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shertex · #6 11-18-2010, 09:56 PM

Here's my friend's description of the situation:

Bought 1995 E300D mid-summer. It had been traded in by the daughter of an elderly woman. I did battle with the used car manager who took it in trade. He wanted to buy it personally. In August the car started stalling after I’d driven it for a 3-4 thousand miles or so. My independent mechanic couldn’t diagnose the problem so I took it to a Benz dealer. They said that they thought a small fragment from a part or hose had made its way down the fuel line near the engine and became an obstacle to fuel flow. They cleaned it and put in a new fuel filter. Car acted fine until mid-November. Same thing stalling after 3-4 thousand miles driven. I took it back to the Benz dealer.

Specifically when this happens it stalls about a half mile down the road, then again another half mile further. Then it doesn’t run as smoothly as one would like but it doesn’t stall again. At times you can feel it slow down as if fuel flow is being ever so slightly impeded however. If I let it warm up (summer or winter) for 15 minutes (no less) it does not stall.

I made several suggestions to the service writer who said he would give them to the mechanic. He had the same person work on it as he did in August (“not all the guys remember how to work on these…”). Among my suggestions were 1) I had heard the biodegradable electrical harness went bad in these almost immediately. I thought it was unlikely to be that but had it been replaced? 2) There was a recall item involving stalling but that had already been done. 3) was there rust in the fuel tank? 4) does the glow plug system only appear to be working but in fact is not?

The mechanic reported back that the rubber seal around at the base of the new (as of August) fuel filter was already deteriorating and that when he removed it the filter seemed abnormally heavy. He now believes that there is rust in the tank (perhaps the elderly woman only filled it up half way and then didn’t use the car). He thinks that the rust it entering the fuel filter and after building up sufficiently it causes the stalling because not enough fuel is getting through to the engine. The service writer advised that my choices were to:

· Sell the car

· Frequently replace the fuel filters for as long as the car will run.

· Replace the entire fuel system the parts of which would alone cost $4,800…plus labor. He didn’t advocate this solution necessarily but it seemed clear that he (and I followed up with the same question to my independent mechanic) believed that in these circumstances that replacing the tank itself would be insufficient. I should have quizzed him further but the thought was that everything leading from the tank to the engine would need to be replaced. Not sure why. Perhaps as a precaution or perhaps the lines themselves can be damaged by rust running through them. Feeling like it is a total loss but not sure.