Will a "bad" ETA damage modules? ('94 E420) - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Larry Delor · #16 03-15-2007, 10:18 PM

I got it from 4mercedes.com

DRICHFL · #17 03-17-2007, 01:22 AM

I notice on the 4mercedes.com site that they claim to have ETA for ASR and Non-ASR. Maybe you should contact them to make sure they did not send you a ETA that is non-ASR. My E420 is non-ASR but you are having ASR issue that would make me suspect to if they swapped the correct ETA rebuilt unit on their shelf. If your ETA does not make any high-pitch noise while ignition key switch is in the #2 position, then it is not working properly. At each start-up the ETA butterfly adjust to the correct position to allow engine to start with the correct air/fuel mixture.

My suggestion is to clear all codes and try starting the engine. Sometime you will get false codes due to the orginal issue from first scan. If the problem still exist the code will occur again.

Larry Delor · #18 03-17-2007, 03:28 PM

A fellow member fz500sel, has a '93 400E - I am going to "borrow" his EA module for testing. I'd borrow his ASR module too, but he doesn't have ASR, so I'm out of luck there.
I might give 4mercedes a call too, and make sure he sent the right ETA.

what a freakin nightmare (all because MB used defective wiring - too bad they won't fess up to it - it is costing them their reputation)

Larry Delor · #19 04-03-2007, 06:40 PM

A bad ETA will not necessarily damage modules.

How do I know? Once I replaced the D.O.A. rebuilt ETA with another rebuilt ETA, the car came back to life.

JimF · #20 04-03-2007, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Delor

A bad ETA will not necessarily damage modules.

How do I know? Once I replaced the D.O.A. rebuilt ETA with another rebuilt ETA, the car came back to life.

So the problem was the first ETA was 'bad' . . . DOA???? So did they send you another one that was ok??

As far as your first question, you can consider yourself lucky!

Larry Delor · #21 04-03-2007, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimF

So the problem was the first ETA was 'bad' . . . DOA???? So did they send you another one that was ok??

As far as your first question, you can consider yourself lucky!

Jim,

Yes, they sent another one once I was convinced that it had to be the ETA, and once I convinced the owner (?) that the ETA was Dead On Arrival. He shipped it out pretty quickly. Once I knew the shop had it, I drove over there to see if they had put it in already; they had not, so I grabbed it, and plugged it into the connector and turned the ignition on....I saw it move, and immediately knew that my odds of having my car back, had shot up significantly! Before they could get it into a freed up bay, I started to work on taking out the old one - I think they could tell I wanted my car back lol.

As a side note, the car so far, runs better than ever - no more hesitation. I'm going to drive it a little more tomorrow, to make sure - after driving the 300D for several weeks, getting back into the E420 is almost something akin to culture shock. heh

-Larry

JimF · #22 04-03-2007, 10:34 PM

So the first one you got from "4mercedes" was bad?? But the replacement they sent was good??? So you sent the DOA back for their analysis??

Forgive me for asking 'direct' questions but that's how others find out who's who. . .and what's what. . .

Glad you got it fixed. . now you got all that power in your E420. Enjoy!

Larry Delor · #23 04-03-2007, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimF

So the first one you got from "4mercedes" was bad?? But the replacement they sent was good??? So you sent the DOA back for their analysis??

Forgive me for asking 'direct' questions but that's how others find out who's who. . .and what's what. . .

Glad you got it fixed. . now you got all that power in your E420. Enjoy!

Jim,
Yes, the first one from 4mercedes was not working. The replacement was good. "Marko" asked me several questions, just to make sure I wasn't grasping at straws, and then gave the order to send another one.
My mechanic will send their bad one back, plus my old one too (he kept it just in case it wasn't the ETA)

Should I ever need to get another ETA, I'll probably get one from them again....except that it will be plugged in and double checked first, before it gets fully installed.

JimF · #24 04-03-2007, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Delor

Jim,
Should I ever need to get another ETA, I'll probably get one from them again....except that it will be plugged in and double checked first, before it gets fully installed.

Larry, that's probably one of the best ideas to come from these ETA threads. . . it's so obvious that mostly nobody does it!!!

Plug it in first to test . . but do need to wire the spring onto the throttle plate but that's not hard to rig . . . good idea!

DRICHFL · #25 04-04-2007, 06:01 AM

Larry,

Glad to hear you are back on the road. I had a friend who was shipped a bad ETA several times from another company and then he finally order one from a different company that was good. Look like you had the same problem.

Larry Delor · #26 04-04-2007, 09:05 PM

Well.....the story hasn't completely ended yet...

Today, the check engine light came on.

Code 10 (MAF voltage too high/low)

The MAF was replaced late last year - Could it be bad already/have gotten damaged by the original (bare wires) ETA?

At least it runs a heck of a lot better!

JimF · #27 04-04-2007, 10:07 PM

Funny you should talk about . . .

Checkout MENU#4a . . hot off the presses. You can 'clean' your MAF; see what happens.

At idle you should see about 1.4V or so and about 22Kgm/h flow rate@ 625 engine rpms. Borrow a scanner that does LIVE DATA and check what your MAF reads.

No voltage. . . the wire is open.

DRICHFL · #28 04-05-2007, 04:06 AM

Also make sure that the hot wire are all connected inside the air mass. If you look down into the air mass with a flashlight, you should see the hot wire connect in three places making a triangular shape. The air mass should have be handle with care doing the removal of the ETA. If the hot wire is not connect in three spots you will need to replace it with a new air mass or a rebuilt one.