what is a throttle motor?

[collick]

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for any help. I bought a 1995 c280 for my wife a few years ago and it has been an excellent trouble free car. However, with a third child on the way, she would like something bigger. We decided to sell it. I took it to a local shop and had it detailed which included cleaning and washing the engine compartment. Since then I have had nothing but problems. I took it to a mechanic whom I have dealt with before and he told me the throttle motor is bad ($1300). I have complete confidence and trust in him as he has proved himself over the last few years to be very honest and reasonably priced and mercedes are all he works on so I'm sure he's right. My question is; is there another name for this part? I have been all over the internet trying to find rebuilt and or used ones and cannot find anything. I do not want to insult him by asking him if there is another name. Consequently, if anyone is in the Royal Oak, MI area and needs a great mercedes mechanic let me know. Thank you.

[pmizell]

Yes, there are a few different names for this part. It can be referred to as an Electronic Throttle Actuator (ETA), Electronic Accelerator (EA - what the official MB workshop information system labels it as), a plain 'ole Throttle Body or even an Electronic Throttle Body (ETB), and I know I'm missing a couple more.

It's basically the butterfly valve on your intake with some electronics mixed in. The wiring harness on this part is notorious for degrading over time due to heat and very poor materials used to insulate the copper wiring ('93-'95) MB models mostly affected.

If you do a search for "wiring harness" you'll discover that it is a much discussed and controversial topic on this board. The engine wiring harness (you may want to check to see if yours has been replaced) gets discussed more, but the ETA wiring is just as susceptible to problems but since it is only about a '14 section of wiring it takes longer to manifest problems .... that is unless it gets 'disturbed' which apparently it did while your engine was being detailed.

Try Beckmann Technologies (search for #) for a rebuild. Expect to pay around $700-$800 for the part alone.

Good Luck

[collick]

Thank you!

[t walgamuth]

has it been since you had it detailed?

if the trouble is from water perhaps putting the car in a warm garage to evaporate the water will help.

in any case it seems the cleaning service has some responsibility here.

tom w

[Ali Al-Chalabi]

I personally think this is a tricky engine to wash and not end up with problems. I would personally never use a garden hose on the engine. Water can end up in some connections which can create some running problems s you have discovered. Due to the double overhead can setup, the spark plugs sit in a long recessed tunnel and if any water gets into there, it can create problems as well as take a very long time to dry.

[JimF]

Originally Posted by collick

Hello everyone and thank you in advance for any help. I bought a 1995 c280 for my wife a few years ago and it has been an excellent trouble free car. However, with a third child on the way, she would like something bigger. We decided to sell it. I took it to a local shop and had it detailed which included cleaning and washing the engine compartment. Since then I have had nothing but problems. I took it to a mechanic whom I have dealt with before and he told me the throttle motor is bad ($1300). I have complete confidence and trust in him as he has proved himself over the last few years to be very honest and reasonably priced and mercedes are all he works on so I'm sure he's right. My question is; is there another name for this part? I have been all over the internet trying to find rebuilt and or used ones and cannot find anything. I do not want to insult him by asking him if there is another name. Consequently, if anyone is in the Royal Oak, MI area and needs a great mercedes mechanic let me know. Thank you.

I have some detailed info on my web pages under MENU#24. It shows the codes and other 'key' events that started me down the road of replacing the car's ETA. Although our cars are different, they are similar enough when it comes to the throttle.

BTW, be careful with calling the 'throttl actuator' a "Electronic Accelerator". If you check MENU#9, you'll see that there is such a beast in the car. Calling it an "EA" is not correct.

You can get some repair sources phone numbers including "Beckmann".

[collick]

Thanks everyone for the help. I'm dealing with the detailing shop right now. I'll be lucky to get the $170.00 back for the detail though. Pretty tough to prove this damage is from them on an 11 year old car. Thanks again.