Tim Freeh's description of the EA or TBA is pretty much as I understand it as well. I think, however, that a lot of the TBA's have been needlessly replaced. You really should find someone, with experience and a Mercedes Star Diagnosis system, to check your car for stored and current faults before considering replacement of the expensive items.

I suggest studying JimF's website. His description of his aux cooling fan piggy-tails points to a potential source of your problem. The engine performance is related to operating temperature. Jim offers different resistors to kick on the aux fans at different lower temperatures. Using JimF's little gizmo will keep your engine's operating temperature in a much narrower and lower range. I think that's really beneficial for engine life. One caveat: I installed one of his piggytails in my wife's 300TE. It does a good job keeping her car running cooler and at a more consistent temperature, which helps to keep the M104's chronic head gasket oil leak in check. However, in our hilly neighborhood, the aux fan runs a lot and I've had to replace a melted fan solenoid one time in the past two years since installing the piggy-tail. No such problems with my 500E.

BTW, my 500E has a chip, K & E filters, and the piggy-tail. It's otherwise stock. Normal operating temperature is in the mid-90's C. In first gear starts it spins the tires (245/45-17 S-03's) hot or cold.

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Mark Stetson
1995 E320 Wagon Moonstone Grey/Parchment 106K mi.
2007 E63 AMG Graphite/designo 75K mi