MBNiko

Hey guys,
My car has been feeling slower lately. I dont know if it is because of the weather or not but the throttle response is definitely more delayed. It is not quick off the line like it used to be. Even in automanual mode....

I have a K&N filter with custom intake and a Eurocharged Tune.


Has anyone else felt this problem? What could it be?

Midnight Koop

when was the last time you cleaned your K&N?

whenever i clean mine (not often enough), my car feels like it breathes much better... and i feel that the throttle response is better.

MBNiko

I might have to do that. I live in Indiana and drove the car down to Florida a couple weeks ago. Havent cleaned it since I left for FL.... No codes or any lights are on either btw. Hopefully it is just an airflow problem like that.

LILBENZ230

As it gets hotter the C230K will feel slower, at least that is my experience with the car over the past 4 years. Try the throttle reset procedure.. search the forum.

MBNiko

Noticeably slower? I hope this reset works! I'm getting retuned this week as well.. Hopefully lol

LILBENZ230

Mine does get noticeably slower in the southern heat/humidity, yes.

Midnight Koop

i can second this... the main reason why i enjoy driving to work in the morning when its 10-15 degrees colder rather than the return...

LegitLifeStyle

I have a eurocharged tune and I did a throttle reset and the car "felt" like it came back to life. Obviously it's not any faster but for rev matching downshifts and heel and toeing it made a big difference. It's like a free sprint booster. Just drive aggressively initially to set the throttle into a more aggressive initial parameter for the ECU to learn around.

I'd also say that ambient air temp plays a huge role with our cars... in winter it's noticeably faster and can chirp and spin 2nd a bit, 70 degree's and it's noticeably slower.

MBNiko

It just feels so strange like I hit the gas and...... nothing happens. The engine revs up but im not moving as fast as I can! I didnt realize how much the weather delays the M271. I just go back from going out to eat and it was much faster b/c its about 47 degrees tonight. Would a bigger intercooler for our supercharger fix this problem?

I wouldnt care so much but I hate how slow the car gets!!!

RedStripe

It shouldnt be that noticeable.
Any car is going to run a little peppier with a colder/denser IAT.
However what you're reporting doesnt sound normal.

I'm not an M271 owner, or Id propose some things to check.
My first thought would be something to do with the supercharger. Not everything is going to necessarily have a CEL pop up, especially if the problem isn't full-blown.

The car isn't misfiring or hear a pinging is it?

Is there not anything that anyone with a m271 can think of that could be causing this without a CEL?
How many miles on the car? When was it tuned? Mail-order or cable-tune?

Cleaning the K&N shouldn't be a fix for this degree of hesitation that you feel.
While on that subject - I hear of folks cleaning their filters wayyyy too often. Obviously K&N has struck gold with the marketing ploy behind offering their "recharge" kit. Also sounds like a good way to clog up a MAF with filter oil.

Changed your fuel filter ever?

LILBENZ230

You hit the gas and the engine revs but the car doesn't move? Like the transmission is slipping?

MBNiko

This weekend the car was acting fine. Pulling hard in 3rd like usual and good acceleration. It was pretty cool out.

There's about 62k miles at the moment. I got it tuned around 59k I believe. The car is not misfiring.

LILBENZ- The trans isnt slipping, its catching its gear but the acceleration was so poor. This might just be weather related because like I said, the car was pulling great this weekend at night. Maybe I just wasnt used to warm weather in it? Ive only had the car since sept/oct..

LILBENZ230

It is noticeably different in the heat.. I've noticed that since I picked my car up in July of 2008. I have 133,500 miles on it now (109k mine) and it's always been that way. Sluggish in the heat, zippy in the cool weather. I had Trey turn desert mode on with STAR, I'm anxious to see if that makes any difference this year with heatsoak. This mode turns the fan on 10C cooler than normal.

MBNiko

That is awesome!! I wonder if Jerry at Eurocharged can do that for me... I was thinking we can get bigger intercoolers so that our S/C can get more, cooler air.

Also, how is your intake set up? Do you have a custom one?

LILBENZ230

Stock intake. These cars do not benefit from custom intakes at all.

harrison1277

Check out my thread, just made a nice custom intake for the m271

LILBENZ230

That's nice and all, but it won't benefit the car whatsoever. It'll probably draw in even hotter air than the stock intake and that would only hurt performance.

WaynerMenard

I got it tuned around 59k I believe. The car is not misfiring

harrison1277

Ive tested this over the last 500 miles, on a long road trip I've compared engine temps

When I pull over on the highway the intake itself is much much colder in comparison to any other part in the engine or any part of the airbox that is unwrapped, my engine temp meter has been consistently lower too

I doubt the fleece mb tube that tends to tear on it's own would cool air more effectively.

LILBENZ230

If your engine temp meter is consistently lower you have a stuck thermostat. Common on these cars. You'll eventually throw a CEL (code P0128). It has nothing to do with the intake. Again, intakes won't help the M271. The car pulls the air directly from the grille in stock form, that's about as good as it will get.

It's been my thought that the fleece tube Mercedes uses for the intake is to avoid water ingestion. I could be wrong on that one.

MBNiko

Do you have a K&N filter or the stock one? I wanted to build a direct port intake so that the mouth directly in front of the air intake box feeds it but apparently it does no good. Hmm....

LILBENZ230

I run stock everything. There's a lot of debate about K&N, and I won't go into that. But I won't risk it.. no sense modding something that gains nothing.

Why would you want the mouth to feed the box? That would mean it got 100% hot air from the engine bay. Granted it probably wouldn't make that much difference but the car will gain nothing from that and might possibly lose, but not significantly.

LegitLifeStyle

Engine temp (ie radiator temp) has nothing to do with the air intake into the engine. When you think about how fast the air charge is rushing through the intake pipe into the intake manifold a wrapped or unwrapped intake pipe isn't going to have any appreciable affect on actual intake air temps.

carbonfiberwhor

My 06 M272 C230 was doing the same once I got around 95k.

Replaced:

-Fuel filter
-spark Plugs(shouldve done a bit earlier)
-battery
-new set of k&n's

I have to say, the battery is what really did it for me. I felt the difference instantly. Apparently the sport models need more juice so you need to replace the batteries more often.

Fuel filter should be replaced every 30k miles(do it with the tranny fluid) and k&n's should be cleaned every oil change(7.5k miles for me).

These cars are sensitive. Also, they are cold air intake so when its warmer/humid outside, they will run like pigs. Almost the same as a turbo'd car in high altitude.

RedStripe

My .02 cents:
The guys are correct about engine temps, the air-intake system has abosolutely nothing to do with engine temp. That is a totally separate deal, read: the radiator/coolant system. If you're reading a lower engine temp, that does have something to do with your thermostat, and could possibly mean it's stuck open/broken.

Now there is an IAT sensor that detects the temperature of the incoming air into the intake system, relates in part to the engine's timing. This can only be read via the OBD. This temp can affect engine performance.