99 E300 TD cuts out Ph 3 <== Opinion pls Doc? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

TMAllison · #1 03-16-2004, 11:40 PM

Still having major problems.....

Breif History:

Ph1 - Car bought/shipped from Tx. to CA. Arrived w/check engine light on, parked in driveway after driven one block and wouldn't start again. Towed to Indie diesel mechanic. No codes. After 5 hours labor, checked fuel tank with dip stick to confirm had fuel and smelled gasoline. I smelled and agreed. Drained system and replaced both fuel filters and o ring, filled with diesel, still wouldnt start. Wanted to. Replaced glow plugs as two were found previously to have low resistance. Started. Idled rough. Would die at full throttle. Had modest power between 1K-3K RPM and no power 3K to 4K. Lots of air in lines.

Ph2- Indie lost lease and car ended up in my garage not running reliably. Relplaced all fuel lines, eliminated most of the air. Then at boards recommendation replaced fuel relay module. Ran like an E55....for 10 minutes. Then died. Restarted, no power. Next day, after cold start, powers back. Wow. Then died. No power. Comupter finally gave up code P0215 and P0180. Board recommended replacement of fuel shut off solenoid. Was prepared to do this myself when observed new leak at IP seal #6 and steady fuel drip from upper rear of IP where i couldnt see from above or below. Stupid manifold. Pump scared me.

Ph3- Car towed to local dealer; being worked on by tech expirienced with diesels. Two weeks have passed. Replaced shut off solenoid. Got six new IP seals and fixed leak at rear of pump. All are things I pointed out needed to be done. Service guy says car still suffers "Intermittent Shutdowns" (I love that term). Asked they check the electrical connection at the shut off solenoid as I suspected it did not have a good connection at this point. It didn't. Am now waiting for new engine harness from Germany. Am confident shutoff solenoid WAS bad and needed repalcement. Am hoping new harness will restore connection and "intermittent shutdown" episode will be finsihed.....but

Car still has check engine light on with apparently no codes again.

At same time Dealer says need new engine harness, they also say that the Catalytic Converter is plugged and is reason engine has no power (they have not expirienced the "intermittent" E55 power that I have expirienced).

When car was in my garage and was so hard to prime and start I did observe splatters of fuel?, or condensation? at the tailpipe on the garage floor.

So....The Question.

Do I really have a Cat? A Trap Oxidizer or what? (Service guy sold toyotas 3 weeks ago and has never heard of a T.O.) If the darn Cat is plugged wouldnt it be plugged all the time, and if so, how come sometimes I have a E55 and other times a lowly 240D? (sorry 240d folks) Having a hard time understanding that and swallowing $1600 to replace. Why would they have such a thing with all the greasy smoke that naturally runs thru it?

The cat would tip the scales at $4k for the dealer; so far......What do I do? Ideas?

Apoligies....brief is relative, this HAS been ongoing for 6+ weeks.

mbdoc · #2 03-17-2004, 08:18 AM

The car does have a "catalyst"! It is part of the front pipe. You could have muffler shop check for excessive back-pressure in that pipe.

Let us know if the wiring harness fixes the shut-off problem.

TMAllison · #3 03-17-2004, 10:04 AM

The harness will arrive today or tommorrow and while hoping it will resolve "Intermittent shutdown" problem, I would like to be prepared in event it does not.

To that end would appriciate input that Dealers current thought process concerning the Catalyst are plausible given the circumstances. Logical? Likely? Or not?

My Indie mechanic called to check up on how things were going, suggests a muffler shop might burn a hole in it in order to test if supposed restriction is then eliminated? Is this a viable test?

Does dealer have any test they could/should run before replacing. They seem to be grasping at air.

tower · #4 03-17-2004, 03:39 PM

I've got a 92f250 diesel naturally aspired pickup truck. If I begin to run short on fuel (on one of the tanks, remember its a ford), the engine will surge for a short period of time. This is usually my indicator to change the fuel supply over to the other tank and start looking for a fuel station. However, this is not a long surge, usually on the order of 10 to 15 seconds. I'm guessing that small sips of air are making it into the fuel rail and the injectors are obtaining better spray distributions because of the air being mixed in with the fuel.

Good luck!

JimSmith · #5 03-17-2004, 05:41 PM

TMAllison

What is the general condition of the car? Was it reasonably well maintained? Get a compression test done and if it is not ok, do a leak down or wet test to find out where the problem lies.

If the machine runs well now and then, I would expect this to be an induction or fueling, or both, issue. I wonder if you have some debris (like from rodents) or the typical intake manifold exhaust particulate and oil sludge build up to an extreme level that is interfering with the induction system functioning. I had rodents actually set up home in under the cover over the injectors on my 1998 E300 TurboDiesel. They ate the injector bypass lines and suddenly they all started leaking one day. Had to clean out all the Diesel fuel, and the acorns and other nuts and seeds they had dragged in there.

I am also suspect of your turbo output pressure to fuel system regulation interface. This used to be a device called an ALDA, but it may be something electronic on our cars. Not getting fuel due to a clogged sensor port could also be an intermittent issue.

I doubt a clogged catlyst could perform ok for a few minutes under hard load and then stop, only to work again later at some random interval. I would expect those to get good and hot under load and clean themselves out. Mine blows a bunch of soot the first time I floor the pedal, which I do routinely after it is warmed up.

Good luck and I hope this helps. Jim

joe p · #6 03-17-2004, 07:58 PM

I find a CEL with no codes a bit weird. Tell them to run it until the light comes on, leave it running and check for both current and stored in IFI and ETC.6. (tranny codes can set the cel)

Resonance flaps, egr transducers and transfer pumps will cause intermitent driveability issues. Air flow sensors will cause a lean condition (eg, no power) as will fuel temp sensors. (which are in the shut off actuator)

There is also a prefilter in the tank. At this point I'd be curious enough to remove the sender and and a look inside the tank. (I had one full of ping pong balls once, drove us mad for weeks. Damn kids.

) You might have something wandering oer the prefilter/screen at the pick up starving the pump.

I find a plugged cat a bit hard to swallow, never seen a diesel kill one except for a few of the older traps on the 603's and calif. 617's. Hell a quick test is to run in straight pipes for a long enough time to see if it falls over dead again. (get earplugs, those things are loud as hell) Or weld in a O2 mount kit and hook a guage up. (the o2 kits are available from Summitt Racing)

There is a surge trick for some of them where you add a 250K ohm resistor to the a/f harness to force a slightly richer condidtion by way of dropping the egr duty cycle. I dont have the info right infront of me but, it would not fix your imediate issue right now anyway.

Joe

TMAllison · #7 03-17-2004, 10:14 PM

Thanks all for the replys. Food for thought is welcome.

I've had the injector cover off and it is clean, poked around enouhgh to be reasonably cerrtain there are no varmits or debris elsewhere . Folks live on a ranch so know to look for this. Did find lots of grasshopper parts under the air cleaner and got rid of those early on. Nothing else found.

Car seems in reasonable condittion. Not perfect, little dirty inside in hidden areas, engine compartment is muchcleaner. Suspect it did not receive dealer maintence as have little info in the books.

As M.B.DOC suggestted, I will report back after the harness is and installed and a good solid connectio is created to the shutoff solenoid.

I did not authorize replacement of the Cat, just couldnt rationolize the concept.

Again thanks,