99' C43 AMG's ongoing saga
 

hello all, I'm a long time MB owner and used to post a fair bit here last time I had a 190D 2.5Turbo 5MT but since lost that accounts login, figure its better to start fresh anyways.

let me get down to my issue here: the car is a 1999 C43 AMG. 102k miles

the problem: the person I bought it from (also the person I sold it to years ago) was driving down the street, and the car started to smoke out of the exhaust and it lost a lot of power, so they brought it in to a local not qualified shop who quoted about $8k in work which summed up to 8 new coils, 16 iridium plugs, new plug wires, injectors, cats, o2s the works.

the codes I pulled from it when I got it home were Cyl 1, 2, 3, 4 and random miss-fire and 4 02 codes.

what I did then was order 4 coil packs, and I gutted all 4 cats, inserted some anti-foulers and re-assembled.

I pulled the passenger plugs and 2, 3, 4 looked a little wet, so I left them out, pulled the fuel pump fuse, and cranked it for a sec to make sure they weren't just biblically flooded. I left it sit for about 3 days, put the plugs back in, fuse back in the FP, cranked it and it runs just the same as it did before, definitely not idling smoothly, not sure how many cylinders its running on. anywhere from 4 to 7 is my guess. a small amount of very fuelly smelling smoke comes out in puffs with the regular exhaust, which seems to be contained to the RH bank. I have excellent compression on 1, 2, 3 and 4. like I said brand new coils on that bank

I still pull either 1, 2, 3 and 4 or just 2, 3, 4 miss-fire codes. the o2 codes are gone, as is the random miss-fire.

I am just at a complete loss. I am here asking for advice and direction on this project as I'm starting to lose hope.

Other random things I have observed are:
1.) no oil in the coolant
2.) no coolant in the oil
3.) the drivers cats looked fine when I gutted them
4.) the pass. pre-cat was black front-to back. the rear chamber of the front cat broke apart and clogged the front of the back converter, I pulled melted ceramic out of it. now all 4 are completely gutted and re-installed.
5.) car has platinum, not iridium plugs


thats about all I know right now -- if you need any more specific info, do let me know and I'll do my best.

Does your car have 2 MAFs, one per bank?

I believe there to just be a single MAF at the back near the firewall like the E430/ML430 etc

Answer
 

Your description perfectly fits a failing Mass Air Flow Sensor.

BOSCH Air Mass Meter,W0133-1601501 - PeachParts


.

All that work for a bad MAF.....sorry. :D

are you quite serious? haha

why only RH bank miss-fires?

I'll order up a MAF and see whats what

what about just 3 miss codes that I pulled after I gutted cats and replaced coils?

FYI
 

The random miss codes and/or O2 codes are the only symptom of a failing Mass Air Flow Sensor.

The mass air flow sensor is a fairly common issue.

fair enough, have a new MAF on order, we'll see if that fixes anything.

certainly easier than swapping all of the fuel injectors.

Thanks!
i'll report back once its in.

swapped in the New MAF. runs pretty well, drives decently -- no real concerns with how it drives, but I am still getting:

Cylinder 2 Missfire
Cylinder 3 Missfire
Random Cylinder Miss-fire

no o2 codes, no other miss fires, etc.

when I drive the car, it spews white fuel smoke when I get on it, just idling, it definitely has white smoke coming out in puffs, but not much.

fuel injectors? bad spark plugs? something wrong with the DME sending signals?

thanks guys!

I forgot to mention, when I started it initially, it didnt throw a CEL at idle, only when I put it in gear and set off.

anyone?

Hmm
 

I assume you cleared the old codes.

Please post your VIN# so I can access more vehicle specific data.

yep I cleared codes. I'll grab the VIN next time I am at home its just not handy at the moment, unfortunately.

OK
 

To be continued. :)