Hey there, this is my first post and I'm in need of some help. I drive a 2000 CLK320 cab and heres a little back story on the ownership: my dad bought it off the show room floor brand new and I inherited it upon his passing a few years ago. Serviced perfect at the dealer, 115k miles, not a single issue since the day he purchased it. I love this car dearly and will pay any reasonable amount to keep it as perfect as it deserves to be kept

Here's what's wrong:

I live in delaware and on saturday we reached record cold temperatures. I was in Pennsylvania for the weekend and the car sat for around 24 hours outside in negative degree temperatures. Sunday morning I start it, the lights dim in and out, but nonethless I let it warm up. I put it in reverse and theres close to no power from the pedal. I put it in drive and start to drive down the street, heres my sequence of events:

-basically no power from engine
-when idling at red lights the car shook intensely
-got on main road, pedal to floor could barely hit 50
-yellow check engine light comes on
-pull over, turn car off for 10min
-start it up, check engine light is on, but car runs perfectly as before
-drive it home

the next day, the check engine light is no longer on, but theres still a loss of power. I experienced another problem when I got in my car to leave the gym, heres how it went:

-turn on car, loud grinding sound from engine, smells like electrical burning, no smoke or anything
-on display in big letters: check battery/alternator
-power steering is completely gone, struggle to turn wheel
-make it home, bring it straight to shop in the morning

here is what my mechanic changed $340 total:
-1 belt tensioner
-1 belt

I drive away from the shop, power steering is perfect and theres no sound from engine bay or lights on. let car warm up to driving temperature, hit it into manual sport mode and punch the pedal to the floor. the car has a choppy/sluggish response. it does NOT go through the RPMs smoothly and does not shift when use the shifter to manually shift into 3rd gear. I have driven this car to its max capabilities and I will estimate its at about 40% max power, it almost feels like some of the cylinders are not working

Before ALL of the problems began, i took it to my local jiffy lube for a full fluid replacement. I dont know if this has any correlation to the problems, but i figured Id put exactly what they replaced:




Any help is appreciated! Forgive me for my lack of technical knowledge about the car, I hope I was clear enough in my description as to what the problems are. Thank you very much!

Heres some pics of the beauty:

 

This could be two seperate issues rather than one.
The burning smell you mentioned was due to the slipping belt on the tension pulley that you had changed, if this has come off during driving it may have taken out a cable to the MAF which would then possibly explain the lack of power etc. Or it could be that your MAF just needs to be replaced.

 

Noahh nice pictures and welcome to the forum!! Do you have the engine codes? Hard to make any recommendations without moe information. You can have the car scanned with any OBDII available at AutoZone for free. I avoid Jiffy Lube for all of my cars

 

Thank you for the reply? Can you explain what the MAF is? Im doing 140 miles worth of driving in the next few days, is it safe enough to drive now or is it an urgent problem?

 

I dont have any engine codes sorry about that. Should i avoid jiffy lube from now on? do you think theres correlation to the work they did and the problems Im having?

 

I had a bad experience with Jiffy Lube back in 1986 with a Camaro Z28, and looking at the Oil identified as Penzoil 5W40 is not the recommend oil by Mercedes which is Mobil 0W 40, here's is a forum thread
https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...-oil-type.html

Now the MAF is the Mass Airflow sensor which can cause a loss of power here is a forum thread on the symptoms off MAF issue (normally you have an engine code
https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...ow-sensor.html



here is a video on replacing the MAF

 

Thanks for the reply, I had a feeling that oil wasnt right because I told the guy to use 0/40 and he goes "no its 5/40", maybe thats the problem

no check engine light since I got the belt/tensioner fixed, my MPG is actually BETTER than normal since Ive been keeping it out of high RPMs. taking a 70 miles highway drive today, Ill see how the car does, any type of problems ill pull over right away

as of now:
-no check engine
-no weird noises
-starts, stops, idles perfect
-no loss of MPG
-steering perfect

only thing is a lack of power and i have a feeling its the oil. thanks again for the reply, let me know your thoughts

 

I dont think the 5W / 0W would make that much of a noticeable difference.
The MAF as per the good video is the Mass Air Flow sensor, they will work or not work no inbetween.
Remove the MAF and check to see if there is any oil on the small internal sensor, it should be clean and dry.

You can try to unplug the MAF and see how the car behaves, it wont do any harm and is a quick way to see determine if the MAF has a fault.

 

5/40 fully synth oil is probably more suitable for our ageing CLKs. Can elaborate a meaning of 'lack of power'?

 

when I punch it in first/second/third gear the power is just not all there. it goes through the RPMs but not at the speed it usually does. It feels sluggish and when I get near red line it sometimes doesnt shift or jerks really hard when it does

 

Have you done as i recomended?

 

First of all, never say, "I turn on car"
Second, make an appt at the dealership to change your motor mounts, (that is unless you think you can lift the front of the car enough to slide your body and HEAD under it....never mind. Google Youtube jack-stand accidents. There are plenty of crushed skulls to view.
So.... AFTER, and only AFTER the dealer replaces your motor mounts, THEN ask them to replace your ENGINE GROUND CABLE. Ground cables get jerked around stretched ether by a bouncing engine, (bad mounts), or by the last dip wad that changed them out. Having a bad or intermit ground is the same as driving down the road while disconnecting your battery cable.
CHECK YOUR ENGINE GROUND CABLE!!

 

I turn car on every day and there is no way I would have the work done a the dealer. They want $1600 to change the plugs and wires. I go to the dealer to get a scan and a car wash then its DIY or of to the indy.

 

As AE1K suggests, I'd check the MAF first. You can buy a can of MAF cleaner and follow the directions and clean it yourself. Worth a shot


After that I'd be thinking some possibilities could be the throttle pedal (pretty sure they're electronic in your model) or the Throttle position sensor.


I had a pedal go bad in my S430 and the symptoms were similar to what you've described. Scary too!


Your oil change won't be a factor, unless he filled it with molasses.


It's a lovely looking car BTW.

 

Yea, check this & that "first", but if anyone thinks the engine ground is worth ignoring, you should just take it off and use it for a wheel spacer.
Check your engine ground! If you don't know how or why, all the more reason to take your car to someone that does. It can be replaced in 2-3 min, on the same $100 tab when you get your codes pulled.