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  #1  
Old 06-08-2003, 10:58 PM
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Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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Angry 94 C280 driving me nuts. PLEASE HELP!

Ok, the car has been completely revamped. New upgraded Mercedes stereo, leather, all season mats, a fresh wood trim job, new tires, so the car is basically new now again.

However, it needs a new water pump and starter, which I've ordered from a Mercedes dealer and are supposed to be arriving tomorrow via UPS.

I am having problems getting the thing to start, so after the battery is fully recharged, what else could be causing the problem? It seems as if I must give it a TON of gas, while turning the ignition in order to start the car, in order to get it to start-up. I stick the key in, the engine then makes the "I'm trying" sound and then I have to keep pumping the gas extremely hard in order to get it to crank. Yes I need a starter, however I'm thinking that the starter deals w/ an "electric" current. This seems to be a fuel issue?

What is causing this?!! I have this car completely refurbished and I'd like to drive it now.

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  #2  
Old 06-08-2003, 11:01 PM
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If the problem has the problem only after sitting overnight of after a similar long period of time, then the likely candidate would be the accumulator.
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2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #3  
Old 06-08-2003, 11:07 PM
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Thumbs up

...and may I ask what the "accumulator" is also known as, for us auto parts dummies?

Thanks!
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  #4  
Old 06-09-2003, 07:14 PM
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The accumulator is called the fuel accumulator.

I checked to see if it is listed in the PartsShop catalog, and it's not.

Call Phil at the 1-800 number and he can help you.

If you do a search for "accumulator", here is what you get:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=463290&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #5  
Old 06-09-2003, 07:52 PM
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Thanks a lot!

I am new to these boards, but man they help a lot. My "dealer" was really going to stick me hard with all of the major possible culprits, so I simply skimmed this board, started throwing some terminology at him, such as the overvolt protection relay causing problems perhaps, as well as potentially an old fuel filter, or even [gasp] the wiring harness, which I've learned Mercedes was fixing for free at one point.

You should've seen him. It looked like a frog was in his throat, he was so choked-up. Anyway, he said he wasn't sure if they'd fix the wiring harness because Mercedes was doing that solely out of kindness earlier and ever since then, every "on the street car repairman and his momma have been sending people here since 1994, for a free repair. We're tired of doing it."

[sigh]

So I've bitten the rod nonetheless. I did need a water pump so I have that arriving in the morning via UPS, along with a starter. This guy who works for my Mercedes dealer wants to do some of the work in my backyard and let me pay him much less than what the dealer costs, on the side.

He has to feed his kids and I'm a college student, so I guess I'd better let him do it for less and just shut my mouth. It sure beats taking it to his delaership, where they'd charge in excess of $90/hr for labor. Besides, he said if anything else is wrong, he'll just look over it and fix it for me, so what the heck.

What do you guys think about that? It's US vs THEM!

Last edited by Duke1Law; 06-10-2003 at 10:38 AM.
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  #6  
Old 06-09-2003, 09:14 PM
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So did you get your engine wiring harness replaced?

They are all bad from 1993-1995 on C280's and E320's due to defective insulation on the wires.

If you haven't replaced it yet, it might be a good idea to get it out of the way now before it rears its ugly head.
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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #7  
Old 06-09-2003, 09:36 PM
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He told me that they weren't going to fix that, unless I was paying $600 for it. He said they 'were' fixing it out of kindness, but that they don't have to.....
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  #8  
Old 06-10-2003, 08:34 AM
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re: harness - $600 for parts and labor ain't bad...

btw, some of mid 90's cars don't have a fuel accumulator - mine doesn't. i had similar hard starting problems recently which all went away when i replaced old fuses. they may look ok but they crack and cause intermittent connectivity problems which are hard to diagnose so change all of them...
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  #9  
Old 06-10-2003, 10:39 AM
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That's weird.

We both have 1993 cars with the M104 engine. Yours is 2.8 liters, and mine is 3.2 liters.

My engine has a fuel accumulator and I'm reasonably sure his does.
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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".
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  #10  
Old 06-10-2003, 11:01 AM
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Has a Fuel Rail...acts like an accum, but a little different..
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  #11  
Old 06-10-2003, 06:13 PM
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i was looking to change my accumulator as the #1 suspect but
phil couldn't find one in his catalog. what does this fuel rail look like arthur?
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1993 300e-2.8
- gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif
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  #12  
Old 06-10-2003, 06:20 PM
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Fuel rail is a tube/pipe that runs along the engine [ front to back]
that each injector is fitted to.
It's purpose is to have an ample regulated fuel supply as
close to each injector as possible, with each injector getting the same fuel pressure/volume input as the others ..
This is also where the fuel pressure testing port is located for flow and regulated pressure spec testing..
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  #13  
Old 06-10-2003, 08:11 PM
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thanks arthur, we were looking at the blow-up diagrams of the fuel system by the pump and filter (where the accumulator was in the m103 cars) and couldn't find anything there. this explains the mystery although it turns out that wasn't my problem...

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1993 300e-2.8
- gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif
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