Andrew SLK

I don't know if this is normal or what. Starting last week, the car kind of pause for 2 seconds and slowly turn on when I start up the engine in the morning. The GLK only has 7K on it.

Anyone else has this issue?

F18BEN

You might of gotten a bad tank of gas. Try adding an additive to remove water/moisture from the tank. Just a thought. It can't hurt.. Good luck

evito

I've had similar experiences w/ my car. Except, sometimes it happened even when the engine was warm. It was a long crank, and then it started. Most of the time, after like 2 seconds of cranking, I got scared and turned off the engine, and restarted it after like 5 seconds and it was fine though.
It happened when I had ~12k-15k miles. I'm not at almost 18k and haven't had it since... Weird.

MBRedux

No doubt it's your gas! Depending on where you live, gas companies are toying around with ethanol percentages... beware of cheap gas with more than 10% ethanol.... read your manual.... and beware, the gas companies wish to cut their fuel with even more junky ethanol (as much as 15-20%) by the end of next year. Car manufacturers are fighting it, but uncle sam has given it his blessing... it will ruin many cars, including the GLK.

NYCGLK

interesting

no such issues here for entire year, I guess I'll keep using BP ultimate for now.

Andrew SLK

I am already using only the highest grade gas possible. Damn gas companies.

RedRover

There is very little chance the gas company can be blamed. The station? Maybe.


The highest grade or the lowest grade would have no difference in starting the car.

I am not sure I understand your complaint.


Are you saying that the car starts right up, but doesn't run right for a few seconds....or are you saying that the engine cranks and the engine doesn't start for a few seconds........

If the latter, it "could" be the battery is just not spinning the motor very well.
And that can be a bad battery.... or you leaving something on that is dragging the charge down.....

MBRedux

There are self test kits http://www.fueltestkit.com/ and demo videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSQSuCiUjE designed for you to discover the truth about ethanol blended gasolines. If you see a sticker on your station's fuel pump that says, "Contains Up To 10% Ethanol" you would be surprised to learn that the real blend is more like 12-18%. (which the kit will prove)

It's well known that anything beyond 10% will harm your engine. (Read the MB manual) Yet fuel companies blend this stuff at the distribution center where the exact amount is rarely measured. And now they (Uncle Sam) wishes to blend even more into your fuel against the wishes of the auto makers... http://industry.bnet.com/auto/100018...makers-say-no/

Ethanol blending (or cutting) actually hurts fuel economy, not improving it at all. It lessens the overal MPG by as much as 18%. It ONLY helps the Corn Growers Association... (A HUGE POLITICAL POWERHOUSE in the USA) But it's bad news and it will get worse before it gets any better....http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...514_058678.htm

GLKKa2H

The ethanol track "launched" by MBRedux with regard to your "start up engine in the morning", is a quite interesting one, and may as well be the answer to the problem. However would four more pieces of information be of interest:
- Did this problem start next to a refill?
- If so, what was the quantity filled?
- What is the ambient temperature when the problem occurs?
- Would the gas station in question be able to give you reliable information about the % ethanol?

I have been driving a car on "E85" - 85% ethanol -, Octane 104, for four years, with the challenges that introduces on 69º 40' North. The precautions with regard to temperature starts at +5ºC (41ºF), and down. In your case would I suspect that 10% ethanol in the temperatures you supposedly have now, would not be the sole cause of the problem. Our "E85" engine had to be reprogrammed once, by empirical ways, (when temperature dropped), due to symtoms like yours. I don't say that your GLK engine needs reprogramming due to your problem. However am I pointing at the fact that it, per specified fuel requirements, should "take" the 10% ethanol, and of course be programmed in accordance with that. It just could be that is not the case.

- and the Sugar Growers in Brasil - and added 30HP and 40Nm to our car

Andrew SLK

After refilling a full tank of gas from a different gas station, the problem seems to be gone for now. So it might be the gas.