emerydc8: I never knew that one can order ETA wiring from MB dealer. That is good news since I fixed all my wiring harness except ETA wiring because I wasn't sure if I was able to open the actual plug.

As far as my O2 and lambda testing goes, I put in new O2 sensor, checked out all wiring, cleaned MAF and now I have my duty cycle hovering around 80% again. 77% to 81% on idle and at 2500rpm. The car runs good but I still have bad smell from the exhaust and most likely will not pass emissions. I just put new O2 sensor yesterday. I will drive the car today and see if anything changes.
I am so tired troubleshooting it already to the point that I want to sell it. It's a gorgeous car in very nice shape but these things drive me nuts. My mechanic doesn't know whats wrong with it. I can't figure it out as well.

Jim, you have noted on your website that if one has 80% reading on idle and 2500rpms, possible causes can be Fuel Inj, ETA or DI. I don't know where to start

__________________
1999 ML430 Silver 135k ml
Smoked LED taillights, Alpine in-dash DVD player, 12" sub, Pioneer components, 2 amps, 4200k HIDs, ML55 headlights, 20" rims, mirror LED blinkers

SOLD. 1996 E320 145k ml. Burgundy

SOLD but miss it everyday 1992 500sel Black
Chime buzzer mod,Alpine CD/MP3 player with stock amp,Euro headlights,S600 grill,20" rims, BEST CAR EVER!

SOLD. 1990 300E White
187k ml,smoked tails,Euro headlights,17rims,Intake,12" sub in first aid kit,alarm/autostart,buzzer mod

Hi guys,
it's been some time with my never ending repair saga. Here are couple of updates.
I bought ETA wiring harness and replaced it. Original wiring looked new though but I changed them anyway. After that, I cleaned MAF meter, then I bought and installed generic oxygen sensor 3 weeks ago. I also installed used tranny off 1992 400e that had good vacuum actuator so I don't have vacuum leak anymore on cold start. (tranny starts in first by the way) Anyway, here is what happens now: car starts and runs ok. It has really good pick up when cold. When car warms up to 80*it doesn't have nice pick up as it has on cold engine, car becomes sort of sluggish and duty cycle hovers around 8-12% on idle and 2500rpms, and varies from 20% to 34%. When I put new generic O2 sensor I had duty cycling around 50% at 2500rpms but it cycled around 10% at idle.

I checked for controller voltage coming from ECU to O2 sensor and it checked out fine at .46 volts.

Exhaust gases still smell horrible and when engine heats up to around 90 degrees the car is verrrrry sluggish to move until it reaches 2000rpms.

Any suggestions or thoughts? I'm pulling my hair already with this problem. I do not have code 19 that shows my adaptation values are out of limits. I went through 2 generic O2 sensors with same results. It's one crazy problem

__________________
1999 ML430 Silver 135k ml
Smoked LED taillights, Alpine in-dash DVD player, 12" sub, Pioneer components, 2 amps, 4200k HIDs, ML55 headlights, 20" rims, mirror LED blinkers

SOLD. 1996 E320 145k ml. Burgundy

SOLD but miss it everyday 1992 500sel Black
Chime buzzer mod,Alpine CD/MP3 player with stock amp,Euro headlights,S600 grill,20" rims, BEST CAR EVER!

SOLD. 1990 300E White
187k ml,smoked tails,Euro headlights,17rims,Intake,12" sub in first aid kit,alarm/autostart,buzzer mod