. A loud hissing under acceleration.
2. Lack of power
3. Smoke visible from the front of the car
4. Car goes into limp mode
5. No error codes

Its not even costing that much to get fixed, it will be a bit louder but it shudnt be too noticable and it will also free up a few extra horse power now that the exhaust gases can escape quicker.

Thanks and free plug to Murry Motors of belfast (Mercedes Specialists):bannana:

 

[robert.saunders]

Thanks for the update

 

[Cearth]

I have this problem right now...

My C220 cdi with 79k first split the intercooler.... then kept popping off the pipe at the intercooler from the turbo! I have tryed everything to secure it on there..... Give up, I am off to the dealer........... going to mention the cats being blocked, Thanks guys! Any idea how much the cats are to replace pls?

 

[robert.saunders]

You may be better off starting a new thread tbh

 

[CiaranMcKeown]

I was told before the work was carried out on mine that the CATs were the guts of a grand for the two that i needed sorted. This wasnt an option so i payed 90quid for the insides to be knocked out and tetsed on the star software and now all is fine, job well done.

 

[television]

It would appear that many are doing this now across the whole range

 

[stuartmcmanus0]

My C220 cdi with 79k first split the intercooler.... then kept popping off the pipe at the intercooler from the turbo! I have tryed everything to secure it on there..... Give up, I am off to the dealer........... going to mention the cats being blocked, Thanks guys! Any idea how much the cats are to replace pls?

I have just been quoted £899 + VAT for mine, bur having said that a couple of hours labour for a clean out and the car is as good as new.

 

[219]

Holy thread revival !

Don't cars which originally had a cat , fail the MOT on emissions if the cats are 'knocked out' in this way ?

 

[Dieselman]

Don't cars which originally had a cat , fail the MOT on emissions if the cats are 'knocked out' in this way ?

Not if they still produce less than the allowed emissions.