Greetings and Salutations


After repairing & driving a 1986 190e I bought last spring for $900.00 from the previous owner who owned it over seven years- a new issue has arisen. The engine is rock solid/ around 100k miles (speedo gears mushed) with new timing chain.


This car would accelerate to 90 m.p.h. plus, with plenty of power and have put about 6,000 miles on it since my purchase.


I've gone through the engine wiring harness an patched and replaced its bad spots due to cooked insulation, re soldering new wire to all of the connections and tested the harness for continuity.


I have gone through the Vacuum lines replacing brittle hoses with high temp silicone. I have spray tested the vacuum system with carb cleaner and WD 40 while the engine was running, and believe I have all the holes plugged.


The car was running great until the Brake Lining warning light came on, of which I change the Brake Pads but didn't have new sensors to put on. I just clipped off the old sensors – the warning light shut off. At the same time this happened the wedged grommet, which attaches the throttle cable to the throttle assembly had pulled out of the throttle assembly. Some genius, whoever worked on this car before me put the throttle wedge in backwards so the throttle cable pulled this wedged grommet from the throttle linkage's square hole. I have rebuilt, straightened and aligned the throttle/Bowden assembly as outlined in the W201 Service manual I downloaded and reassembled everything. I have been messing with the length and tension of both cables and believe I have whole set up aligned correctly for maximum throttle response.


Yet since the cable debacle, the car now acts lethargic as if it were in limp mode. The car revs to around 5500 rpms, without load. But when driving I can't ring out more than 3500 rpms when running through the shifts, with a top end of 60 mph. It acts like I'm pulling an anchor. I have also tried advancing and retarding the distributer without any noticeable improvement.


We have had a cold snap (around zero degrees) and the car's acceleration has worsened from lethargic to pathetic, and appears to be temperature related. When I got the car it had shifting problems and believe it was because the wrong tranny fluid was filled. I drained the torque converter and tranny, replacing the filter, and used the The Walmart High mileage Dextron II oil with a bottle of Slick 50 Tranny treatment. Within a hundred miles of driving, the shift shudders ended and the car shifts like new. In fact I have to adjust the modulator pressure to soften the shifts


I also use Mobil One High Mileage oil with Bosch filter in the engine, and plenty of the correct type Zerex Antifreeze, to 35 below. I've run Sea foam and isopropal alcohol through the fuel system.


I have replaced the CIS-E computer with another working unit I had in my tool box with the same Bosch numbers, from my other 86 190e project car with no improvement.


The only reason I am trying to keep this junk running is because it is the best car in snow that I have had in twenty years, and plan to strip and use the parts on my premium 86 190e w/5-speed project when it has outlived its usefulness.


Thanks for viewing – the Benz Sage.










I

Attached Thumbnails