16v Need Major Help
 

Sorry to post this again. My 1987 190e 2.3-16v has been having trouble lately. For about a week now the oxygen sensor has been coming on. It comes on every once and a while. Lately, it flashes on and the engine chokes/stutters simultaneously. It's fine sometimes...5 min drives and such...but after driving for 20-30 min it starts to choke every now and then. Sometimes it will stall completely unexpectedly. This leads me to believe that my previous thought (The Cat Convertor being blocked up) is not true. In one case, the engine was cold and it began to choke and stall incessantly with 02 sensor light on within 5 min of driving the car. My thoughts are...Loose connection on the 02 sensor, causing imbalanced fuel/air mixture...Possible blockage of the cat convertor (though it passed smog only 2 weeks ago)...Need new 02 sensor completely...Major Damage to fuel system (injectors, pump...) Please help, the car is inoperable. Thanks for your time.

Quinn :(

i would start by replacing the o2 sensor and seeing how your syptoms resove or change at that point. clearly you need a new one so it's a good place to start. nopi.com has the right sensor for this car at a good price. i bought my new sensor from them a year ago.

Argh
 

The thing about the 02 Sensor is...we looked under the car and it's brand new...Unless the previous owner polished it up? Well any other suggestions? :confused: I'm so lost...I'm supposed to drive to San Diego this coming weekend and I don't want to be stranded on the freeway or be prevented from going at all :( Well thanks again...

Quinn
:)

that's wierd. i can't really think of any better place to start though. there really shouldn't be anything that fouls up your 02 sensor that quickly, if it's a relatively new one. maybe MB Doc or one of the other experts have some idea about it.

Maybe a brand new plugs,caps and rotors.

if it hasn't been done since the car was new, plugs, cap, rotor, and probably wires are a must, even if those parts have nothing to do with your problem. you're probably overdue. you'll be happily suprised at how much performance can be restored with under $100 in parts.

Quinn,

Don`t you just love these 16V...(not)....some days I want to sell mine and buy a Toyota.

You need to go through the factory cd`s fuel injection testing section for the 16V. You might have a sensor that is shorting out when it gets to operating temps.

You can unplug the O2 sensor and drive it without it to see what it does when it is not in the loop. But I wouldn`t leave it unhooked for weeks.

Tinker

It sounds like your having problems once your car warms up. Temperature sensor possibly?

my 16v did the same thing when it idles for 15 mins or more, i changed the cat(plus because of a rattle all 16v are known to get) and the o2 sen. and the problem went away
plus bosch recomends that we change the o2 sen every tune up
to keep a good running car, hope this helps
dave

DaveCT:

Had my catalytic changed less than 1,000 miles ago (2-years). Now it sounds like a hive of bees (or, worse yet, a "ricer") when I hit 3,000 RPM -- buzzes like crazy in all gears when I hit the magic 3,000 RPM. Noticed on a past maintenance invoice, the "heat shield" was worked on to mitigate a rattle. Any other thoughts on where the "beehive" might be?

Thanks!

Brian16V

The heat shield is usually the cause of the rattle because once it gets loose, it just rattles around on top of the cat. If your sure it isn't that, check all of the mounts such as the exhaust to transmission mount. You may find one broken rattling around. If it isn't that, there is either something in your exhaust system rattling around or your catalitic converter is broken.

brian16v....
 

i'd bet my life-no,make that my wife;) -that your rattle is exactly that-your heat shield.the shields are usually just tack welded to the exhaust and over time these welds break.what may seem tight at rest can vibrate once your under way.i've found a screw hose clamp around the shield and exhaust(if you can't get a big enough one try joining acouple together) will do the trick.good luck:)

what was the brand of cat did you put on , i know,most cat companies can't make a 16v exhaust. (correctly) even timevalve
stop making them and told me they cant even do it correctlythere rattled after a few months, before i bought my 16v there was a brand new catco cat on there and guess what ,it was starting to buzz under load, 1 mo of hard driving it was hissing, rattling buzzing,
my freind also has the same thing happening with his 16v
O.E works well for a time
ANSA Freeflow works well for a time . that is what I got from Bekkers

Yeah, found a couple more past maintenance records relating to the heat shield. I'll be goin' under the car this weekend to install my Bilstein Sport shocks (front only) and H&R Sport springs (4 corners) -- I'll do a check of the heat shield at that time.

Thanks for all the hints. Check my other posts for tonight -- feedback would be appreciated.

Brian16V

I just ripped the stuff off the cats on my 16 valve when it started that rattling. Couldn't stand it any longer and a dozen attempts to stop it failed, so it was gone. No more noises. Jim