Hello,

An uncle of mine stopped in town and we got to talking about MBs. Told him my 300SD is running strong at 284,000 miles. Anyway, he said his MB has a problem. I'm not sure if the model and engine he tells me exists, but it's an 84 300E (w123) with a 2.3L 16V 4cyl engine. He said it was an experimental car before that particular engine was put in the 190E in 86.

Now the problem...The car starts up fine, never hesitates, but it dies suddenly. He brought it 3 times to a German repair shop. They replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, ignition module/or coil($450). He mentioned some relay the makes contact when the car is started but disengages right after.

Any input from the knowleable experts on this site would be appreaciated. Thanks in advance!

Nolan

Have seen several with the 8v motor, in fact the 230CE with 5speed is a great car!! Sounds like fuel relay, either going bad or not getting signal from ignition system that engine is running.

Thanks for the quick reply. He'll take a look at the fuel relay when he gets the chance.

Nolan

I also have only seen 8v 102 motors in 123 bodies.

One thing I have seen on european systems is a decel valve that dumps air into the intake on deceleration. If this valve sticks it will stall the motor in a heartbeat. The valve is a plastic ball about the size of an egg with two air tubes about 16mm inner diameter and one vacuum line that goes to a switchover valve.

Easy diagnosis is to disconnect the vacum line. The gulp valve then never works = verifying an intermittant.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Thanks again for the advice. My uncle replaced the fuel relay and the car is once again running like a champ. Too bad I wasn't able to post the question for him before he spent $1500 in other trial and error repairs done by a so-called German repair shop. It's really great to have a resource like this!

Nolan