I have a UK 1989 300se, I have just spend £1,200 on a service, and as you would expect it has been running fine. It has 134,000 miles and idles smoothly and runs very well.
Today I was approaching a traffic island, as I slowed down, my car just died and I ended up in heavy traffic with poor steering and braking.
I started the engine again, it was idling smoothly and seemed fine. I drove down a 3 mile road at about 60mph, slowed down to get onto another traffic island and it died again.
I'm really confused! Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Oliver

I have just checked my oil, and it seems to be just over the minimum on the dipstick could this cause the problem? I thought my oil light should have come on.
I'm starting to get a bit worried now.

Any help appreciated!

Oliver

Sounds like some sort of vacuum leak to me. It would be worth checking all your lines and such visually for a vacuum leak

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Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

I wouldn't know where to start to be honest. I'm not very good at all with the mechanics of my car.
Could this be expensive?

Thanks for the reply Larry

Oliver

You may want to inspect your electronic ignition. It happened to my friend's Honda two weeks ago, the car will be running along fine and then died for no reason. She could start it back and it would die again a few miles down the road. The culpit was the electronic ignition switch that costed $250. She has had no trouble since. Good luck.

95 R129
98 ML320

I can sense this car is going to cost more in repairs than it cost to buy!!

Thanks for the info guys

Oliver

Check the primary wiring in the ignition system. My 85 Mustang Gt which has been garaged for three years died on me Sunday. I switched ignition modules and coil (which I had Spares) and nothing. Finally I "hot wired" the car and discovered the problem. I repaired the connections to the coil wiring and, voila! The car seems to run smoother and performs better.

Fuel pump relay?

David

I second the last post, fuel pump relay.

get your fuel pressure checked.
could also be a fuel filter or fuel pump.
its a good place to start for a 40$ test.


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87 300E
BLACK GOLD WITH CREAM INTERIOR, SPOILER, AIRDAM
CLEAR MARKERS

87 420SEL
BRONZE WITH CREAM INTERIOR

Had a simillar problem with my '90 300se. It would drive just fine when my foot is on the accelerator but once I stop the engine would die. Tried changing the spark plugs, fuel pump, the ecu but none of these seem to work. Ended up being an ignition problem.

Kevin

Funny, I check in to the forum and find the two latest problems I've had with my 300E. (See "Floating 300E".)

I'd check the fuel pump relay. Have your tech check the fuel pump itself to see if that is what caused your fuel pump relay to fail. If I remember correctly what my tech told me, if the voltage in and out of the pump isn't steady, it will stress the relay and cause it to fail, so replacing the relay turns out only to be a temporary fix.

My relay died on Halloween night with a carload of exhausted 6-year old princesses and one very miffed witch...

I was not the one in costume, by the way.



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David
1986 300E - "Liesl"
(107K)
1978 300D - "Gunther"
(147K)

Intermittent gremlins... NOT AGAIN!
OLIVER,
I would spend a few sheckels and replace ALL of the fuses under the hood. Don't look at the old ones, don't try to save $5 JUST DO IT. It's amazing how many of these gremlins can be killed by simply replacing the fuses.
Next thing to check (In My Humble Opinion) would be the fuel pump relay. Also check the overvoltage protection relay (there's another fuse to replace there!!).

Don't despair and DON'T GIVE UP!




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Jay Yambrovich
1989 300 E
1992 190-E 2.3

Oliver - you mentioned having just spent a sizeable sum of money on work. Was the car doing this before all of this work was done?

Regards,

Mike Murrell
'91 300-SEL

Right Mike!! Take it back and holler like hell. Get them to scope it and look for some error codes for you. Bring it over here so Donnie can re3pair it properly :D :D :D

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Jeff Lawrence
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE