ERPhoto

I will start out by saying that Im fairly new to this board. Ive been lurking for a few months and have only posted once or twice. Ive done extensive searching and havent found anything that has been able to help thus far. Basically my gfs car wont start. here is the short version
2004 C230 Kompressor
It would shake when stopped at a light sometimes and stall every once in a while when the tank was below 1/4 tank. I went through and changed some things I thought should be changed based on what i had read here. Oil, Air filters, fuel filter, spark plugs. She said it was running better. then one day it wouldnt start. took it to a shop that her dad knows the owner of and so far they have changed the crank sensor, fuel pump, the fuel pump relay. and it still wont start. they were sure it was the fuel pump. i dont know what to do. i want to just figure it out and go buy the stuff and fix it because its putting too much stress on her and me both her not having a car and i have to drive her places. we both work and barely have money for the bills so taking it to MB is out of the question. any guidance would be very much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Down and out Boyfriend......

OneOfaKindTrini

Did you clean the MAF?

ERPhoto

Oh yes. that was another thing I did. Would that keep it from starting all together though? I guess thats a moot point now, but just curious.....

e1000

Does it have a CEL? Sounds like it could be a coil pack

ERPhoto

It had several codes that I pule off of it with my OBD II code reader. I dont know which ones are still coming up after they have done work on it. Im getting all my info from her as I work too much to be able to go there when the shop is open. I remember the codes I got initially were

P0128 coolant thermostat ( coolant temp below thermostat regulating temp) P0600 serial communicator link P0171 system too lean bank 1 P0130 O2 sensor circuit bank 1 sensor 1 P0133 O2 sensor slow response bank 1 sensor 1 P0134 O2 sensor circuit no activity detected bank 1 sensor 1

I dont know whats still showing up and if there are any new codes. Im waiting to hear back but it sounds like i need some help from some MB pros here......

ammar_rage

sorry to hear about ur problem buddy. OK...p128 and p600 can be pretty much ignored at this point. thermostat wudnot stop the car from starting or running, you might be running cold or hot but thats not the issue at this point. Now as far as the other codes go, it seems like ur o2 sensors are busted but none of those codes above should prevent the car from starting or running, it wud just run poorly.

Please explain exactly what happens and when you turn the key in ignition, look for all the basic and obvious things. Like the guy before me said, it could be the coil pack...so but its important to know at what point the failure occurs, is it an electrical problem or something else.

LILBENZ230

Also, consider not throwing parts at it. That is expensive and time consuming.

The M271 is known to have oil leak into the wiring from the cam magnets on the front of the engine. Check those for oil leaks, as they can migrate to the O2 sensor and cause trouble.

ERPhoto

Ok. Talked with the shop this morning. Fuel pump was replaced as was the battery. It starts and runs...... Barely, sputters really bad. O2 sensor code is coming up saying the fuel is too lean. Not sure where to go from here........

LILBENZ230

Replace the 02 sensor seems like the absolute logical step. Also, do like I said and check for oil leaks from the cam magnets on the front of the engine. If oil migrates into the wiring harness it can cause all sorts of issues.

ERPhoto

Thanks for your feedback. So will it be pretty obvious where the leak is on the front of the engine. I know this sounds like a stupid question, I'm just not sure if the leak issue you mentioned is from somewhere specific or just somewhere on the front of the engine. Also the magnets you said are affected by the leaking, where are those located and how can I identify them. I'm an MB super noon. Thanks for all the help everyone

LILBENZ230

You have to take the front of the engine cover off and there are two magnets, circular, with harnesses plugged in. You won't see oil leaking. You have to unplug the harness and look for oil inside of it. Mercedes designed adapter wires that prevent oil from leaking into the wiring. Lots of us installed these adapters on our cars, myself included. I installed them at 41k miles and nearly 80k miles later my car is fine. Search around on the forum and you'll see lots of discussion about this.

Glyn M Ruck

Check fuses 31, 52 & 57 in the front SAM - all required to enable start. If it won't crank at all then replace fuse 52. Fuse 52 is under spec'ed at 15A - replace with 20A is per a Benz TSB.

LILBENZ230

It cranks, starts, but runs poorly.

Glyn M Ruck

That seems to have changed if I read correctly.

LILBENZ230

Later he said this. Who knows?

amanonfire

Here's the thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...m-sensors.html

There have been cases reported of the ECU being fried cause too much oil seeped through the wire harness and into the ECU. Considering the O2 sensors are throwing codes, it means a lot of oil has probably leaked down through the harness and destroyed the sending units on the O2 sensors (which are in the connectors, attached to the wire harness).

The O2 sensor issues would not cause the engine to run rough, just really degrade performance, so I suspect it might be something else or a combination of things.

OP, have you had the recall done for the vacuum hoses? These can cause the car to run rough: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...rk-recall.html

Sounds like you've got a typical M271 engine with issues compounded by lack of maintenance. Sorry dude.

LILBENZ230

It is unfortunate that you have had issues with your car, but several of the engines in the W203 have known issues - not just the M271. There are a lot of us, myself included, who have trouble free versions of the engine.

amanonfire

I'll correct for what you meant to say:

Several of the engines in the W203 have known issues - not just the M271. Some of us, myself included, have luckily addressed these issues before they became problems and after Mercedes finally recognized them as issues.

Without people like me who found the issues early on you wouldn't be so lucky. For those who don't visit these forums, or don't service their vehicles at a dealership, they won't be privy to this information either thus why I changed "a lot" to some.

I'm sure if those members who reported these issues here knew you would be rolling your eyes later at their plight, maybe they wouldn't have posted to help you and laughed at your misfortune instead.

LILBENZ230

I am not making light of problems that have cost people significant amounts of hard earned money. It is certainly inexcusable for newer, low mileage cars to have issues. However, this happens to all carmakers and they pretty much all handle it the same. Some examples:

Honda: This company went through a period of 7-8 years where they simply didn't know how to build an automatic transmission. The transmissions were failing left and right due to design flaws and they had to be FORCED via class action to do something about it. They recalled them for a bandaid fix of an oil jet kit to cool second gear but that didn't work, finally they extended the warranties. But today people with these cars still suffer transmission failures regularly without recourse as all the cars have exceeded the 7 year warranty forced by class action.

Toyota: Toyota blamed owner's lack of maintenance for rampant oil sludge problems that plague a lot of their late-90s and early-00s cars. Finally they were forced to do something. IIRC, this involved a 14 year and unlimited mileage warranty. I know my ex got a letter for his 1998 Camry saying it was covered when it had 177,000 on the clock.

Those are just two examples. The failures had to start somewhere with any of these scenarios. Mercedes is no different, and like the rest of them, as time went on they improved.

What do you want exactly? This Mercedes-did-this-to-me attitude is not helpful or productive. There are bad ones of every make and model and Benz is not the only company to slip up and then deny the issue for a bit. Is it right? No. Would another brand have been better? Hard to say, possibly, possibly not. Mercedes didn't set you up to fail, nor did they have a crystal ball.