Evening
I recently bought a 2001 W210 estate, 320CDI. Lovely car apart from one problem that's driving me nuts and is going to see it traded in if I can't fix it.
Basically, there are times when it just won't accelerate past around 2000rpm. It will, given enough motorway, happily keep going past that all the way to 90mph or more (and since it's an Elegance I find it a bit soft up there so it doesn't get pushed far beyond that) but there's no pull. Most of the time, of course, putting the foot on the floor results in a big surge which will safely take me past in most overtaking situations, but accelerating and wondering whether it's going to decide to play or whether I'm going to get stuck on the wrong side of the road accelerating as fast as a Routemaster is really wearing thin.
A number of points worth mentioning:
- once it's done this on any given trip, the acceleration won't come back again. Sometimes it does it after 10 minutes of my 70 minute commute, which is a pain, sometimes with only 10 minutes left which is manageable. And probably 30% of the time it doesn't do it at all
- I can actually get the surge back again if I get caught at lights, in which case turning the engine off for 15 seconds usually persuades it to behave again
As for what I've tried:
- it's been into the local auto electrician who couldn't work it out
- it's been into the local general mechanic, who cleaned out the EGR valve
- it's been to a transmission specialist (Mackie's in Glasgow) who couldn't find anything wrong but serviced the transmission including a fluid change
- it's been to an independent Mercedes specialist on the South side of Glasgow who spent most of a day (and a smoke test) trying to work it out. They did change the air filter, which was getting flagged as blocked, but the problem still came back
My own theory is the MAF sensor as it's odd that turning the car off can "reset" the problem, but neither the electrician nor the merc specialist thought the codes were right for that. Given that I'm losing patience with the car, is it worth just getting a new MAF from eBay to try? Are they difficult to fit?
Any help greatly appreciated...
I recently bought a 2001 W210 estate, 320CDI. Lovely car apart from one problem that's driving me nuts and is going to see it traded in if I can't fix it.
Basically, there are times when it just won't accelerate past around 2000rpm. It will, given enough motorway, happily keep going past that all the way to 90mph or more (and since it's an Elegance I find it a bit soft up there so it doesn't get pushed far beyond that) but there's no pull. Most of the time, of course, putting the foot on the floor results in a big surge which will safely take me past in most overtaking situations, but accelerating and wondering whether it's going to decide to play or whether I'm going to get stuck on the wrong side of the road accelerating as fast as a Routemaster is really wearing thin.
A number of points worth mentioning:
- once it's done this on any given trip, the acceleration won't come back again. Sometimes it does it after 10 minutes of my 70 minute commute, which is a pain, sometimes with only 10 minutes left which is manageable. And probably 30% of the time it doesn't do it at all
- I can actually get the surge back again if I get caught at lights, in which case turning the engine off for 15 seconds usually persuades it to behave again
As for what I've tried:
- it's been into the local auto electrician who couldn't work it out
- it's been into the local general mechanic, who cleaned out the EGR valve
- it's been to a transmission specialist (Mackie's in Glasgow) who couldn't find anything wrong but serviced the transmission including a fluid change
- it's been to an independent Mercedes specialist on the South side of Glasgow who spent most of a day (and a smoke test) trying to work it out. They did change the air filter, which was getting flagged as blocked, but the problem still came back
My own theory is the MAF sensor as it's odd that turning the car off can "reset" the problem, but neither the electrician nor the merc specialist thought the codes were right for that. Given that I'm losing patience with the car, is it worth just getting a new MAF from eBay to try? Are they difficult to fit?
Any help greatly appreciated...