I guess I will have to bring the 97 E300D into my indy shop. It has been dying when the engine temp gets above 80C most times while in drive and idling. When it dies the ETS message comes on in the info center then the CEL comes on. It appears to only die when in drive and above the stated temperature; it will die while driving down the road too. Sometimes while driving down the road it will just die momentarily. I presume it is purely electrical since I have already replaced the K40 relay and fuel shut off valve. I have an appointment for next Tuesday while I am out of town and do not need a car so any ideas will be looked into.

__________________
Keith Schuster
2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles

Shoe,

Most guys here know that feeling all too well. We hate it when we have to bring the car to the dealer for work. Heck I even hate it when I have to get an alignment or wheel balancing work done (I am considering buying my own wheel balancer at Harbor Freight for $60) just to avoid going to the shop.

I hope they don't nick you too badly.

Good vibes! Good vibes!

__________________
Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Hi Ben. I wonder if a bubble balancer would be good enough? I've never used one. I like that smooth feeling when cruising down I-40.

__________________
1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png

All wheels need to be balanced with a Hunter road force balancer IMHO. Everything else is a waste of time.

__________________
1986 300 SDL - rolling parts car and test bed.
1987 300 SDL - semi daily driver.
1977 U1000 Unimog
2007 Ram 2500 6.7l

Firestone has a lifetime balance for about the price of 2 trips onto the machine. Their wrench jockeys are no worse than other low paying places. I just wander back to the shop & make sure they don't do damage.

Discount Tire price matches web prices - even those hat sell tires at cost & make their $$ on shipping. Pay tax, $7 each install & you're done. Lifetime balance included.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Hey Richard! I agree with Billybob. Loose grounds tend to wreak havoc on computerized components. It's a good place to start.

I bought a '96 VW jetta many moons ago for next to nothing. Would run okay and then randomly start missing and bucking. I figured it was loose grounds and it was. 'Bout 30 minutes of wrench time and it ran like a champ.

I still haven't done a thing to the '96 you sold me 'cept fuel it, change the oil and drive it.

First thing I was planning on doing is checking all the grounds and then go from there.

__________________
1998 E300 +310,000K
1996 E300 +460,000K

Glad to hear the old 96 is still running well. I will check the grounds today not a bad thought for sure...not sure why I did not check them all because that is what I was looking for when I pulled the headlight assembly out. I also plan to put a vacum pump on the intake side of the lift pump the more I drive it the more a lack of fuel supply fits. I will keep you all posted.

__________________
Keith Schuster
2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles

Firestone used to have a lifetime alignment deal for $150. I'll have to call them to see if it is still available.

***I just called them. They still have the lifetime alignment for $179.... sweet!--

__________________
Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

C'mon guys. We're trying to help Shoe diagnose issues with his car. Might you take the off-topic tire discussion elsewhere?

__________________
1998 E300 +310,000K
1996 E300 +460,000K

Thanks Lux Well I did a quick down and dirty check of grounding points that would have been impacted by body work recently finished and found all tight and clean. I plan to tee in a vacum gauge on the intake side of the lift pump just to eliminate that issue I wish I had a spec to compare with. I can definitly tell when the car is about to start acting up it will lose its smooth idle and start to surge. Not like the resonance flap surge though; I cleaned those about a month ago. It is amazing how temperature related this issue is as long as the engine is below 80C it idles and runs perfectly.

__________________
Keith Schuster
2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles

No intention of hijacking, but I use plastic BBs to balance my tires. perfect balance, and it remains that way through the life of the tire.

__________________
___________________________________________
'86 300 SDL '83 300D Astral Silver/Blue
354k miles.. 326k miles..

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...ine=1310252049

Excuse my ignorance but how do you do this? (I'm guessing you're talking about air-soft BBs?)

__________________
1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Lots of info on an "airsoft tire balancing" google search. I found a chart for the amount of weight for commercial beads and measured out the equal amount in BBs. I have my own tire machine, I just dumb x amount of BBs in before I pop the bead. Pun intended.

__________________
___________________________________________
'86 300 SDL '83 300D Astral Silver/Blue
354k miles.. 326k miles..

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...ine=1310252049

Well I had never read of this before and learned something new.

Here is one site. It also has a reference to where you can look to find a chart of how much weight of media to put in (although the weight of media is for their producth that uses ceramic balls).
http://4x4trailhunters.com/tech/read/18
How much media to use
http://www.innovativebalancing.com/tirechartmap.htm

This is something that I can actually try out. I have a Harbor Freight manual Tire Changer.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Wow. That's pretty neat.

__________________
1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png