93 300CE CV going into Limp mode and coolant leak
07-29-2010, 05:42 PM
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86 300E Manual 5-Speed/ My Daughter's 1993 300CE CV
93 300CE CV going into Limp mode and coolant leak
This is a great car that my daughter recently purchased, but unfortunately the prior owner didn’t take very good care of it. Knowing what tanks these 300s are, I encouraged her to buy it at a very low price, figuring that after a few repairs she would have a dandy car. After a few months of driving it, she finally brought it too me after the idle became so rough, the car sounded like a drag racer. The car also repeatedly overheated. She also had a consistently dead battery. And finally, the car just wouldn’t accelerate and had great hesitation when it would. I had some time to look at it and did the following work:
Cleaned throttle body air intake.
Cleaned MAF
Replaced O2 sensor
Checked Catalytic converter - was solid (Didn’t make any noise when tapped.)
Replaced gas filter. Didn’t seem to have ever have been changed) I noticed the fuel pump, next to the gas filter, had a lot of brown oily residue around it, and the plaster cover to the pump and gas filter was caked with oil residue. Any feedback on that?
Changed oil and filter. (It was very, very dirty)
New thermostat The existing thermostat was wrong and was actually jammed in one position)
Repaired a leaking coolant overflow hose.
New coolant reserve cap.
Checked alternator (she’s good)
Replaced a bad (new) battery under warranty
Car started right up and idled perfectly. The oil light was on though, as well as the engine light.
I took the car around the block. It ran well, except it hesitated when I pushed the gas pedal. After a few seconds it would start accelerating and then run well.
I returned to my garage and shut off the car. I wanted to rest assured that I had enough oil in it after it had circulated. I added another quart of oil. Then started it again, it started right up. (Oil light stayed on though, as well as the Check Engine Light).
As I pulled out of the garage to take it for a long spin, notice a small coolant leak under the car coming from the very back of the engine. (Later after car was hot and returned to the garage I could hear some loud hissing under the hood at the back of the engine, more pronounced on the driver’s side, after car was shut off. There was now a much larger puddle of coolant forming on the garage floor.). I couldn’t see anything from the top, and I didn’t have a chance to get it up and to get underneath. That’s problem 1.
As I proceeded on my longer run I went on a state highway (about 45 MPH), and the hesitation became more apparent. The warmer the car got, the more pronounced was the hesitation. It made me nervous at a couple of intersections. Having replaced the gas filter I simply thought that I needed to run the air bubbles out of it.
I then took it up a Parkway, up to 60 MPH. It wasn’t but a minute into that, that suddenly it seemed that I had no transmission. The ASR light came on (to join the oil and engine lights). I believe the car went into limp mode. It wouldn’t come out of first gear and I pulled off an exit onto some City streets and “limped” it to McDonalds. By limp I mean that in order to get the engine to rev and the transmission to engage I had to push the pedal close to the floor. From zero to about 3/4 of the way pushed to the floor the pedal would do nothing. The car wouldn’t exceed 20MPH at this time.
After parking for a short time, I reversed out the parking space (reverse worked) and I limped it home. As I went I noticed that if I released the gas after getting up to 20MPH the car would roll a bit and then I’d push the gas again after about two seconds I could get another gear and get the car up to 40MPH to help me get home. I made it home and parked it.
Also, during all of this I noticed the temperature of the engine fluctuating from the standard 87C to 100 C. Fans were working, and when I started I had a full coolant reserve (in spite of my little leak). So does this sounds like a water pump problem to someone who knows?
So this baby still has a few problems I fear, and any help you give me to narrow down my search for solution, would be much appreciated. It’s a sexy car and my daughter would love to drive it for many years to come!
My original goal was to get to the ETA that I read about on the forum was giving some people problems due to the wiring deteriorating, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the Air Intake Manifold out of the way to even begin to look for it. So I simply started with the simple stuff first, in an effort to eliminate some possibilities. Well, having done all of that, it’s time to consider the deeper questions. What are your thoughts?
Cleaned throttle body air intake.
Cleaned MAF
Replaced O2 sensor
Checked Catalytic converter - was solid (Didn’t make any noise when tapped.)
Replaced gas filter. Didn’t seem to have ever have been changed) I noticed the fuel pump, next to the gas filter, had a lot of brown oily residue around it, and the plaster cover to the pump and gas filter was caked with oil residue. Any feedback on that?
Changed oil and filter. (It was very, very dirty)
New thermostat The existing thermostat was wrong and was actually jammed in one position)
Repaired a leaking coolant overflow hose.
New coolant reserve cap.
Checked alternator (she’s good)
Replaced a bad (new) battery under warranty
Car started right up and idled perfectly. The oil light was on though, as well as the engine light.
I took the car around the block. It ran well, except it hesitated when I pushed the gas pedal. After a few seconds it would start accelerating and then run well.
I returned to my garage and shut off the car. I wanted to rest assured that I had enough oil in it after it had circulated. I added another quart of oil. Then started it again, it started right up. (Oil light stayed on though, as well as the Check Engine Light).
As I pulled out of the garage to take it for a long spin, notice a small coolant leak under the car coming from the very back of the engine. (Later after car was hot and returned to the garage I could hear some loud hissing under the hood at the back of the engine, more pronounced on the driver’s side, after car was shut off. There was now a much larger puddle of coolant forming on the garage floor.). I couldn’t see anything from the top, and I didn’t have a chance to get it up and to get underneath. That’s problem 1.
As I proceeded on my longer run I went on a state highway (about 45 MPH), and the hesitation became more apparent. The warmer the car got, the more pronounced was the hesitation. It made me nervous at a couple of intersections. Having replaced the gas filter I simply thought that I needed to run the air bubbles out of it.
I then took it up a Parkway, up to 60 MPH. It wasn’t but a minute into that, that suddenly it seemed that I had no transmission. The ASR light came on (to join the oil and engine lights). I believe the car went into limp mode. It wouldn’t come out of first gear and I pulled off an exit onto some City streets and “limped” it to McDonalds. By limp I mean that in order to get the engine to rev and the transmission to engage I had to push the pedal close to the floor. From zero to about 3/4 of the way pushed to the floor the pedal would do nothing. The car wouldn’t exceed 20MPH at this time.
After parking for a short time, I reversed out the parking space (reverse worked) and I limped it home. As I went I noticed that if I released the gas after getting up to 20MPH the car would roll a bit and then I’d push the gas again after about two seconds I could get another gear and get the car up to 40MPH to help me get home. I made it home and parked it.
Also, during all of this I noticed the temperature of the engine fluctuating from the standard 87C to 100 C. Fans were working, and when I started I had a full coolant reserve (in spite of my little leak). So does this sounds like a water pump problem to someone who knows?
So this baby still has a few problems I fear, and any help you give me to narrow down my search for solution, would be much appreciated. It’s a sexy car and my daughter would love to drive it for many years to come!
My original goal was to get to the ETA that I read about on the forum was giving some people problems due to the wiring deteriorating, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the Air Intake Manifold out of the way to even begin to look for it. So I simply started with the simple stuff first, in an effort to eliminate some possibilities. Well, having done all of that, it’s time to consider the deeper questions. What are your thoughts?
