EGR or spark plugs???
 

My 2000 ML 430 starts just fine. Then it will die a few miles down the road - basically when the engine gets warm. It kranks but won't start. If you wait 30 min to an hour it will start back up and go a few more miles.

I had it diagnosed this morning at a local shop and they tell me I need a new EGR and that 2 cylinders are not firing.

Does anyone know which of these two issues is causing my problem? The shop (of course) doesn't know. Which one do I do first? Can I replace only 2 of the spark plugs? What exactly is an EGR anyway?

Help!!!

I think they're taking you for a ride...............

A fault in the egr system will only make you loose power at most.

As for not firing on 2 cylinders......each cylinder has 2 spark plugs, the odds of 4 spark plugs or 2 coils failing together are slim. The ecu can shutdown cylinders though. I've seen a V6 running on 1 cylinder.....it just shut everything down.

Does the shop you've taken it to have a scanner to read the fault codes?

It sounds like the crank angle is failing, they usually fail when the engine is hot and the engine will die suddenly. Make sure they can read fault codes otherwise they are wasting your time and money.

My mother had similar symptoms in her 1999 E430, and just as Alex says in the previous post, the problem was the crank angle sensor.

I agree - i had that problem crankshaft position sensor.
 

you need one torx deep socket (or a narrow shallow)
and $60 +- crank shaft position sensor.

took me 20 minutes the 1st time and 3 minutes the 2nd time to replace.


I replaced my fuel filter then fuel pump 1st. no change.
(ML320)

ml 430
 

where exactly is this crank sensor? and how do i go about replacing it? i'll also look at other posts further back in the forums. thanks for your help.