Ignition Issues Help - P0351 P0355 & P0015
04-16-2018, 12:34 PM
#1
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
Ignition Issues Help - P0351 P0355 & P0015
The bottom line is I am getting P0351 and P0355 error codes. I have also been getting intermittent P0015 codes for several months. I hijacked another thread a few weeks ago at the beginning of this issue but thought a new thread was in order.
Here is the long version:
The intermittent P0015 errors have been happening over the past year. Just once in awhile and when I am changes things with the exhaust.
Had a catastrophic radiator a few months back. Major ruptures at the top and bottom of the radiator. Was exceeding the speed limit at the time (it is hard to maintain traction with coolant between your tires and the road). Engine coolant to zero. Engine was at point of shutoff as I limped into my neighborhood (about a mile from the point of radiator rupture). Had car towed and radiator replaced.
About a week later started getting intermittent P0305 errors (misfire on cyl 5). The errors occurred every few days and when my garage temp was low. Idle was rough with the misfire, then after a couple minutes the misfires would cease and the car ran fine. I initially thought I had just sprayed water someplace that I shouldn't while cleaning the residue under the hood from the radiator failure. About a week later started getting P0355 with info from scanner that the control line for cyl 5 was open. Spliced 2 of the 4 wires between the coil plug and wiring harness runner. Fearing heat stress because coil 5 and the connector were brittle and both broke when disconnecting the connector I replaced all the coils with Delphi replacements, as well as the plugs (even though the old ones had only ~45K miles on them). Problem seemed to be solved.
After a 400 mile drive the misfire reappeared after reaching the hotel and parking for 15 minutes. Disgusted, I just left it parked and it was ok the when I started it the following morning. It ran fine for the next 2 days. On the 3rd day the misfires started while heading home put stuck in a major traffic stoppage about 300 miles from home (oh boy). Pulled off at the next exit and tugged on the wires for cyl 5 near the coil. Ran fine. Made it home without further incident; actually did some spirited driving the rest of the trip.
2 days later the problem reoccurred and I was able to tug on a specific wire while the engine was running (used insulated needle nose pliers) and hear the misfires start and stop. I replaced the 2 "thicker" insulation wires from the a few inches upstream of their entry into the wiring harness tray to 3-4 inches from the coil connector/plug. I used 16 gage copper stranded wire in replacing 16 gage wire which appear to be aluminum. No misfire after putting things back together.
After about 50 miles got the usual P0015 and P0351 and P0355 with info that coil current for cyl 1 and 5 respectively was too low. The car ran ok, though a bit sluggish. I can also feel a bit of a "thump" when I back off the throttle from a spirited acceleration (not floored, just spirited). Also, the P0351 and the P0355 to not trigger the CEL. The CEL turns on due to the P005 error. The P0351 and P0355 errors occur at 1500+ RPM. (I tested it several times with the scanner connected and checking for DTC at 100 RPM increments.)
Mileage 148K. 2008 clk550.
My biggest fear is that there is an ECU issue (coil drivers) or a balance shaft (P0015) issue.
I thought about changing the cam shaft sensors and magnets as I can probably do that myself. But it would just be guessing. Looking for any insight before either take another stab at it myself or take it to my INDY to figure out. (Maybe I should just sell the house and get a C63 S
)
Here is the long version:
The intermittent P0015 errors have been happening over the past year. Just once in awhile and when I am changes things with the exhaust.
Had a catastrophic radiator a few months back. Major ruptures at the top and bottom of the radiator. Was exceeding the speed limit at the time (it is hard to maintain traction with coolant between your tires and the road). Engine coolant to zero. Engine was at point of shutoff as I limped into my neighborhood (about a mile from the point of radiator rupture). Had car towed and radiator replaced.
About a week later started getting intermittent P0305 errors (misfire on cyl 5). The errors occurred every few days and when my garage temp was low. Idle was rough with the misfire, then after a couple minutes the misfires would cease and the car ran fine. I initially thought I had just sprayed water someplace that I shouldn't while cleaning the residue under the hood from the radiator failure. About a week later started getting P0355 with info from scanner that the control line for cyl 5 was open. Spliced 2 of the 4 wires between the coil plug and wiring harness runner. Fearing heat stress because coil 5 and the connector were brittle and both broke when disconnecting the connector I replaced all the coils with Delphi replacements, as well as the plugs (even though the old ones had only ~45K miles on them). Problem seemed to be solved.
After a 400 mile drive the misfire reappeared after reaching the hotel and parking for 15 minutes. Disgusted, I just left it parked and it was ok the when I started it the following morning. It ran fine for the next 2 days. On the 3rd day the misfires started while heading home put stuck in a major traffic stoppage about 300 miles from home (oh boy). Pulled off at the next exit and tugged on the wires for cyl 5 near the coil. Ran fine. Made it home without further incident; actually did some spirited driving the rest of the trip.
2 days later the problem reoccurred and I was able to tug on a specific wire while the engine was running (used insulated needle nose pliers) and hear the misfires start and stop. I replaced the 2 "thicker" insulation wires from the a few inches upstream of their entry into the wiring harness tray to 3-4 inches from the coil connector/plug. I used 16 gage copper stranded wire in replacing 16 gage wire which appear to be aluminum. No misfire after putting things back together.
After about 50 miles got the usual P0015 and P0351 and P0355 with info that coil current for cyl 1 and 5 respectively was too low. The car ran ok, though a bit sluggish. I can also feel a bit of a "thump" when I back off the throttle from a spirited acceleration (not floored, just spirited). Also, the P0351 and the P0355 to not trigger the CEL. The CEL turns on due to the P005 error. The P0351 and P0355 errors occur at 1500+ RPM. (I tested it several times with the scanner connected and checking for DTC at 100 RPM increments.)
Mileage 148K. 2008 clk550.
My biggest fear is that there is an ECU issue (coil drivers) or a balance shaft (P0015) issue.
I thought about changing the cam shaft sensors and magnets as I can probably do that myself. But it would just be guessing. Looking for any insight before either take another stab at it myself or take it to my INDY to figure out. (Maybe I should just sell the house and get a C63 S
)
04-16-2018, 12:37 PM
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
BTW - I've swapped the coil positions and or swapped in one of the 2 old coils. Swapped 5 and 6 and swapped old coil in place of 1. Codes remained the same.
04-16-2018, 11:51 PM
#3
MBworld Guru
P0015 is a bad camshaft adjuster solenoid. Se "Scenario 2" of this TSB:
http://benzbits.com/BalanceShaftTSB.pdf
It's an easy fix - just replace the four camshaft solenoids (a.k.a. "cam magnets").
Each of the generic OBDII codes P0351 and P0355 actually represent 6 different MBZ-specific DTCs. You need to get codes pulled with a scanner that reads MBZ-specific codes to know for sure what is wrong. Since you swapped coils and the error stayed with the cylinder, I suspect it's a wiring harness problem.
http://benzbits.com/BalanceShaftTSB.pdf
It's an easy fix - just replace the four camshaft solenoids (a.k.a. "cam magnets").
Each of the generic OBDII codes P0351 and P0355 actually represent 6 different MBZ-specific DTCs. You need to get codes pulled with a scanner that reads MBZ-specific codes to know for sure what is wrong. Since you swapped coils and the error stayed with the cylinder, I suspect it's a wiring harness problem.
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Fatz (04-17-2018)
