2004 CLK 200 violent shaking and start problems
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 13
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C209 CLK 200
2004 CLK 200 violent shaking and start problems
Hello,
My family owns a CLK 200 from 2004. The car was bought at an authorized Mercedes dealership and up until 170k km / when we bought it it was serviced there. Since then it has been serviced at an independent shop whom I think is qualified adequately ( I haven't dealt with it personally ).
Currently the car has a little over 218k km, was serviced 6k km ago. Today I was getting back home from somewhere I had to be (40-50 minute drive). I parked the car and turned it off. No unusual behavior up until that point. Then I looked and figured I could get it in a little tighter so I turned the car on, moved it slightly over what I would say was about 10 seconds and turned it off again. Before I turned it off I felt it shaking violently, like it sometimes does in traffic but 5 times more intense. It happened just before I turned the car off and I didn't think much of it. Then, after an hour and a half or so I got in the car and it wouldn't start.
Car cranks, sometimes starts to raise RPM and then dies immediately. No fault codes through the dash, I checked the battery with a diagnostic tool its at 95% health, 85% charge, OK voltage (didn't think it was the battery anyways, car was cranking fine). Didn't have OBD tool to read ECU, guy that came from roadside assistance didn't too. Checked the airfilter, looked fine. Dumped 3-4L of good gas in the tank to see maybe if the fuel sensor had freaked out and was misreporting the gas tank as half full (car was filled up recently so didn't think it would be that but tried).
One thing to note is that the car has had an LPG tank/conversion for the better part of 3 years now (maybe even more). As far as I know the car starts on gas and then switches on its own to LPG for lubrication purposes. Sometimes its driven on gas instead of LPG to further lubricate as per the shops' recommendation.
I think it is either a spark plug (that violent shaking was a misfire?) or a fuel pump (weird because I am told it was replaced last service) or the MAF sensor/filter (maybe it got clogged?). Car has had O2 and coolant sensor troubles for some time now, although I doubt they are related (car always has enough coolant in it, even replaced the sensor but it broke again after some time). Could it also be the immobilizer? My keys have been acting up recently, maybe running out of battery. Second key didn't seem to have an effect either.
Thoughts? Sorry for the wall of text.
My family owns a CLK 200 from 2004. The car was bought at an authorized Mercedes dealership and up until 170k km / when we bought it it was serviced there. Since then it has been serviced at an independent shop whom I think is qualified adequately ( I haven't dealt with it personally ).
Currently the car has a little over 218k km, was serviced 6k km ago. Today I was getting back home from somewhere I had to be (40-50 minute drive). I parked the car and turned it off. No unusual behavior up until that point. Then I looked and figured I could get it in a little tighter so I turned the car on, moved it slightly over what I would say was about 10 seconds and turned it off again. Before I turned it off I felt it shaking violently, like it sometimes does in traffic but 5 times more intense. It happened just before I turned the car off and I didn't think much of it. Then, after an hour and a half or so I got in the car and it wouldn't start.
Car cranks, sometimes starts to raise RPM and then dies immediately. No fault codes through the dash, I checked the battery with a diagnostic tool its at 95% health, 85% charge, OK voltage (didn't think it was the battery anyways, car was cranking fine). Didn't have OBD tool to read ECU, guy that came from roadside assistance didn't too. Checked the airfilter, looked fine. Dumped 3-4L of good gas in the tank to see maybe if the fuel sensor had freaked out and was misreporting the gas tank as half full (car was filled up recently so didn't think it would be that but tried).
One thing to note is that the car has had an LPG tank/conversion for the better part of 3 years now (maybe even more). As far as I know the car starts on gas and then switches on its own to LPG for lubrication purposes. Sometimes its driven on gas instead of LPG to further lubricate as per the shops' recommendation.
I think it is either a spark plug (that violent shaking was a misfire?) or a fuel pump (weird because I am told it was replaced last service) or the MAF sensor/filter (maybe it got clogged?). Car has had O2 and coolant sensor troubles for some time now, although I doubt they are related (car always has enough coolant in it, even replaced the sensor but it broke again after some time). Could it also be the immobilizer? My keys have been acting up recently, maybe running out of battery. Second key didn't seem to have an effect either.
Thoughts? Sorry for the wall of text.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 13
Likes: 2
C209 CLK 200
Okay so after taking a look at it with a mechanic it appears that my new fuel pump (6k km on it...) pooped itself because a plastic seal, that wasn't replaced when the fuel pump was changed, corroded because of the LPG. I had to pay for a new fuel pump + the plastic seal + labor, aka another 350EUR down the drain. Anyways, I hope my post helps someone prevent this.
