96 E300D 275K miles
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Newbie
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Baton Rouge, LA
96 E300D
96 E300D 275K miles
The abover mentioned car has had the check engine and glow plug light on at teh same time. after the glow plug light goes out the check engine light stays on even after several restarts of the engine. Any ideas? 
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Arizona, USA
W205 C300
Have the codes read to see what is setting the Check Engine light. You can buy a code scanner for $50 to $150 and check the codes yourself. If you have an Autozone store near you I heard that they will read your codes for free.
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From: Arizona, USA
W205 C300
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From: Cleveland, OH
1999 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel
I"m not how applicable it will be to our cars. I will say this, I had the check engine light come on, and it was a bad MAF sensor. Very common, as Bosch mafs are POS's, royal POS's in fact. TDI volkswagens have them too, and many people are on their 3rd or 4th. Luckily the E300's aren't quite as bad, but if you notice, the new CDI's have all switched to a Pierberg MAF. My E300's MAF died at 30K miles.
You may want to try removing the maf (do not touch the inside/sensor part with your fingers) and cleaning the maf sensor and housing with some residue-free electronics cleaner and a lint free cloth. Sometimes that does the trick.
Just a guess. If your glowplugs were bad the GP light would stay on..
Is the car running fine otherwise?
You may want to try removing the maf (do not touch the inside/sensor part with your fingers) and cleaning the maf sensor and housing with some residue-free electronics cleaner and a lint free cloth. Sometimes that does the trick.
Just a guess. If your glowplugs were bad the GP light would stay on..
Is the car running fine otherwise?
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Baton Rouge, LA
96 E300D
Yes, the car runs and starts great. No missing when cold and the performance is what I would expect on a non turbo diesel. The PO indicated that he had been chasing a glow plug fault code for years. He could never find anything wrong. He even installed a new controller thinking that may solve the problem, it did not. I had a fuel pressure code come on while driving it back from GA. and the fuel shut off valve was repalced by the local dealer. That code did not effect the running, starting or shutting off the engine either. Are these cars prone to check engine lights? I plan to get some sort of scanner to know what I am looking at in the future.
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From: Cleveland, OH
1999 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel
I haven't heard of too many folks with CEL'S on E300's. Glowplugs going bad yes, maf's dying yes. When my MAF died, the CEL stayed on and the car ran totally fine. Your MAF may be dead, and your car COULD be slower than it's intended to be, hard to say. As far as I know, the OBD programs/scanners aren't that applicable to the MB, and i'm not sure where you'd find the proper interface connector...
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Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Baton Rouge, LA
96 E300D
Thanks, I just ordered a PC based scanner from Ease electronics I should recieve it in a few day's. I reads the ISO protocol which is what MB uses for that year. The rep I spoke with assured me it would draw codes and some sensor readings for the powertrain. It will not read body and ABS codes though. If I can read trouble codes and watch the sensor readings I can diagnose most of what I hear goes wrong with these cars.
Any idea what factory manuals are available from MB? I want diagnostic trouble trees, the manual (actually CD) for my 300d turbo was sorely lacking in the troubleshooting department. Hopefully MB has loosened up on the tech info. Again thanks for all the info. I love the car I just want it to last another 275K
Any idea what factory manuals are available from MB? I want diagnostic trouble trees, the manual (actually CD) for my 300d turbo was sorely lacking in the troubleshooting department. Hopefully MB has loosened up on the tech info. Again thanks for all the info. I love the car I just want it to last another 275K
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From: Columbia, SC
E300
Originally posted by rschust
Thanks, I just ordered a PC based scanner from Ease electronics I should recieve it in a few day's. I reads the ISO protocol which is what MB uses for that year. The rep I spoke with assured me it would draw codes and some sensor readings for the powertrain. It will not read body and ABS codes though. If I can read trouble codes and watch the sensor readings I can diagnose most of what I hear goes wrong with these cars.
Any idea what factory manuals are available from MB? I want diagnostic trouble trees, the manual (actually CD) for my 300d turbo was sorely lacking in the troubleshooting department. Hopefully MB has loosened up on the tech info. Again thanks for all the info. I love the car I just want it to last another 275K
Thanks, I just ordered a PC based scanner from Ease electronics I should recieve it in a few day's. I reads the ISO protocol which is what MB uses for that year. The rep I spoke with assured me it would draw codes and some sensor readings for the powertrain. It will not read body and ABS codes though. If I can read trouble codes and watch the sensor readings I can diagnose most of what I hear goes wrong with these cars.
Any idea what factory manuals are available from MB? I want diagnostic trouble trees, the manual (actually CD) for my 300d turbo was sorely lacking in the troubleshooting department. Hopefully MB has loosened up on the tech info. Again thanks for all the info. I love the car I just want it to last another 275K
Does it include an ODBII connector that plugs in underneath the dash on the drivers' side? How does it interface to the "laptop"? Don't know if you are using one. Sounds interesting!
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Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Baton Rouge, LA
96 E300D
Yes, it has the 16 pin OBDII connector. It can be used with a lap top or standard pc. it runs on windows (min 95) and has graphing capabilities and all. I am not sure how much diagnostic info it has, eg, diagnostic trouble trees and such. I should have by the friday or monday. I will post my thoughts and experiances with it. I should be able to read real time sensor readings, at least for the power train. I comes with cables, interface, and software. I paid $275 plus shipping.
