Hey tech gurus!
So after 15 years of Volvos (my last 940 Turbo wagon was totalled last month), I recently bought a pristine E320 wagon with 63k miles on it, and 90% of the time the engine is like butter (3.2 liter in-line 6). The problem is, I have an intermittent misfire and really don't know where to start looking. A couple things I've noticed, which may or may not be connected...
1) It doesn't seem to happen when the car is cold.
2) There is definite interference with the AM radio signal. (i.e. when I hit the gas, the static noise gets louder and speeds up in relation to the rpms the engine is pulling.)
I took it to the dealer I bought it from and they thought it was related to an oil-flooded spark-plug socket (where the lead goes in, not in the cylinder), so they replaced the valve cover gaskets. It seemed to help for a day or so, but that's probably my imagination. I'm relatively certain that it's an ignition problem.
My thought is that I possibly have bad spark plug leads (does this mean I need to change out the coil packs?) I'm going to put some injector cleaner and dry gas in it today, on the off chance that it's just water in the gas.
For what it's worth the engine wiring harness was replaced in the last year or so, according to the paperwork that came with the car.
I'm a fairly adept mechanic, having restored a '64 Volvo, and maintained my own 240s and 940 for years and can do the actual work, but as far as diagnosing problems, some of this Mercedes stuff is still a little over my head. (I did buy the Bentley E320 owner's guide, and am working my way through it.) Thanks in advance for your help!
-Ethan H.