97 E320 missing--- please help - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

drbrandini · #1 10-24-2005, 08:49 PM

Hello all,

Please help, my E320 (w210) is missing at idle and while driving...I am currently in Columbia SC on business and I would like to make it back home (wilmington nc) running smoothly. I will be here until friday fortunately not driving very far. This all started oddly enough when I changed the oil before leaving on my trip. I only felt it spudder once or twice before leaving town thus thinking it was a fluke. It is still a bit intermitten and seems to worsen when under a load and when cold. Any ideas? I do have tools with me but don't wont to get in too deep in fear of making the problem worse if I am unable to fix it...

Thanks for your suggestions

Brandon

DonB · #2 10-24-2005, 10:24 PM

At first I thought it might be the wiring harness problem, but that only applies to 1992-1995. See this thread if you want to read about it.

MB Wiring Harness Failure

Other than that, I would suspect a spark problem. Oil changes don't usually cause this sort of problem unless you inadvertently disturbed some wiring. Maybe wait until it gets dark outside and open the hood to look for stray sparks. Good luck,
Don

ray95e320se · #3 10-24-2005, 11:29 PM

Hi dr,----- I see you are between a rock & a hard spot,being away from home & having problems. Your 97 has the 104 straight six,secondary plug wiring is under the inserted panel in the center of the valve cover, six 5mm hex bolts have to be removed to remove the cover.Also remove the air intake tube between the air cleaner & intake connection. Do a search on "plugs 104 engine",plenty of info. The reason you have the dead miss at idle is because the ECM is seeing misfires & shuts the injector down for that cylinder to protect the CAT-coverter from unburned fuel from that cyl. I suspect you have a bad resistor connector under one of the 3 coils,I would replace all 3 while you are in there, also the plugs if they have been in the more than 40k miles.The only place you are going to get the connector real quick is at the dealer, only install Bosch Super NON-resistor #F8DC4 plugs, NO other, this plug is designed for your engine secondary spark system. Just pull straight up on the coils after you removed the primary connectors on the side of the coils. Good Luck ,------ Ray

drbrandini · #4 10-25-2005, 09:04 PM

Thanks Don for the link.

Ray Thanks for the info...

I changed the plugs not long ago with the non resister bosch plugs you mentioned.

I wasn't aware that the ECM shut down the injectors with the miss so thats good to know. I was guessing the connectors as well so I was glad to hear you suggest that. She seemed to be doing much better today so I may wait til I get back home to change them out if at all possible.

Thanks again...I'll keep you posted.

Brandon

drbrandini · #5 10-31-2005, 05:42 PM

well I made it back home..unfortunately I was limping the whole way...

I just changed the connector ends underneath the three coils, cleaned the other three connector ends and changed the plugs....No luck it's still missing. I hear what sounds like a valve click...Is that because that's the cylinder that's missing? None the less the sound makes me nervous....Any ideas ???

ray95e320se · #6 10-31-2005, 10:38 PM

Hi dr,----OK,read your last post about the parts you replaced,you have an OBD 2 diagnostic system. By now with all the misfires you have been getting your "check engine light" has to be on by now,300 misfires or more will turn on the light & set a code for that cylinder. If you don't have your own OBD2 tester, go to the local Autozone & have them read the code(s),write them down & have them clear the codes. Example PO301= #1cyl,P0303= #3cyl,etc,last digit tells you what cylinder is misfiring.Once the codes are cleared, the ECM will start giving that injector a pulse width again,if it still sees a misfire it will turn off that injector to protect the CAT convertor.You said you had the plugs out again, what did you see at the electrodes,what color fouling ,wet with gas ?,black & sooty?,what number cylinders had fouling??.When I hear that you have a ticking noise that can be a few things in the valve train system but we need to find out what cylinder has the misfires first. Please reply------ Ray

Arthur Dalton · #7 10-31-2005, 10:51 PM

I would do a compression test Immediately....

drbrandini · #8 11-01-2005, 03:34 PM

got up this morning....car seemed to be running alot smoother only a few skips and bumps..valve tick went away shortly after start up. Took it to Auto zone as suggested. Codes read as follows: All starting with PO 302, 306, 300, 130 and 300 again. He then cleared the codes. I didn't make it out of the auto zone parking lot before the Check Engine light came on again and the car began missing pretty bad....much worse than when I arrived....It looks as though most of these codes are misfires if I remember correctly.. And I think he said one of the codes was a multi cylinder misfire, probably due to the fact that I pulled all the wires individually while the car was running yesterday in an attempt to find the culprit. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brandon

Arthur Dalton · #9 11-01-2005, 05:01 PM

Your valve Tick could very well be a spark snap/ jump to ground.. you may want to go back and make sure all connectors are snapped into place... specially with being coupled with an ignition misfire. complaint...if you lose 1 plug with waste spark ignition, you can lose the second one also as each coil fires 2 plugs in series....

drbrandini · #10 11-02-2005, 08:18 PM

went back today and had them pull the codes again. today only got a 300 and a 302. From what I understand the 300 probably just came with the 302 since its a random cylinder misfire code. 302 is the number #2 Cylinder. This one with a coil, so I have already changed the boot and the plug. I may play with it a little in the am. But I got a feeling the coil is bad. I'll keep you guys posted.

Thanks,
Brandon

drbrandini · #11 11-03-2005, 09:14 AM

just pulled the coil on the #2 Cylinder. Seems there are a series of small cracks. I'm going to order a coil and install....results to follow....

drbrandini · #12 11-03-2005, 10:53 PM

Replaced the coil...Problem solved!!!

Thanks again guys!!!