Help-Bought 96 e300 9/3 now "check engine" and codes!
 

Hey all,
So we bought a clean looking 96 e300 (diesel) w/ 140K, and after driving it 700 miles home without any problems (or idiot lights)- it hesitated pulling out of the driveway and the "check engine electronics" is now lighted/displayed. It is running sluggish and won't do over 60 mph. I took it to a Bosch service center and they pulled the following codes:
p1520
p1630
p1480
p1615
p1470
What worries me though is they said they can't get their scanner to "communicate with the transmission." They said they will need to try and research the codes and see if they can figure out why the tranny isn't talking to their scanning equipment, and what the codes might be associated with.

If any of you have any suggestions, it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer. -John

Does this have the switch near the shifter that is marked with a W and S?
Gilly

No W/S switch that I recall... Just the window switches...

It has the 4spd automatic in it.

That their scanner won't communicate with the transmission is a good thing, perfectly normal. What you have is the last year of a hydraulic transmission, in your case a 722.4.

Hmm- so maybe the hesitation was a result of the p1470- egr "pressure control flap transducer" issue? I know the PO had replaced the alternator a few weeks before we bought it- which might explain the p1615, and p1480? Maybe the p1630 too?

No transmission control unit to talk to.

UPDATE
 

Thank all of you for the replies!

So, I passed the info on to the techs working on the e300, including everything I could dig up on the board about the codes. So they pulled the air intake to check the egr to air intake area and "found the problem." The conversation went like this...

"Someone had stuffed a rag in your intake before the butterfly valve."
"A rag?"
"Yes, like a wadded up rag."
"Like a... a shop rag?"
"Yes, like a wad of paper towel..."
"Well... What the h*ll would they do that for?"
"We don't know, maybe they forgot it in there. We pulled it out, cleared the codes, drove it 14 miles and the code hasn't come back. We took pictures for you."

So I have 2 pictures of a wad of paper towels that rode around stuffed in my air intake for at least the last 600-700 miles....

So.... (Stop laughing!) Seriously, why would anyone shove a (clean) ball of paper towels up an e300's air intake?

Thoughts?

I'm sure it could happen to any mechanic with Alzheimers.

That's the new air filter resulting from the K&N/Bounty merger... You are supposed to spray PAM on it every two weeks...

Hilarious!
Now that was funny!

Maybe it was on top of the air filter and finally got sucked in? Has the airfilter been replaced lately?

Hey Gilly,
The air filter is really pretty dirty- so I don't think that was it. I'm going to try and source an air filter today. I'll be picking the e300 up this am. I'm REALLY hoping no codes come back...

Thanks again for the help!