W204 C280 Engine Stalling?

[type-r]

I have just bought a W204 C280 (MY2008) with 78k miles and am experiencing the engine stalling at the lights when the car has been started less than 10 minutes from cold. After that, the car runs smoothly with no engine cut out.

I have noticed the rev counter go a little erratic when stationary. It will kick up by about 500 revs about 4 or 5 times, then the engine stalls.

Is this a spark plug issue? Or is this an early symptom of (dare I say it) the Balance Shaft Gear issue?

 

[type-r]

It also has the symptom (at least I think it is) is that is fairly slow to pick up in the first 0-2k revs, then it gets going. Not sure if this is normal as I have not driven another C280 but it does feels like driving a mini-turbo at the moment.

Reading up about the Balance Shaft Gear issue on the Class Action website, from what I can read from many people's complaints is that a few also suffered from engine stall. But in their cases, the CEL would come on.

What are my rights to give the car back to the dealer I bought it from? What if they refuse to take the car back?

 

[rifiki]

I am a little worried about the chain sprocket. I can wind the motor to over 6000 RPM and is turbine smoooooth all through rev range. Will be clocking 60000 in the next dew days.

 

[MancMike]

Hi, Type-R.

I don't have any of the issues you describe in my same age, slightly higher mileage C280. I can take a video of the pickup if that helps... The car launches very well if you plant your foot from lights...

Have you tried resetting the accelerator pedal? There's a procedure. I did that and it made the pedal more responsive, a bit less "lazy".

I've only had mine a few weeks though.

 

[type-r]

i-conica, not trying to worry you with regards the Balance Shaft Gear premature wear issue but it affects cars between the 2004 and 2008 V6 models and usualy between 60-80k alkthough it can happen after (guess it depends on how the car has been driven in the past, tolerances etc).

Will have a go at resetting the accelrator pedal but TBH, I am more worried about why the engine occassionaly stalls at the lights around 5-10 minutes after a cold start. Then the car runs smoothly after that.

 

[MancMike]

I know about that, my fingers are tightly crossed believe me!

I don't know much about Merc, but previous cars would run in closed loop mode until the lambda sensors, etc have gotten up to temp, at which point it goes to open loop where it gets live feedback on the exhaust gases to see how much oxygen remains to then adjust the AFR. Maybe your engine has a problem running stably on the closed loop program. Can you clean the MAF? I'm sure someone else better equipped with these engines will turn up.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Can you not just take it back to the dealer under warranty? Could be many things causing this.

 

[type-r]

Just checked my engine number and it seems I am clear of the common balance gear shaft issue:

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/engine/137229-complete-m272-engine-thread.html

Mine falls under the range of #2 of post 2 in the thread (solenoid adjustment).

I have been reading a bit more on this stalling and it seems like it may be an injector issue or fuel distrubutor issue? I am exact same symptoms as this:

Engine runs uneven cold, C220 CDI, W204 - Mercedes-Benz Owners' Forums