C230 intermittent misfire; fine on restart...
 

Sorry if this may have been previously or indirectly addressed...

1997 C230 (145K) intermittently begins to chug/misfire, etc. while driving. If engine is turned off and immediately restarted, vehicle runs fine again. It's been doing this (intermittently) for months. NO check engine light, however OBDII has indicated cyl. 2 misfire in the past (possibly tripped as a by-product?). I've heard of various probable causes, most recently the crank sensor. Surely disappearance of the problem upon (immediate) restart helps to fine-tune a diagnosis? Any thoughts? Thanks much!

check the spark plugs and the fuel injector on Cyl 2. if there fine, then tis the coil pack. bout $100 or so

usually happened to me when i would come offthe highway, i guess from pushing her a litttle harder then normal.

Thanks for the replies -- previous one suggested possibility of oil from camshaft sensor area leaking on/into the wiring harness, but there's no oil leaking from/around the sensor. The 'already tried' info includes mention that when the problem first surfaced plugs & wires were changed, injectors were checked, fuel filter replaced, and coils were swapped (...but OBDII still pegged cyl. 2 as the error, which I think may just be a 'by-product' of the real issue.

Still wondering whether the crank sensor is a possibility. What possible problem(s) would (immediately) 'reset' with the restart??

A knock sensor. I even think crank and cam sensors remap when u restart the car.

Thanks for the response... I won't likely be able to address anything for a little while (...work & commute way too many hours -- it's also tough to reply here in a timely fashion!). I'm going to order some parts, including a knock sensor, and when I get the chance to install I'll swap two injectors as well (didn't do that before, just the coils), since the only OBDII code I continue to get indicates cyl. 2. Will this thread stay open in the meantime?

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I have a 97 c230 doing the exact same thing on cylinder 3 what was your problem? Did you ever figure it out? Please help, I'm at a loss here even my mechanic can't figure it out

Has anyone experienced the problem described above-and found the solution? I'm going to install a set of new coils, leads, and plugs tomorrow, but really, it's just a shot in the dark. It bothers me that it's intermittent. Why would it do that??? If it does work, I WILL post back. It's aggrivating when peopke don't do that!

In my case, it was NOT anything in the ignition system. New plugs, wires, and coils did nothing to effect it. It turned out to be a blown head gasket. I only clued in to this after observing what I thought was more than average water vapor coming out of the tailpipe on startup. I got this stuff called 'K-Seal' from the local auto parts store and you know what? It worked! The misfire went away, as did the water vapor out the tailpipe on cold starts. I just hope it holds long enough for me to gather all the stuff to have the head rebuilt+gaskets.

I have on a few different vehicles. If it wasnt coils it was the knock sensor.

That's quite a strange symptom for a knock sensor. As stated in my previous entry, in my case it's a blown head gasket.