Hello,

Recently I have been having an intermittent problem with my beloved 190e. I have been scouring the forums and have been unable to find a case that exactly fits mine so I figured it warranted a new thread.

Here's whats been happening...

1) Car cold started fine, drove for 10 minutes and then stalled when I gave it gas taking off from a stop light. This was the first time I had ever been stuck on the open road in over a decade of ownership and near daily use. I did not lose electrical power and the car was turning over but the car shook like crazy when it was trying to start. After cranking it a number of times with no luck I let it cool down for about 10 minutes, tried it again and it just started up fine and I was on my way.

2) About 3-4 months later (2 weeks ago) I had a rough cold start (car shook like crazy as it was cranking) and then it started and I drove for about 2 minutes when the car stalled when I took off from a stop sign. Again, I tried to start it numerous times before finally letting it sit for about 10 minutes and it then started up fine and it ran smooth for the rest of the day no problems.

3) Today the car would not start at all. The starter turned over fine but while doing so the car would again shake like crazy. I tried for about 30 minutes to start it and when I finally did it idled ok but died as soon as I gave it gas and it hit about 1500 RPM or more. After that it would start up after several rough attempts then die once any amount of gas was given over 1500 rpm. I let it sit for 2 hours then it started up fine and ran no problem all day.

The car has 100k on it and I drive it fairly regularly so it never sits for long and I have never had a problem with starting, idling or accelerating before other than about one month before the first sign of this starting problem started my fuel gauge started to stick. I would have to drive for about 5-10 minutes before the gauge would activate.

I'm guessing fuel system but what? Vacuum lines seemed ok upon inspection. Even had a mechanic friend of mine take it for a couple days and he drove it home at night and did not find anything wrong or have the problem pop up for him. My guess is the fuel pump as it is an original part, one of many, however I have heard a few theories get tossed around that it could be the fuel relay module.

I'm stumped but don't just want to start throwing new parts at it until I get a few more opinions and possible narrow it down some more.

Anyone in Benzland run into this problem before?

Model is a 1993 190e 2.6

Cheers, D.

 

I had the same issue and after watching Kent - I replaced the Disp Cap and Rotor and that solved the issue. Also the Air Idle Sensor must be working to too. I replaced the Idle senor to insure a good idle.
Now the 190e starts very well.

 

Kent also says the voltage regulator is the culprit. I have the same symptoms with my 89 190E 2.6, and will swap out that $20 part, seems worthwhile.