1994 E320 wagon--my apologies for the long post--trying to include all relevent details.

Drove fine for 5 hours to Mercedes event yesterday, including 95+mph (up to 110) for 30 miles up Hwy 130 (including only b/c it could be relevant?).
On return (after resting 2 hours), started to hesitate and lose power with accelerating from 65 (for a pass), and over the next 60 miles continued to lose power each time I accelerated (never flooring it, but if going up a slight hill or tried to speed up), each time if I let off the gas a little bit it seemed to go OK for while, but gradually kept hesitating and going slower and slower, again each time I let off the accelerator completely it seemed to regain a fraction more power for a short time. Finally died completely. Was able to restart and get off the road and park it, and tow driver was later able to start and drive onto his truck. This felt the whole time like a fuel problem.

RPMs were always steady--no racing. Car temp normal (outside 90+ degrees). Oil pressure normal. No indicator lights. No odd noises. And turning off A/C didn't make any difference.

I was forced to leave at dealership as I was 100mi away from home and my indy mechanic.

This is the third time in <2K miles (10months) the car has behaved exactly this way--the previous times happened when gas tank was in Reserve.

First time the dealer "could not duplicate problem", but replaced OVP and fuel pump relay--report also says "air filer hosing loose, no seal between hosing and mass air flow sensor" and suggested replacing air filter housing (not done due to $$). This first time also happened immediately after Costco here had a bad batch of gas and reimbursed me $1000 to repair damage to my CLK's fuel system (and many other MBs in the area). But dealer insisted the bad gas could not have caused the problem on the E as it has an older, less sensitive fuel system.

Second time dealer said possible clogged fuel filter or screen, but my service advisor suspected likely just debris in gas tank being sucked into fuel system, and advised I just keep tank >1/4 full, which I have done faithfully.

Yesterday never let it get below 1/3 full, so seems unlikely its debris? (ALWAYS buy premium gas)

Looking for advice--don't have a lot of $ to throw at what is not my daily driver. Or short-term fix to get home where I can get fixed cheaper. Tow truck driver suggested C-foam, but friend who is a service advisor at another dealership said to stay away from that.

And still suspicious if it could be related to the bad gas. I never saw/heard exactly what the gas problem was, only that the tanker driver messed up somehow. Costco sent letters to all affected customers, and quickly paid for the repairs, reimbursed me for the gas bought, and gave me a $50 gift card for my trouble. Later saw them emptying out the underground gas tank.

If you got this far, thanks for reading! :-)

__________________
Renate


Daily driver: 2005 CLK500 Conv. 85K
Garage queen: 1994 E320 Kombi 180K (current status: Georgetown MB dealer garage!)