W124 200E 1989 E Class engine cold starting problem.

[greekCL]

Hello guys,

I have come to a "conclusion" to that problem.
My old W124, now a very good friend of mine has it, will not start in cold weather.
As mentioned to an old post on here thought it was the HT leads or Distributor cap... etc?
A reminder of the problem is that it will turn but not fire up ... until the battery is weak.

When the weather is hot ... (not a chance with the weather we have lately.!) it will start OK.

We found out that if we take a hair dryer and heat up under the filter housing it will start straight away. So I was told it is the automatic idle sensor ....

Does this come as a seperate part? or is it one piece with the injection system?

Is there a diagram somewhere on how to remove it etc?

Cheers in advance.
Vasilis

 

[greekCL]

Or maybe the Automatic Choke?

 

[greekCL]

Noone has a clue ?

 

[Lxb3]

Hi GreekCL,
Have you had a look at the spark plugs after trying to start from cold to see if they're fuel-soaked? Heating the intake will probably help with cold-starting on any vehicle, I would guess. Definitely worth a look at the ignition system too, to check you've got a good strong spark... I can't remember, off the top of my head, whether a 1989 200E will have a dizzy cap & rotor arm or not!

Whereabouts in Kent are you? I'm near Croydon, if all else fails I may be able to lend a hand...

 

[greekCL]

I haven't thpught looking the spark plugs, I will look at them next time I am at the car.
Will look all those and provide feedback

I am in Kent but the car is in Islington at a friend's. It is his car now, but I am still keeping it run problem free lol.

 

[balge]

Only wiring diagrams I could find, might be helpful though?

 

[grober]

Noone has a clue ?

Sorry didn't notice your post till now. Have a look at the engine section here. Untitled Document It deals with the Mercedes 190 model but this shares the same M102 engine your model has. Your failure to cold start could be due to several things. The cold start valve[ an additional injector on the manifold] enriches the mixture on first start up. It can be faulty itself or the fuel pump relay that drives it can be faulty or the bimetal timer to earth unit can be faulty. other thing might be the cold idle bypass valve may be sticking. The fact it runs OK when warmed up is good as it means its fundamentally OK.