g3llings

Hey guys,

I just bought a 1995 C280 from my brother about 2 months ago. About a week ago I noticed that it started misfiring occasionally. If you shut off the car and started it back up the misfire would go away and the car would run fine. Now over the last few days it has gotten much worse, shaking very badly in park, and as soon as I switch to drive or reverse the engine drops to about 300rpm and almost stalls. I have checked the plugs, wires and the coil packs. I found that the wires to one of the coil packs were fried. Not sure what happened there? I fixed that but the car still runs very rough, and has almost no power. Also, when I hit the accelerator the car actually misfires so much that i move slower than at idle. Any suggestions what could be causing this? I have cleaned the MAF sensor but no luck so far... Maybe the car is still in limp home mode due to the broken wire to the coil pack?

Anything helps... My car is basically a $4500 driveway accessory for now.



Update:

After disconnecting the battery for 20 seconds, the car runs a lot better... so it is not in limp home mode anymore. However, there is still a misfire that I do not know the cause of.

xvvvz

Take it to autozone and get the codes read for free with their loaner scanner.

Also, has the engine wiring harness ever been replaced? If not, that is the first place I would start looking since they were all made out of defective material that year.

g3llings

Haha, great... defective material. Isn't a factory harness about $1300? Yeah I think I will take it to autozone now that it's running good enough to drive. Last night I called to see if I could borrow one of their scanners but they said that's the one thing they don't loan out. Perfect, right? Thanks for the advice and info about the harness. I don't think it has been replaced... but I know that my brother replaced the coils and wires leading to them... Probably why the one fried... it looked like it had been pinched under the cover.

xvvvz

Yeah, they tried to use some environmentally friendly material and the stuff just turns to dust over time. There is a guy over at benzworld's w202 forum that will rebuild your harness for a lot less. People have been happy with his work. I think he goes by doin12volt.

g3llings

Well, it turns out that it's an OBD I connector that is similar in shape to the OBD II connector so autozone can't do anything for me. And on top of that, when I got there I smelled oil burning.... turns out I've got oil leaking onto the convertor. I just can't catch a break.

AND the car is back in limp home mode. I'm about ready to get rid of this car...

xvvvz

From what I have read across the w202 forums, the 95 MB is OBD II compliant. Sometimes scanners readers get crabby and you have to know how to get them to read (mine can be). Autozone guys don't know this, experience a problem reading, then instantly fall back on "oh it must not be OBD II compliant" and give up.

g3llings

I watched and the plug wouldn't fit though. Unfortunately the dealer is closed until Monday... looks like im borrowing my brothers car for the weekend. Im not looking forward to dealer prices either...

g3llings

turns out one of the coil plugs actually did go bad... even though it ran rougher when i pulled it off? hmm. Got that fixed but there is still a small misfire. Gotta guess the MAF sensor now...

RedG

A lot of 1995s (over all makes) were actually OBD 1.5. Some scanners work, some don't.

g3llings

Its not at idle though, I only feel it between 600 and 2000 rpm. When I switch to drive or reverse it still drops to about 600rpm.