W124/190E Cold Start Issue.
 

My girlfriend is looking at buying a 190E, 2.3 SOHC. It's got this cold start issue. First start of the day, you have to crank the car 2 or 3 times to get it to start. After that, it's fine. I have some experience with K-jet (Volvos), but have never had to solve a cold start issue.

Is this very common? Is there an easy test for the cold start injector? Is this a possible indicator of bigger problems in the fuel system?

I was thinking it could be the fuel pump relay as well, but don't see them on ********.

Any advice is appreciated.

On the Volvo engines I know with K-Jet, the wonderful PRV engine, there can be a multitude of issues if it has not been taken care of. If you can put a jumper in for the fuel pump relay that would tell you if the pump is working or not. When starting from cold have someone listen for the pumps.

I would source a good used cold start valve and swap them out and see if there is a change.

btw, the 190E is the W201 chassis.

Difficult cold start is usually tune up (or lack thereof). I would start with a bottle of redline, and then go from there. I dealt with the same issue for years with my m103 engine ( yours is m102 I believe) and ultimately it was solved with plugs, wires, cap rotor filters and most important new injectors.

It's an expensive nuisance to remedy. Good luck

All the old Volvos had K-jet back in the early 80s. I've had quite a few (about ten). I don't think I've ever had an old Volvo that the fuel pump didn't go out on. Didn't know if that's a k-jet problem, or just a Volvo problem.

Oh I guess it is a W201. They all look the same. haha.

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on doing a general tune up anyway, so maybe that'll take care of it. I've never heard of redline.

Look it up on Amazon. It's a fuel additive. I've tried dozens and this stuff works. Nothing else will even come close. It could solve your problem outright.

my only experience with K Jet is on the Delorean and boy do I dislike K Jet

Let us know the model year; there were two versions of K-jet used over the span of production of the 190E.

1984.

For the most part, the techniques that you are familiar with from your Volvo experience apply to the MB K-jet you are dealing with. It was not until '87(?) that the 2.3 was equipped with KE.

Could be the fuel pressure regulator.

Try holding the key in the "ON" position for a few seconds before actually starting the car.

Priming the fuel pump doesn't help any. I believe I have found at least a partial cause of my cold start woes. The (vacuum?) line that runs from the FPR to the valve cover vent to what looks like a air idle valve to the air cleaner was oil soaked, cracked and leaking all over the place. It wasn't even connected to the air cleaner, and it looks like it's been pissing oil all over the place for a while. I've electrical taped all the cracks and seams and it appears to be air tight for now. I doubt that fix will last very long, so if anyone has another of one of these hoses, I'd be glad to take it off your hands.

I also replaced the plugs today. The tips of the old plugs were orange, something I've never encountered before and know nothing of what that might point to. Maybe someone was running a fuel additive of some kind. Plug wires are pretty damn old and nasty and kind of rusty. I would take a good used set from anyone off the board, if possible. They're damn expensive plug wires. Still need to order a cap and rotor, and see if that make a difference. I'm going to be doing the injector seals and fuel filter tomorrow. PO said he'd run out of gas in the car a few times recently.

Really, looking at the car, nothing seems to be terribly wrong with it. It's just been neglected for a good long time. I'd like to dissemble the intake side, clean everything and replace a few things, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do that right away.

One thing the seller did not disclose was the fact that the car seems to have been sitting for a while. I found a mouse nest in between the intake manifold and the starter. I've yet to see any signs of chewing, but I really hope that there isn't anything chewed up under this intake.

I must correct myself; the 190/2.3 did use KE-Jetronic from '84 on.

It contains a feature that the OP may not have encountered in his Volvo experience; the electrohydraulic actuator (EHA). The EHA is a mixture controller in the fuel distributor (FD) that responds to feedback from the O2 sensor. In addition to responding to exhaust oxygen, it also delivers an enriched mixture during start and warmup. Along with the possibility of a leaking accumulator, a defective EHA, or the lack of a signal to the EHA, can also cause difficult starting. If the accumulator is just starting to leak, the exercise of "whirring" the fuel pump 4 or 5 times to build fuel pressure before cranking the engine, will often identify the accumulator as the culprit.

