My 1988 190E 2.3 has had a problem for the last 3 months. Once a month it
would die when coming to a stop at a light or stop sign. It has become
progressively worse. Today alone while out house hunting it died 5 times. I
started watching the tachometer while I would come to a stop and each time
the tach would drop down around 400 RPM and then bounce back up to around
600 RPM. Then I saw what was going on. I went to stop and watched the tach.
it started dropping as I stopped but instead of bouncing back up after it
drops to 400 it just died. It always starts right back up and runs fine. I
have been told this is the idle valve. I wanted to make sure the symptoms
fit the part failure. The idle valve is not cheap. Has anyone else had a
similar experience? PLEASE HELP!

-Chris Prestridge
1988 190E 2.3

My car is also 190e 2.3 1988 but manual tranmission. In my case, i only felt drop in rpm to 400 to 600 rpm only when i drive, then park then re-start. this happen almost everytime. i still cant find the problem to this. in your case, did you try looking into your fuel line? there might be clog some where.

The only things that I have seen that would cause this are the fuel pump relay and the idle valve. In some isolated cases the overvoltage relat might be related as well.

------------------
Benzmac:
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
LEAD TECHNICIAN FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

In this case, with these symptoms, would you lean more towards the fuel pump relay or the idle valve?

Thanks,

Chris Prestridge

Many times the air flow sensor is the problem. If it goes open circuit when slowing down the engine can die. Have a quality MB tech check it out.
Check SEARCH SITE for "air flow sensor".

On a decel, the amount of air metered through the idle valve is dependant on the signal that the control unit receives from the air flow sensor. If the sensor has a problem providing proper information about how much air is entering the engine then the idle valve could be set to the wrong position.The idle valve still could cause the same complaint. Have the system tested.