C280 stalling immediately after start-up
 

1999 C280, 108,000 miles, starts then immediately stalls. It will restart then stall again. Mydaughter said it did this once last week when she drove it, but hasn't done it again until today. I replaced the battery last night after the old one died. Any connection? Or other issue I should be looking at?

If she gives it gas right away it seems to catch and keep running fine with no other symptons such as rough engine, bucking, etc.

The gas tank low fuel light is on. Dirty gas a possibility. guess I shoud fill up and see if the problem goes away.

Thank you for any sugggestions.

Check Engine Light?

The CEL has been on for years so I guess I can't go by that.

Would the key have anything to do with it after battery disconnect? Do things other than the radio code and clock have to be reset?

Possibly crank position sensor bad?
Bad MAS wouldn't cause these symptoms would it?

I'm trying to think of anything I have heard of regarding this type of stalling.

Tonight it stalled 4 or 5 times immediately after starting, then ran normally.

Thank you.

Does anyone know if this car has an RF sensor or DAS (driver authorization system) that might cause problems after trying to start the car on a dead battery?

It has something even better than that. A system that diagnoses what is wrong and TELLS YOU! Isn't that a great feature?

Fill it half-full with decent fuel (see toptiergas.com) and then have someone pull the code. It's an OBD-II compliant vehicle, so just about any parts store can pull it. There's probably an indy around that does free code scans as well.

If you do take it to a parts house, don't try and let them interpret it for you - just get the code and report back. It should be P0300 or something similar if it's engine related.

Also, any particular reason you've rendered the onboard diagnostic system useless in the vehicle that carries your daughter around?