400E

Hi! I have a question. My 92 400E has been a great car, however it has been giving this awful odor when I get out of the car. This happens even when I don't push it. I want to say gas but that is not it, Does anyone have any ideas?

I won't get too technical here or else I would have to have you read an SAE paper on this subject. To sum it up at one time nickel was used in MB catalytic converters. It was found the nickel could cause heath problems (carcinogens). Gemany banned the use of nickel in catalysts. Nickel helped inhibit the sulfur smell that you are complaining about. The new catalysts load oxygen to make them warm up sooner and they do not contain nickel. The loading of oxygen adds to the sulpher smell and without nickel the smell is much more noticable. The fuel companies were supposed to lower the sulpher content to help the problem out. Bottom line is that the new generation cats w/o nickel and getting a gas tank of gasoline with higher sulfer content can cause this. The problem is not as bad now as it was a few years ago. This is a very condensed and brief explanation. We owe alot of our problems to new regulations that may not be thought out very carefully.

Does it smell like rotten eggs? If so, it's most likely caused by a slightly rich fuel mixture being burned off through the catalytic converter. Since the '92 400E was the first year of production, it had a slightly different fuel injection configuration that the '93 and newer models. If you attempt to remedy this problem, you could lose more performance than it is worth. Hope that helps.

I have a similar car and the odor(assuming you have not eaten beans recently) could be the catalytic converter. Mine has not done this but I have heard of a known problem in the W124 V8's stinking like rotton eggs as a result of a bad cat. Hey Benzmac, your the expert, help me out on this one...

I really can't say because I have never smelled rotten eggs but lets assume it does smell like rotten eggs what do I do? Someone also mentioned the fuel regulator. The engine floods often when the temperature rises above 75 degrees. My MB dealer is baffled.