Hi,

I have bought an 1996 E300 diesel w210 2 month ago. The car is 298 000km and run just fine....until it decided to shut down suddenly by itself at a few occasions.

That situation always happened when the engine was still cold (next minutes from start). The engine decided to shut down without any preliminary symptoms, it just turn off as if I would turn the key back to 0. Just after the car shut down, I have a red message in cluster that tells me to "charge the battery". Sometimes, I've also have the yellow "ELS (engine electronics fault)" message when I try a restart.

After the shutdown, it is generaly not possible to restart the engine. I often leave the car to off for a few minutes and then I try to start it again. It crank very well and after around 30 sec of steady cranking, the engine begin to live gradually and it finally start again. (if the battery has sufficient power for all the duration of this procedure).

After the occurence, I do a full charge of the battery and I can use the car flawlessly for around a week. After that period, the bad situation usually come back. For information, the battery is 1-1/2 year old.

I have scanned the car with my obdII for the cause of ELS message and the code is P0380 (preglow monitoring).

I have inspected the K40 relay and I have made new solders on each joint. I've checked the operation of the fuel relay and found it strong with lot of magnetic force.It is difficult to open the contacts with my nail. (for me, my k40 relay appear to be good).

During the week which the car run great between two unwanted shut down, the car start easily and instantly near 32 deg F. I assume this means that the glow plug works well (also no check engine message). The car runs very well without any issue.

Does anyone have an idea of what can be the primary source of the unwanted shut down.

- K40 relay
- Pre glow time relay
- Shut off valve
- Fuel quantity actuator
- IFI computer (N3/7)
- Battery
- Bad harness

I Wait for your suggestion and hope to find the real component responsible of this. It seems to happen to a lot of people who are owning those cars and on the forums I've never seen what is the solution. Maybe folks are so happy that their car is so great again that they forget to post the solution.

This week, I should be able to have the car scanned. Hope the car will reveal its secrets.

I will let you know.

Thanks in advance.

Check the vehicles earths, five from memory under the bonnet (hood). Usually brown in color with maybe 3-5 wires attached.

Google 'OM606 fuel lines' check fro air ingress.

Others may have a better idea electronics wise.

__________________
David


1996 Mercedes S124 E300TD - 129k - rolling restoration project -

1998 Mercedes W210 300TD - 118k (assimilated into above vehicle)

Been all through this just a few month ago Sneglfattig.
Here's what I found....not necessarily in the order I found them.

Cold ? Check the fuel tank strainer for blockage. The hose leaving the tank is also too small. I enlarged the strainer outlet and used a larger bore hose to the metal supply line..

The electrical connector to the Injection Pump needs cheked for pushed back pins and continuity by wriggle test.. The round one on the side.

The harness over the rear of the engine gets chafed.

The fuel heater by the I/P by #2 cylinder can partially block. In warmer parts it can be by passed.

The O rings on the clear plastic lines harden and fracture (eBay.)

Fuel filter element can collapse. Replace.

The line ( Steel.) is too small a bore for running veggie oil from the tank to ther i/p. It is only just large enough for cold #2 diesel.

Run a larger bore hose to the i/p. Not required, but it helped this 210.

Glow plug resistance can trip glow plug codes. If they all glow...ignore code/s.I replaced all and still got code/s.

Check your vac lines under the cross over intake. ...and flaps for free movement.

We expect a FIX reply when found.



.

__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

Mine needed a wiring harness. I made my own and replaced all of the wires except for the crank sensor, Then found out that inside the shielded crank sensor wire that insulation also was no good, dead short to crank sen. replaced that crank sensor wire to ecm and it is perfect now. check on scan tool to see if you have engine rpms during cranking. You can also use a a/c voltmeter.