HELP ME PLEASE!

NATURAL_HIGH_16

MEMBER
MERCEDES BENZ

I have a 1988 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3L. Before I state the problem, it might be helpful to give some background information. The car has been sitting for over 4yrs. No movement at all. It had an engine rebuild prior to the 4yr period. On its first trip in years, the check engine lights flashing. While the light is flashing, the car either hesitates and jerks while driving or stalls while idling or stopped. So, if the gas pedal is not down, the car will shut off. This seems to only happen after the engine is warm/after about 15 to 20 mins of driving. But of course there are exceptions. Sometimes it starts right up n shuts right off. After a bout 2 months of this, the problem has not gotten any better or worse. Can you help me?

1 Reply

2HOWARDS

MEMBER
16 POSTS

Hello,
I have a few suggestions. If the car sat for 4 years with out being driven, the first this to be done is change the fuel. The fuel goes bad and then begins to coat components in the fuel system (including clog the fuel filter). This could be PART of the problem. The flashing check engine light means the event is happening. The code you will find (in this year MB) is P0300. This will be followed by P0301 thru P0304 depending which cylinder is misfiring. The source of the misfire could be fuel related ignition related (coil, distributor cap, rotor, wires, spark plugs) or mechanical such as low compression.
Reading you note I would say you have 2 dead cylinders (experience tells me they will not stall with one cylinder miss firing). I would start with a compression test and a CLT (cylinder leak test) which will evaluate how much compression the cylinder can hold. This will also shed light on where the compression is going (valves, past the piston to the crankcase). If the engine is ok then start to tackle the remaining problems one at a time.

Please keep one thing in mind. Driving the car in this condition WILL create additional problems. For your safety you should at least have this looked at.

Hope this helps a little