W202 C200 misfire and juddering

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sam-orr

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Sep 15, 2012
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My beloved 1998 Mercedes Benz took a supposed trip to Wisbech last weekend and following a full tank of fuel and a tire, oil and water check set off.

After getting 30 miles south of Telford, we encountered a loss of power and juddering when we came to a stop at roundabouts.

We decided to limp home and try and sort the issue at quik-fit, this was as we suspected that the exhaust had blown a hole hence the juddering and loss of power.

After inspection, there was no hole and the car seemed to have revived itself but following a 10 minute blast around Wrexham, began the fault again.

It felt like we were only firing on three cylinders but after leaving the car to sit for an hour, the problem was gone and I took it for a trip to Chester from Wrexham, no problems this time.

I decided that something was wrong and checked the plugs to see their condition, I only got the car in May and it had various stamps in the book up until 75k, it's now on 82k.

The plugs were a bit black and tarnished so I stuck a set of Bosch ones in and set off again. It's infuriating as the problem hasn't reared its ugly head since and I have driven it to work and back everyday without a hitch.

I'd like some feedback from anyone with one of these beasts as I love the car and would like to keep it for many more years.

My suggestions are these,

Coil packs?

Fuel filter?

I'm planning on changing both of these very soon but would like some other views.

Appreciated in advance!

Sam
 
I would strongly suspect the Maf.
 
I had a recent issue like this and it turned out to be the coil packs. Just replaced them both and car was fine after. I have the same model as yourself.
 
I had a recent issue like this and it turned out to be the coil packs. Just replaced them both and car was fine after. I have the same model as yourself.
Do not forget to replace the connectors under the coil packs! I had the same symptoms as yours (misfire under load, only cured by an engine restart) and I replaced the sparkplugs, coil packs, mass-airflow sensor, various other sensors etc until a helpful independent MB workshop in Kirkham, near Preston tried replacing the connectors. Problem solved!

The funny thing is that each item we replaced improved the condition and made it harder for the fault to surface so we thought we'd cracked it for a while. Probably cost me a small fortune trying to sort it but most were wear parts that would eventually have packed up on their own. Car was retired (crashed) at 205k with no faults.

Hope you get it sorted soon!
 
Coil packs almost certainly or the HT leads /extensions-- don't ignore as they have a habit of blowing the ignition control transistors in the ECU if the problem recurs. It's a "lost spark system " --each coil fires 2 cylinders simultaneously [ only one cylinder is at the start of its useful power stroke obviously! the other is just completing its exhaust]
 
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Thanks guys! I suspected it was the coil packs, I am trying to avoid them due to the cost.

I'm changing the fuel filter this weekend too, cheapest first, false economy I guess! CES in Chester quoted me £130 for new leads and packs today, it's MOT time tomorrow, I'm praying it behaves itself through that too.

(Bites nails)
 
Don't try guessing what the problem is at it will probably cost you a fortune in parts that are not required. Get it on a diagnostics to find out exactly what it is as it could a number of things causing it.

Keith
 

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