Hi, this 300CE has been with me since 88. 2 months ago it started to run kind of rough. When I accelerated it wouldn't pull right away. It hesitated then started to move. Seemed like there was a clot in the fuel line preventing smooth acceleration. Then 1 month ago it refused to start all of sudden. I changed the fuel filter and the distributer cap and rotor. It started smoothly. But rough acceleration still persisted. So I replaced the spark plugs and wires. Then the car ran smoothly. But two days ago when I pulled it out of garage and switched to Drive gear and gave it a gas. It stalled. Then I tried to restart about 7 times before it would restart. I proceed to drive down the street. At the stop light, it stalled again as I tried to gas the car when the light turned green. I pulled the car to the side. I turned the key at least 25 times before it would restart again. Since then it has been in the garage. When I turned the key, the engine turned but just wouldn't start then I heard "plub plub" at the tail pipe. When I turned the key I was able to roll down windows, turn on radio and lights indicating the key fob was functioning. I suspect the fuel pump is at faul becuase I have changed pretty much all the ignition system and fuel filter. Any expert in forum please advice what could be the cause and what I should do next.

Thank you very much.

James
Don't have a lot of money but do have time and passion.

James, how long has it been since the Oxygen sensor was replaced? It's supposed to be changed every 60,000 miles. Instead of randomly replacing parts take your car to a reputable independent tech or a MB dealer so they can diagnose the problem. That's likely more cost effective and efficient than throwing parts at the problem.

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Fred Hoelzle

Uhh...an O2 sensor won't affect starting

When mine started acting like that, it turned out to be the fuel pump relay. Was quite difficult to track down, as most of the time it worked fine.

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1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

I would try to jumper the FPR and see if the car starts. I'm not sure which pins to jumer on the 300CE; you might do a search here.

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08 W251 R350
97 W210 E320
91 W124 300E
86 W126 560SEL
85 W126 380SE Silver
85 W126 380SE Cranberry
79 W123 250
78 W123 280E
75 W114 280

i had this problem on my CE a couple of weeks ago... it was the OVP.

I had a spare..so it was easy to diagnose...come to think of it, i have a spare fuel pump relay as well....

i do have to concur with others...seems more like a fuel pump relay on yours..

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1989 300ce 129k
( facelifted front,updated tail lights, lowered suspension,bilstein sports, lorinser front spoiler, MOMO steering wheel, remus exhaust,stainless steel brake lines). (Gone)

1997 s320 154k (what a ride). Sold with 179k miles. Replaced with Hyundai Equus

1994 e320 Cabriolet 108k



1972 280se 4.5 153k Owned for 12 yrs, sorry I sold it


[/SIGPIC]

have you checked for spark? pull out a plug hook wire to it and lay on top of the engine while someone cranks the car and see if removed plug has spark.

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David S Poole
European Performance
Dallas, TX
4696880422

"Fortune favors the prepared mind"
1987 Mercedes Benz 420SEL
1988 Mercedes Benz 300TE (With new evaporator)
2000 Mercedes Benz C280
http://www.w108.org/gallery/albums/A...1159.thumb.jpg

Moneypit, my suggestion to replace the Oxygen sensor was in response to the sluggish acceleration. You're correct that it won't prevent the engine from starting. Sorry for any confusion.

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Fred Hoelzle

Sorry for being confused, then.

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1989 300 SEL that mostly works, but needs TLC

K, after many months and inspections here is what I found out and think has solved the problem. I found out that my fuel filter had some leak mark on the two ends of it. So I cleaned up the mark and retightened the nuts. The stall stopped for about few months. Then one stall about one month ago. I found out that one end for the fuel filter still wasn't tight enough. No stall after the re-retightening and no leak mark so far. Recently I cleaned the throttle body and the spark plugs. That make the idle and acceleration smoother. Only one more thing to do: differential mount. Just need to figure out how the makeshift tool for replacing the mount that ppl are talking about works. Thanks

James, it would be best to replace the spark plugs instead of cleaning them.

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Fred Hoelzle