Hey guys, desperately need your help.

A buddy of mine picked up a 1995 E320 wagon this weekend and it was running fine during the test drive but two days later it wasn't. It would choke up and die after a while and after sitting for a bit would fire up just fine. Turned out to be a bad fuel pump, we could hear it ceasing up while it was running.

Replaced the pump with a good used one and took it for a ride. It worked GREAT for about a mile, then it started to cough. Once we got it home it was misfiring pretty badly. We thought that maybe the pump was already bad, but upon bench testing it was fine. We decided to replace the second pump just to be safe and it still ran terribly.

BOTH pumps are working fine.

After spending a few hours trying different things we determined that cylinders 3 and 4 are not firing. We replaced plugs with the correct Bosch ones, and replaced coil packs with new ones. Upon doing this we noticed that there was oil on the plugs and replaced the valve cover gasket. It was leaking pretty badly.

I tested it by unplugging one plug at a time and noting the difference. I then checked spark at each plug, and ALL SIX have spark. Next I unplugged one coil pack at a time, and only the 3 and 4 pack had no change. I checked the injectors to see if one wasn't getting power, and all six have 13+ volts.

The car will start, run and idle but it is missing pretty badly.

The wiring harness and throttle body are new. The OVP is new, and the fuel pump relay is new.

Anyone have this happen to them? We are taking a break now but are really out of ideas on what to do.

One more thing is that the code reader seems to be inop. No CEL's, and no blinks at all when pressing the button. It seems like it isn't getting power.

do you know the condition of the cap and rotor?

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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


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Lee, that engine doesn't have a traditional distributor cap and rotor. It has the top-mounted coil packs.

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Fred Hoelzle

try the injectors with a noid light to see if they are getting the firing pulse from the ECU.

You may also have a fuel pressure problem or the injectors of those cylinders going bad.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

When you say you replaced the coil packs, did you replace the coil wires (or the high tension leads that piggy back from one cylinder to the next), or the boots?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Packs, wires, boots, everything. Even tested them on my E320 and verified working. The problem does NOT follow a coil pack, it is constantly on cyl 3 and 4.

Just to be clear, we HAVE SPARK at all plugs.

Next step is to clean the injectors. We are assuming the car has been sitting for a while and possibly had varnish plug the injectors up.

Hey guys, I'm the buddy (owner of the car). Is there any other way to test for injector pulse if you doing have a noid light? I tested the actual injectors for resistance using a multimeter and they all read about the same. The only option I have now, is to take the injectors out and clean them one by one (syringe/power/cleaner- method)...

If you dont have a noid light get a 12V LED from radio shack or make an LED with resistor combo and install it with correct polarity in the connector.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Well, we got cylinder 4 back...

...but cylinder 3 has absolutely zero compression. All signs point to a stuck valve. Great.

i should know that since I have two 104's

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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]

Another update...

We took apart some of the head today. Got the cams loose, pulled the lifters at cylinder 3 and 4. Tested those and checked the springs...

...and unfortunately all of them look good.

Looks like we have a burnt valve or something worse.

Next plan of action is to pull the head off my parts can and have it completely rebuilt. Then we're going to swap the head out with the old one and do the head gasket (obviously). In theory, this should fix any problem that we have.

And if it doesn't then I'm going to cry.

A few thoughts.

I have had a head gasket fail between 2 cylinders only, making it seem like low compression/misfire on 2 cylinders. Since you brought one back to life that seems to eliminate that. Just thought I'd note for future searchers.

Also, when you flood a combustion chamber with gasoline on an older engine, you can make it lose compression enough to misfire. I've had this happen to me a few times as well. The rings get washed out. Did you squirt some oil in there and check compression again? Sometimes I would have to run a car for 30 minutes before it idles normally again after seriously flooding it out. It takes time for the oil/carbon to build back up so things seal better.

If your original problem was fuel, and the car was running perfectly, maybe that injector was puking fuel and washed it out.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!