I started my car to warm it up and then I went to scrape snow and ice from my windows. I also helped a young woman remove the ice from her car. I got into my car, didn’t notice anything unusual, put the car in drive, and then my car accelerated like crazy. The car lunged forward a bit and the rear wheel was pouring out smoke from an awesome smoky burnout. Thank goodness you have to push the brake pedal to put the car in gear and that I kept my foot firmly pushed on the brake. I took it out of gear and put it into park as quickly as I could, but I was stunned and confused by what had had just happened. I got out of the car and just looked at it like it was crazy possessed beast of some kind.

I still don’t know what happened. I did not have my foot on the gas. I had my foot on the brakes, so I don’t know why the engine surged like that. I wondered if the choke was stuck or something. The temperature dropped almost 30 degrees while I was at work and it had been raining hard in the morning. I wondered if maybe some moisture freezing inside the motor area could have had something to do with it. It didn’t happen again the next two times I started my car.

That experience reminded me of how powerful and dangerous an automobile really is. I think we take it for granted, when everything goes smoothly, but these cars are powerful machines that can cause real damage if they get out of control.

Does anyone have any ideas about what happened to me and if it will happen again?

By the way, my car is a 1995 E320.

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I just couldn't give up on my 1995 E320.

I think it might be like always going back to that same bad relationship with an ex girlfriend.
You feel you love them too much, or you are just too stupid to know any better.



Flickr slideshow of my 1995 E320
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24145497@N06/sets/72157616572140057/

take off the air cleaner with a 10mm wrench and inspect the throttle linkage, I would expect that you will find a broken or missing spring or detached linkage

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Jerry

2004 SL500 Black 55K Miles
2002 s500 Black 90K Miles
1986 300E Gold 233K Miles
1966 Twin Cessna 320D
1989 Jeep Cherokee 233K Miles
1994 Ford Van E150 399K Miles

ksing44

Scary stuff.
Sounds like the old Audi syndrom.
I would think the rain & flash-freeze had something to do with it.
Keep us posted, but I doubt it will happen again, unless the exact same weather conditions are repeated.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

<>

I remember them.. a nieghbor here took out the corner of his own garage one morning....

It didn’t happen this morning in my garage, so maybe it was just a one-time occurrence. I certainly hope it never happens again.

My garage is concrete, so it would make a heck of a mess of my car.

__________________
I just couldn't give up on my 1995 E320.

I think it might be like always going back to that same bad relationship with an ex girlfriend.
You feel you love them too much, or you are just too stupid to know any better.



Flickr slideshow of my 1995 E320
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24145497@N06/sets/72157616572140057/

this happened to me as well....my story doesn't have a happy ending...

i bought a 1988 300e in late october in mint condition with 108k on it.... in January, one night....not cold... I started it up and put it in reverse....car went crazy..... i freaked and hurriedly put it in drive.... however I was near the street and the car went into the street and a truck literally rolled over the drivers side front fender and hood area...

it effectively totaled the car.... the cops felt so bad... they didn't even ticket me... the truck driver was sympathetic as well.

no one was hurt thanks goodness..

I parted out the car...too many good parts...

I couldn't find anything wrong with the linkage.... i had it towed to the house... pulled off some sheet metal....and it started up and ran as if new.

I thought I was going crazy for awhile.

This thread actually makes me feel better about the whole situation.

I am still sick over losing the car.

Please don't think I'm crazy, but were you wearing boots?

I find the distance between the accelerator and brake pedal in my 300SDL is a bit narrow. My size 12+ foot will sometimes bridge the gap, so that I'm applying accelerator when I'm braking unless I concentrate and move my foot more positively towards the middle of the brake pedal.

If you were wearing boots, which are wider and give you less 'feel' from you r feet, it is possible that when put your boot on the brake to shift from P, the edge of your boot pressed the accelerator.

If that happened, and you were not aware of it, the car is going to do weird stuff, like accelerate harder as you press the brake. The result could, indeed, be your smoky burnout until you put the car back in to P!

This same unintentional brake/accelerator pedal activation was found to be the most likely cause of the infamous Audi 'runaway' engines, since they never found any demons...

Best Regards,
Jim

Jim, unintended acceleration is very real - it's been going on across a number of manufacturers for several decades. Audi had very real demons. Throughout the whole ordeal while they were claiming pedal misapplication they were fixing every car that came into a dealership - some sort of a transmission modulator that was causing pressure to build up - don't remember the whole story. I had a friend, a very good driver, whose Audi took off on him twice, both before the fix, never after. The German mentality will never admit a mistake such as this, but rather to claim driver error. MB is still suffering from this. The NTHB or whatever it is is not to be trusted on this stuff - they are both very political and quite inept.

A Benz mechanic, now independent, warned me to never wash my motor in winter as he has seen cases of ice freezing the linkage in an open position.
I brushed off this advice since I've been washing motors on my cars in winter since as long as I can remember, but now I'm wondering if the Benz throttle linkage is unusually susceptible to ice buildup.

Jorg

In my humble opinion, the MB throttle linkage is the most over-engineered mess I've ever seen, what with all the rods, springs, heim joints, and the occasional bowden cable thrown in. What's wrong with a simple cable and return spring?

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1986 560SL
2002 Toyota Camry
1993 Lexus

Well if the motor only accelerated when you had your foot on the brake and the rev's went down once you put the car in Park and let off the brake I hate to tell you but your show was probably hitting the gas slightly. Yes there are other times this happens accross mulitple manufacturers. But I would say at least %75 of the time it is driver error. Remonds me of Jeep Cherokee's that supposedly did this as well. Sending vehicles through garages and all. I can honestly say I have driven almost every car made that is in the US except the high end Euro ones and have never had this issue creep up. I have had my foot hit both when I did not realize it but never with a vehicle in gear. See the way I do it it I do not shift the tranny out of park until the engine settles properly. If in a hurry I pump the gas once or twice to settle it and makes sure all is free and clear on the throttle linkage. Also have a pair or two of shoe's that when in my 190E due to the crap amount of space by the pedals I have problems depressing the brake due to my shoe edge hitting the panel above the brake that drops down for the steering column in the center. I have this happen everytime I wear the shoes. And some day will probably miss the brake pedal in a hurry!

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~Jamie
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2003 Pewter C230K SC C1, C4, C5, C7, heated seats, CD Changer, and 6 Speed. ContiExtremes on the C7's.

1986 190E 2.3 Black, Auto, Mods to come soon.....

I know in my case, I have tried to reconstruct the shoe on the accelerator issue...but don't think that happened...anyway it is all over now..parted out the car, got another 300e.