please help!
I HAVE A 1992 190E 2.3L. I HAVE CHANGED CAP,ROTOR,WIRES,PLUGS,AIR FILTER,AND DONE OIL CHANGE. MOTOR IDLES SMOOTHLY, BUT WHEN ACCELERATOR STEPPED ON HEAVILY, IT RUNS ROUGH AND SERIOUSLY LACKS POWER. WHEN YOU LET OFF OF THE GAS PEDAL SLOWLY DURING ACCEL, MOTOR SMOOTHS OUT.


ANY INPUT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Clogged catalytic converter?

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1998 C43 ///AMG
1999 C230 Custom 5-Speed Manual

HOW DO TOU TELL IF THE CAT CONVERTOR IS CLOGGED? ALSO COULD THE PROBLEM BE A FUEL PUMP ISSUE, HOW DO YOU KNOW?

I had same problem-turned out to be a clogged cat.! I DON'T know if this is your solution, it was mine though.
Good luck!
-M

I WILL TRY THE CAT, THANK YOU. IF ANYBODY ELSE HAS A THOUGHT ON THIS IT WOULD BE APPRECIATED, I WANT MY CAR BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN. THANKS AGAIN.

I would be happy to reply to this thread IF you repost your question with the caps lock shut off.

Gilly

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1994 C280, dark green metallic
105k miles

1991 190E 2.6, Black
191,500 miles
(sold to another forum member)

2003 Chevy Tahoe LT, Redfire Metallic
105k miles

1989 Mustang GT Cobra Convertible
43k miles

I appologize for the all caps, I did not realize this was rude. Somebody just explained it to me. If you have any new info it would be appreciated. thank you.

I vote for the throttle position sensor.

To me, the rough running when accelerating hard (and not just lack of power) suggests an ignition problem. I also vote for testing the throttle position sensor - you can test the actual switch is working with these steps I discovered:


[I]Drive at 30mph in '3', and shift from '3' to '2' with your foot off the accelerator. If it bangs down into 2nd gear with a jolt, your switch is working OK for zero throttle. If you do the same thing with even a tiny bit of throttle, it should slip quite a bit, letting you rev the engine fairly freely, and not instantly engage 2nd gear with a thump.[/I}

If you can get these 2 different behaviours, the switch is fine.


Have you tried changing the coil?

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190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg

I agree that plugged cats are quite likely, and cost nothing to test.
Plugged fuel filter is another possiblity, and given that you seem to prefer the "shotgun" approach rather than diagnosis and testing, if you don't know when the fuel filter was last replaced, you could also try that, it's due every 60,000 miles.
One other thought is possibly the transmission kickdown cable (throttle valve cable) is disconnected or misadjusted? These 4 bangers definitely need to drop a gear when accelerating hard to get into the power band, otherwise dog-city!

Gilly

ps The 102 engine has those pair of pre-cats, that's what normally plugs up, pretty common on these 2.3's, seen a few of them, it can ultimately ruin the engine, so check that out.
Did you use the correct Bosch plugs in it? The "Platinum" and other fancy electrode plugs are usually bad news on these engines, it should be running non-resistor plugs, which most of these "whiz-bang" spark plugs are not.

Thank you for the input. I'll change the fuel filter, and then take it and get the cats tested. Hopefully that will do the trick. Thanks again.

You don't need to take it anywhere to test the cats, you can do it yourself.

Gilly

That sounds great. I have been questioning how you can tell if the cats are clogged. I wonder because I still have a flow of exhaust coming from the tailpipe. Please let me know.

Just loosen up the pipes at the exhaust manifolds and see if it runs OK then.
Don't leave it like that, just drive it long enough to tell if it's fixed, and have the windows rolled down. It'll be loud, and you can get exhaust fumes into the cabin, so please, just see if loosening up the pipes fix it, that's all, this is NOT a repair!

Gilly

ps: You'll feel exhaust coming out at idle, and it's idling fine, right? The problem is when you bring the rpms up under load, if the cat is plugging up, it won't flow ENOUGH exhaust under those conditions and you build up too much backpressure and have poor scavenging on the exhaust stroke= no power.