The EHA is located on the side of the FD, and has an electrical plug attached. Unplugging the EHA connector MAY give some indication of the source of the problem. MAY, because the lack of a signal and an unplugged connector will have the same effect. With the engine warmed to normal operating temperature, unplugging the EHA while running should produce a change in idle if the EHA and the signal are good.

If this were at fault, would the car have trouble starting every start, or only the first start of the day? I was starting to suspect that this was KE-Jet when I saw the computer in the engine bay. haha. Am I right in assuming that this is the 3 prong connector on the front (standing in front of the car) of the FD?

The extra enrichment supplied by the EHA is effective primarily on cold starts. Once sufficient water temp is sensed, i.e., hot starts, the enrichment is cancelled.

The EHA, and plug, are to the rear of the FD.

I really hate when this happens. I found two wires near the battery that look like they should run to one of the battery terminals (judging by the connectors). They're not connected to anything at the moment and they look like they run back into the passenger compartment, so I don't know where they go. One has a blade fuse like half way down the wire. Where do I start in figuring out what these are and if they're important?

Well, fixing the vacuum leak really did nothing. It was pretty cold this morning, and took the car a bit longer to start. I did make a new observation though. The car will cold start, the idle is about 1k and then jumps up to 1.5k and then down to 500. That's when the engine stalls and you start it again. After a few times, the idle will jump back and forth from 1.5k to 500 and then finally settle at 1k and keep running. Any insight from this?

Edit: Also, unplugging the EHA when the engine is warm causes no change at all. Yet to determine if this is a faulty EHA, there is some shotty wiring running to it. There are some ugly solders on the EHA connectors and it is tied into the main harness with a wire nut.

that hose that you patched is not vacuum related. In the event the fuel reg. fails, it sends the fuel in to the intake and not on the hot engine.

Buy a mity vac and test while the car is running. 15hg is great. Just FYI vacuum (or lack of) will not solve a hard cold start.

I will admit, your engine may be different than my m103, but on my car the eha valve works when the car goes in to closed loop mode. ( the "E" in CIS-E). None of this magic happens when the car in cold. Once the car warms up, then the eha will (should) start to do something.

Either way, the eha will not help with a cold start problem.

Start with a bottle of redline fuel additive, then give the car a tune up. The problem is not one failed part. It is a lot of parts that are not quite good enough.

also, proper idle should be 550-650 rpm.

Well, I picked up a good, used EHA today. We'll see if that makes any difference.

Just while I'm at it, what's the correct timing for this engine?

this is exactly what my 103 engine does... have yet to figure it out.

I replaced the EHA yesterday and the car cold started on the first turn this morning. Still not sure if it was the EHA unit or not, but I don't feel like swapping the new one for the old one, since there's so much else to do. All the wires running to the EHA were just twisted together with a wire nut. I put it a splice on both wires and a new connector.

When I took the old EHA off, there was only one O-ring (Not sure if it's supposed to be like that), but it was spraying fuel everywhere when I put the new EHA on. So I had to get two O-rings that were close enough. So it's been a bit of an ordeal, running back and forth to get the car sorted.

The car still stumbles a bit on cold start, but starts on the first crank. It still doesn't idle perfectly or at the correct speed, so (as always) there is more to do. Yesterday, after the EHA was replaced, there was a bit of an episode. We stopped at the parts store to get oil and when we came out, the car started and had a miss. It was pretty alarming. We started it and turned it off a few times, and then it run normally. Not sure what happened. One of the wires for the EHA had come loose, but holding/twisting them together didn't help. I put the new connector in when we got home.

The engine seems to be purging some oil out of the valve cover vent, is this normal or something to be fixed? With the hose disconnected, it blows a little smoke from the hole also.

Any suggestions on getting this idle right?

New plugs, wires, cap, rotor. Make sure you have the right plugs. It will make a difference. After that new motor mounts will almost certainly make a difference too.

How would motor mounts effect the idle speed?

Motor mounts won't affect idle speed but they will smooth it up a bit. If the mounts are weak tiny imperfections in the idle seem to magnify.

The motor mounts definitely are old, but the idle swings pretty drastically. I replaced the plugs. Haven't done the cap, rotor, or wires yet. I dropped 60 bucks on that EHA to get one locally. Why are plug wires for these so damn expensive?

how is the car running now? Please update.