aolsen

Hey guys, problem:

Last week here in New York we had very cold weather, temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The afternoon after a very cold night, my gas reserve light comes on, so I drive to the nearest station, about 10 miles. I'm pumping gas, and the pump stops (like when its full). I look at the pump numbers, and it says 13 gallons. When my reserve comes on, and I fill up, it's always above 14 gallons. So that seemed strange. I put the gas cap on, etc, get in, and start the car. The fuel gauge doesn't go all the way Full. Seemed weird, since whenever I put gas, and the pump stops, the gauge has always gone up to full. I tried putting more gas, but pump kept stopping, so I stopped so as not to cause an overflow...

I drive throughout the weekend, no problem. Today I start my car with 1/4 tank, and the car starts to shake. I hear a hissing noise coming from the engine, and open the hood, the engine is shaking like a wet dog. At idle, it shakes, but touching the gas, the shake goes away. As I drive it seems fine, but when I let go of the gas it feels hesitant.

I searched the forums and have heard of people with similar problems (shaking at idle). But I wonder if that problem is related somehow to my tank not filling up. I wonder if water had frozen in the tank the night it was extremely cold, and wonder why the car wouldn't let me fill it up completely.

Now, I'm no car expert, so my theory is most likely WRONG haha...But anyways, any help is appreciated.

BTW, I filled up today, and the pump stopped, and the gauge was all the way full...

mig888

Nothing really to do with your topic...just commending you on the C-Class Soulja Boi... haha.. Good luck with the problem, M271s are pretty shaky engines!

aolsen

lol, yeah i was inspired by my unintentional drifting after a snowstorm, and by another mbworld.org member's emoticon.

aolsen

Problem was the $12 hose. I didn't know about that hose until after I made this thread.

Buellwinkle

Zero degrees, wow, in NYC or upstate? It's been in the mid-70's here. If you can ship your car here, I'l thaw it out for ya and ship it back. Almost had to go to beantown this week, glad it's delayed, I don't have clothes for zero degree weather.

aolsen

I'm in upstate New York. It was ridiculously cold. With gloves on, outside for maybe five minutes, my hand got so cold, I couldn't grab/touch anything. Felt like my fingers would break. I use my left hand to get in my car. I used my right this time. After my hand warmed up it hurt tremendously. The temp had to be like 4 degrees. It went below zero at night...

If I send my car, I'm coming with it, lol. I can't stand the cold.

aolsen

Problem was the $12 hose. It was cut right where the clamp goes. Replaced it and the car is great...

/|\/|\M-B

i have a 240 but i am also noticing the shake/rough idle......which hose did you replace???

swiftbmx

Yeah, any chance you can tell us or show us a pic of the hose that gave you the problem. Being in NY as well, I've been having this problem way too much for the past few weeks mostly when its really cold.

aolsen

It's the "partial load vent hose". It's underneath the airbox, it connects to the supercharger. I'm not sure where it would be located in the C240, I'm not even sure if the C240 or C320 would have the same problem since they don't have superchargers. Perhaps your problem is a vacuum leak from a different hose.


I'll try to get a picture where my hose is.

It's also good to remember that rubber doesn't like the cold, so it would be good to check your hoses for any cracks, tears.

swiftbmx

Thanks. Yeah I figured it would be different but I thought our 6 cylinders might have a hose that is somewhat similar. If you can get a picture that would be great.

06c230hwd

At first I thought you had yourself a bad batch of gas. Or maybe a defective fuel leveling sensor. But good fix!

aolsen

Here are some pictures of where the $12 hose is.

As you can see from the photos, we removed the airbox, disconnected the intake. The red circle shows where the hose connects to. The hose is about 7 inches in length... It's an easy fix, once you reach it. You will need pliers with a long nose. The hose clamps onto the supercharger (where the red circle is).

Kristen

How did you get the airbox off with the MAF disconnected?

ryandtinney

I bought my c230 about 6 months ago, it’s ran great until now. Had all of the symptoms you spoke of on this thread, so after removing the airbox I discovered that the vacuum line was indeed shot. I went to the dealership to purchase the OEM Vacuum line to reinstall and I was happy to learn that the part is a recall and that MB will replace it (along with another accompanying troublesome line) at no charge. They’ll clear out your check engine lights as well, and if your dealership is like mine they’ll even vacuum and wash it before you get it back. That beats the hell out of $800 for a new MAF!

2003 C230 Komp Black on Black

aolsen

sorry for my timely super fast reply to your question...

The answer: Mucho hard.

It's a pain to get the airbox off. After you get all the screws disconnected it's still held in somehow by some sort of grooves or something. You have to push it in a certain direction (i forgot, it's either forwards or back). Then you can lift it up. It's a real pain!