sancld

Good morning to everybody,

I’m writing because I really need help in order to solve a problem that since some months is sadly stressing me an my dear CLK (200 Kompressor W208 Serie) Year 7 / 1999.

Basically more days are passing more the issue is going in evidence.

My W208series car has currently ca. 135.000Km.. and was less used just because since the apr. 2008 this was my alternative car after work. (I had a private company car).

Trying to summarize the TOPICS of the ISSUE:

Basically when the engine is cold (turning on for the start up), the motor starts giving a lot of sneezes and/or sobs for ca. 2 ,3, 4 minutes and is possible to feel because all the body of the car is shaking.

And this until basically the motor hasn’t warmed up a bit means reaches ca. 50 degrees C.

Now that is summer time, the symptoms are a little bit less.

When the weather is cold outside or when my car stays not in the garage or is winter time (degree 0 C) the sneezes an/or sobs are terrible and more evident and this frustrate for more then 5 minutes.
This is clear because are required more minutes to warm up. (The outside temperature influence).

The more is the cold, the more is the required time to reduce the amounts of sneezes and sobs.

Sometimes seems that something that the issue has to do with electric.
Looks like as the power is not arriving properly somewhere. But I don’t really know….if is…

After all this info then the engine runs like having 3 Cylinders instead of 4.

So before to bring the car to the official DC / MB Service Centre because (personally I do not trust them) I brought my to usually trusted, workshop auto centre.

So (in order to try to solve the issue) basically we followed the below listed steps.

1 – A couple of weeks ago changed the Candles. (Mounted the Bosch).
Results: For ca. 300 – 400 Km. the engine went perfect and well.
After the a.m. mentioned km the issue came out again slowly and slightly.
And every day with more evidence. Finally after ca 2000 km same point as before…sneeze and sobs.

2 – 1500 km. ago changed the Mass flow sensor. But at the end same final result as in Point 1 !!!!

3 – Because this was a work to do (means in queue), changed the Lambda Sensor Probe. But also this time the issue didn’t disappear.

4 - Ca. 3000 km ago, in order to try to solve the issue my workshop suggested to clean the injector with Ultrasonic rays.
Results: basically no change. No difference.

5 – One year ago (and in order to try to solve the problem) changed the cables that are going to the candles (the ones that are going to the 2 Coils).
Result not big change only a very slight difference.

So finally at the end we had no chance and decided (against my aim) to go to the official DC – Mercedes workshop and asking them to make a check / diagnosis and leaving them at the same time, a copy of the followed steps (similar to this document)
(This is clear in order to give them a trace of the already done actions).

After one week the called me and they reported me that to solve the problem there were to follow these steps:



(1) Change (again) the candels ---------Ehhhhh! ---- > But this was already done (by myself some just weeks ago) !!!

(2) Change (again )the Mass flow sensor -----Ehhhhh!-- > But this was already done (by myself njust some weeks ago)!!!!!!!

(3) Change all the set of the electric cables of the engine --- > this Because they say …there is a leakage ..!!
But where is it ??? Never seen any leakage and/or traces on the ground in my garage. Years an d years everything completely and perfectly CLEAN!

(4) Maybe change the magnet variator (the one located up and in the front of the engine).--- they said Maybe?

All the proposed actions gave me the clear impression that they didn’t red the left report (mines) and that they still do not really know what can be the problem. I had the sensation that they were just going with trials.

So now for another time my DC Workshops has lost my trust.

Now is understandable that I cannot go so on with my car.

I really need to have solved the problem.

So I kindly ask, is there maybe someone that had similar experience or heard something or can help me about

Any kind of suggestion?

Thank you a lot for you kind attention and support

If there some doubts please do not hesitate to contact me.
Cheers

Claude

humbfig

eheh
I think they mean an electric leakage. There should be a spark somewhere before the spark plug ("candle").
Your symptoms really feel like electric, specially since changing the spark plugs gave you 300-400 km of perfect driving.
I see you never replaced the ignition coils. I would go for the coils. The leakage should be in one of them. My only concern is: This should be simple for your trusted workshop to diagnose. Why didn't he? Changed the spark plugs and the cables and never thought of changing the coils? Or did he already change it and you forgot to mention?
Besides, if the problem is a ignition coil you should feel the engine running as a two cylinder, not three. Your car has two coils, each feeding two cylinders. Anyway it's probably working intermittently.....

PS- Obviously, nobody at the MB workshop read your report and they have no idea what is wrong with your car. Then again, if feels weird they want to replace the spark plugs and the HT cables and didn't think to replace the ignition coils......

PS2- It is usually difficult to distinguish electric problems from fuel problems. Here is a guideline:
If your engine idles ok or coasts along ok at low revs but fails when you suddenly depress the throttle, then, if it fails immediately when you depress the throttle, it's probably an air/fuel problem. If it revs up ok for a while (for half a second or for 1, 2 seconds,.....) and then starts to fail, it's probably an electric problem.