Hey hey,

Anyone care to take a stab at this,please?
The 88 300e decided it would take a crap this morning I guess. I do the same thing every morning, I go out about 10 minute-15 minutes before I leave for work and start the car. Well this morning is the 1st cold morning we have had below 30 degrees. I start it as usual no problem. It idles fine in gear. If I rev it though it stumbles some. Come back out and hop in the car and it starts stumbling really bad even died. Started back up but had to crank it for 10 seconds before it fired up. I tried again and it stumbled, spit, and sputtered. If I let off the gas it would kind of go back to normal but if I gave it gas it started back stumbling. Did that around the block barely running, brought it home and drove the explorer to work. The temp when I got in the car was right at 80c. So it was warmed up it seems. Any clues on where to start when I get home??????? Never has done this before.

THANKS

My first guess would be fuel pump. My TE did the same thing twice. You guessed it, it has 2 fuel pumps and one went bad within a week of the first failure.

__________________
95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

not what I wanted to hear. Is there a way to test the pump? I assume test to make sure it's getting power and then the fuel pressure?

Could also be a clogged fuel filter.
Also, prolonged idle periods (as you do....10 to 15 minutes of idling a cold engine) could promote spark plug fouling and cause/contribute to the problem you are describing.

Thanks for the replies. I replace the fuel filter as I have one at home new in the box. I wouldn't think it was bad as it was replaced about 25,000 miles ago. Although not sure how long they last? The car has 145,000 miles on it now and has never done anything like today.

You said it was below 30 degrees - could there be some frozen water in the system causing problems?

Maybe a can of dry gas could be the first step. I always try the cheap fixes before throwing parts at a problem.

sorry I meant 30 degrees, not 30 below 0.

30 below 0 means I don't leave the house lol

OVP? FP Relay?

__________________
David
1986 300E Anthracite + ECodes + MB Mileage Award

I am going to check the ovp right now. I hope it's not the FPR as it was replaced about 5000 miles ago. Little update. I get home and try to start the car and it would not start. Cranked several times and it just turned over. About 30 minutes later I am getting ready to push it in the garage but decide to give it one more try and it starts. I pull it in the garage and the girlfriend says "geez it smells like gas big time". I guess I will check the ovp and then the fuel pump.

I replaced my fuel pump relay, and 1 month later it went out again. Sometimes, but rarely, parts come from the factory defective. It might be the fuel filter, or maybe moisture found its way into your gas tank.

__________________
1987 mercedes 300E
1995 e320 conversion(hated the 300e grill)
HID/Xenon (D2S)
Keyless Entry
Monochromatic Paint (Custom Blue)
Smoked Tails
Flat Badged (front)
Debadged (rear)
custom "carbon fiber" console
18 inch HP EVO rims
Sold! Now I drive a Monte Carlo SS
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member.../352975_67.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member.../748335_24.jpg

Strong smell of gasoline is either defective ignition or a leak, check both.

Most important, pull the cap and check condition of rotor, they are known to break. It's probably the original, and burned beyond recognition as well.

Ditto for plug wires and plugs.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Hey Peter,

I will check that out tomorrow. Is there 3 hex screws that hold the distrubuter cap on?

Little help update. I checked and there is a spark going to all of the plugs. Also changed the fuel filter since I had a new one laying around. Check the plug and rotor and cleaned them up alittle. They didn't look bad but not brand new either. I pulled a couple of plugs and they also look alright. Today when I tried to start the car when cold it was very hard to start. Had to give it some gas. Also even after being warmed up it didn't run good.

Heres the part that I hope will ring some bells. If I rev the car slowly up to around 3500 rpm it seems alright. If I mash the pedal kind of fast it spits and sputters. Same when in drive. If I slowly get it up to 30 it's fine but if I put a quick load or go up a hill it acts up. I was thinking of replacing all the plugs since they are cheap but I don't want to do much more throwing parts as most everything else is expensive

Any thoughts????????????????

Idle control valve hoses, it's under the air filter housing. Chances are they are rock hard and leaking, so you have air (and dirt) entering the intake that is not being measured by the air flow meter. This results in a lean condition beyond the ability of the feedback system to adjust, so it runs rough and stalls under load.

The cure is new hoses (one is a real PITA to install), and to check for any other leaking vacuum lines.

You should also check the O2 sensor for proper operation, if it's bad, the mixture won't be right.

Check to make sure it's not running way rich, too (black plugs). This is, alas, a sign of a dead fuel distributor ($$$$$$).

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Darn, My 90 300E started this same identical crap Monday. Same symptoms exactley! I changed the plugs. Plug wires are almost new. Checked and cleaned the Dist cap and rotor (they are only one month old). Changed the fuel pressure regulator. Replaced the OVP. I guess the fuel filter is next. But I really suspect the fuel pumps.