'89 300E stalls and won't restart
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1989 300E
'89 300E stalls and won't restart
I have a '89 300E that stalls intermittently while driving or at a light. I recently stalled at a light and it wouldn't restart. Got towed home and it started right up. Any information about this condition would be greatly appreciated. The car runs great on the highway and it's very comfortable and I enjoy driving it. Thanks.
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Joined: Apr 2010
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From: Dallas, TX
1991 300e, 1989 300e
Clean the throttle body w/carb & choke cleaner. The throttle butterfly (below the main air register flap) gets gunked up with oil saturated blowby gasses fed from the top of the engine. The sooty mess collects around the butteryfly valve and impedes air flow passage. The engine needs this small amount of air to run. When the perimeter of the butterfly gets coated with oily soot, no air gets by and the engine stalls at idle. It took me forever to solve this problem with my 1989 300e. To reach the area, you may need to put a large cotton cloth swab soaked w/carb & choke cleaner on a stick or rod to reach and clean the butterfly valve edges. After a through cleaning, mine has not stalled once.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 8
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1989 300E
300E stall
Thanks for the reply. I work for a GM dealer and we've had similar issues with dirty throttle bodies but nothing this bad. I will definitely start with a good cleaning and go from there. Thanks again for the info. Hopefully, it works so I can drive the car safely again.
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 87
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From: Dallas, TX
1991 300e, 1989 300e
Safely is the operative word, indeed. My 89 would generally quit in the middle of a left hand turn. Yikes! A friend of mine had a 96 c220 that would stall at stop lights. I thoroughly cleaned the throttle body on the little 2.2 and it never stalled again.
