I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada in a city of about 110,000 people at the top of Lake Superior. Needles to say its pretty tough to get any Mercedes advice here with only one Tech at our Local Dodge dealer.
Anyways, I have a 1997 E320 Sedan, Charcoal grey with a 3.2 gas job.
When I first bought it it purred like a kitten no matter what. I drove it throughout the winter and just recently I started to have sputtering problems with it. When it is in drive or reverse it starts to sputter like its starving for gas, but as soon as I throw it into neutral it hums. It has gotten a bit worse over the last couple months.
Does anybody out there have any Ideas what it could be????
Thanks My email address is tony.p.444@hotmail.com

to tech help for answer.

How many km on the engine? My 300CE did something similar and it turned out both motor mounts needed replacement. I would also consider a bad injector(s) or spark plug(s). When was the car last serviced?

I'd say first thing would be to check (and probably replace) the spark plugs. Note their condition when removed. Has the coil(s) or wire set ever been replaced either, that stuff is all 12 years old now and may be due for replacement.

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Thanks for the advice guys, I also thought it may have been injector problems but then wouldn't it be happening all the time and not only when it is in Drive or Reverse? I will however check the plugs and try some injector cleaner. Thanks again and if anybody else has any suggestions I welcome them. toneloc7777

Could be a bad motor mount, when they go bad the fuel system has a hard time keeping the ignition & fuel injectors in sync.

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