Been having some issues with my 98 c43 and am hoping you all could maybe help me out.

Ten days ago I slowed down to make a turn and when I accelerated out of the turn, I lost power. No feedback, lost revs, engine sputtered like it was out of gas, would burp a couple feet at a time, . What was interesting was that the low gas light had a couple miles before just come on - usually I would get at least another ~30 miles or so once the light came on so I thought it was a bit weird as I was pretty sure there was at least some gas in there. Got my spare tank and put 2 gallons in there so I could drive to the gas station. On the way to gas station it died again. Weird, there definitely should have been enough gas in there at that point. Anyways put another gallon in there just in case and boom, it started again after sputtering for a bit. The engine sounded like it was trying to get gas to it, like it was just getting little spurts at a time, would catch a few revs, then die. Crank it a few more times and then eventually what sounded and felt like enough gas made it to the engine, it turned over and I was off, kinda sputtering a bit in the beginning but eventually drove normal and I made it to the gas station and filled the tank full.

Drove it for 8 days and had zero issues. Thought maybe it was just a fluke and whatever it was had sorted itself out.
Yesterday pulling into my neighborhood, same thing happened. I was slowing down from roughly 50mph to make a turn and when I tried to accelerate out of the turn the same exact thing happened. I lost power, rpm dropped to zero, engine turned off, all the lights on dash turned on. It would crank, turn over, catch a few rpms, then fail. NOW, it won't turn over at all. It just cranks and cranks and cranks until it stops. Sounds and feels like zero gas is making it to the engine now. This time I know I had 3/4 of a tank of gas, so its not for a lack of gas in the tank.

The weird thing is there is no check engine light and I borrowed a friends OBD2, plugged it into the reader under the steering wheel and there are zero error codes showing. No error codes and no CEL.

After reading some posts on here and seeing some people have similar issues, I ordered and replaced the CPS today but this didn't do anything. I have a MAF coming tmrw so will try replacing that but it feels like this is maybe a fuel pump/filter issue potentially?
Wouldnt that show up a code on a diagnostics check though?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated, I would like to try everything I possibly can before taking to a mechanic as money is a little tight at the moment.

 

I have a feeling that you have a fuel related issue.
Have you checked the fuel filter? If it has never been changed, I would think it could be clogged up and it would certainly be time for a new one. What about the fuel pump also? Crank position sensor faulty?

 

Replaced crank position sensor yesterday with no change.
Fuel filter arrived today, will give it a go tomorrow.
Do you know if there is any DIY manual for doing this? Anything I should know going into it?

 

Found a YT video: Can you hear the fuel pump working/priming when you switch on the ignition ?
You can open the fuel delivery pipe just before the fuel rail, switch on the ignition to the first position (no cranking) and see if you have fuel flowing. Do NOT try this procedure on a hot engine for obvious reasons!!! Just have some rags to soak up any flowing fuel.

 

Another YT video from someone who does a lot of videos on the W202 series
This video is much better than the previous one and without loud music

 

Thank you DRB, those were extremely helpful! I got under the car and started playing around with the pump and filter and gathered some info.

After inspection, I realized the fuel pump was not turning on. I went ahead and replaced the fuel pump relay to eliminate the possibility. That did not fix the problem.
I then bypassed the relay to shoot power straight to the pump to see how the pump would respond. The pump turned on for about 2 seconds and then died. This is the second time Iv'e noticed the pump do this. 1-2 seconds and then powers off.

So this leads me to believe the fuel pump is dying/dead. Pump arrives in the mail tomorrow.

Do you know how the pump internals work? If it is hitting resistance, does it have a failsafe and turn off? I am wondering if the pump is shutting off because of a potential blockage upstream or if it is just a bad pump.

 

I have no idea regarding your question. However, if you have changed the relay and will replace the filter and also the pump, I imagine that should solve the problem.

 

Replaced both fuel filter and fuel pump and that has fixed the issue. Thank you DRBC for your help. A little worried about the clamps I used as I wasn't sure exactly what the correct ones were but I am going to do some more research on that.

As a side not, I'm not sure if also replacing the MAF or cleaning off the crank position sensor (it had some gunk build-up) or if just the new filter and pump is causing it, but the performance on my car is amazing and the car is driving extremely well. The responsiveness and acceleration are 10x better, I was shocked. It's like driving a different car. Very happy.

 

Glad you got it sorted. Nice to read your post and comments after a problem has been fixed. Often this last step is often overlooked and followers remain in the dark