W203 C220CDI AUTO lack of power

[dchantry]

Wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction.
I have a 2002 C220CDI W203 automatic with 67K miles on the clock. It seems very sluggish in comparison to my friends same car. When I pull away from a stop, the car hardly moves until I reach about 2K revs and then it goes, although it always feels like it's struggling with power. Makes pullin out into traffic really tricky.
Also, when I try to reverse up hill it's virtually impossible which is a problem as my drive is a hill . Car does reverse on the flat.
Also, what is the correct range I should expect from a full tank of petrol driving 80% motorway miles.
Just had a service and all the filters changed.
Any ideas on what I should check?

 

[timskemp]

gearbox in winter mode?

 

[dchantry]

No, gearbox is in S mode

 

[Dieselman]

Is it definately in S mode. It does sound like it may be in W even though it appears to be in S.

Can you feel a definite difference between the two?

 

[dchantry]

Seems to be different in W mode. I'll check this tomorrow.....Too much wine tonight. If it's in W mode when saying S, how can I resolve?

 

[Dieselman]

Depends on what selector mechanism you have..

 

[dchantry]

Not sure what is meant. I select between S and W using the button on by th egear stick. The computer definately changes from S to W and vice versa.

 

[Dieselman]

In that case it's probably working Ok.
Next stop would be MAF sensor causing underfuelling or resonance flaps in the intake manifold stuck.

 

[dchantry]

I'll check this out.

 

[dchantry]

Thanks for all the responses, I have it booked in to check out on a machine. Took a turn for the worse today. Whenever I try to reverse straight from cold it takes an eternity and if there is the slightest incline it actually cuts out and I've heard quieter tractors than this car, even when driving on the motorway

 

[dchantry]

Had the car on a diagnostic machine. There were no active faults showing, but 1000's of stored.
Of the ones stored he did point out a few.
P0100-064 B2/5 (Hot film MAF sensor) Plausibility 3
P1470-016 Charge Pressure control positive control variation (Charge pressure is too low)
P0190-002 (Rail Pressure sensor) The signal voltage is too high.
The guy who ran the test reset the codes and has asked me to run it for a week and then return to go through it again.
I've ordered a new MAF, but looking at some of the other forums, this could turn out to be a potential minefield.
One last thing. When I was driving up a hill last night, I experienced a sudden lack of power for about 15 seconds, where I couldn't rev above a certain point (didn't get the rev readings) and the engine seems noisier than before now. It went up another hill with no problem though after, with no noticable power loss.
Any thoughts from what I've put here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BlackC55]

Ignore the rail pressure sensor fault. It always comes up with that and if it was faulty your engine would not start.

The maf and charge pressure low faults are the ones to look at. I would change the Maf first then re-test. Can the bloke doing the test get any live data?

If he is worth his mustard he will be able to look at the data and diagnose the problem.

Hope this helps and good luck

 

[dchantry]

I'm going to change the MAF and then re-test on Saturday. I will get a print out of all events since last week (I hope). If the fault is still there then I will probably jump in the river

 

[dchantry]

This saga seems to be running on.
Ive had someone look at the car. He's a good mechanic, but not a specialist. More important, he is honest.
The MAF was swapped for a working one off another car and it made no difference.
I left the car with him for a few days and he checked the valve timing, cleaned the EGR Valve, Checked the turbo and intercooler and piping and has gone over the mecahanicals of the engine.
I had the Gearbox drained and re-filled.
He checked the engine mechanics.
I'm still getting the same problem.

Can anyone recommend a Mercedes specialist in the south west or South Wales (rather not go to the dealer for obvious reasons) that I could go to?
To summarise the problems.
No power at startup, revs drop to 500 for about 20 seconds and then go normal.
Car very flat when pulling away and actually makes me have to wait longer than normal before pulling out into traffic, so no-one hit's me.
Car seems to be better when it's moving and warmer, but it still seems a little flat.
Fuel consumption showing 32 on a run, yet I get around 450 out of a tank on runs.

 

[BlackC55]

Get the injector leak off checked. A good diesel specialist should be able to do this. I think you may have a missfiring injector. A star machine can also pick up a dodgy injectors.

 

[scoobysook]

hey, sorry to hear of your problems. any new news. My car, 2001 e320cdi has same/similar problem. goes into limp mode after 10 mins and wont run beyond 3000revs after or kick down. have changed MAF and cleaned out both cats to non avail. fault codes are the same as yours. took it into the dealer, made my pocket a lot lighter but aint found the fault either. am at a loss now, as they say all else appears ok. any ideas....anyone?

 

[dchantry]

To all who responded to the thread, thank you.
I had everything here checked by a Mercedes specialist and there was nothing he could find wrong with the car.
I ended up taking it to a stealership who diagnosed that there were 2 out of 4 faulty injectors. Of course being a stealership they recommended that I had all 4 replaced which when I took second opinion from my mechanic said it made sense.
So now I'm £1200 lighter (of course no-one can source injector units apart from MB) but at least the issue seems to have gone away................I think. At kleast I got top notch service from SG.