Hi

I have a 2010 GLK which I bought last year. The car has stalled on me a few times on 2 different occasions. Typically it starts hesitating a few times before it starts stalling. The dealer insists there is no problem. What are my optoions? Have anyone else had this type of issue?

Thanks

 

Funny. I just had mine hesitate and stall on me this past weekend. Mine might be due to some funky gas? I'm not 100% sure. Basically it wouldn't start, but when it did it was a very lumpy idle around 250 rpms. Then when I tried to bring engine speed up to 500 or so it died. I restarted and it was fine.

Did yours have a bad rotten egg smell when it did it?

 

Do you live near *iewoals*? Maybe you both go to the same station? Find out!

 

Yes, the symptoms sound similar. I left it with the dealer today. Same story, "everything is fine!". I have been using conoco gas. Are you using ethanol gas or 100% gas?

 

I did not notice any bad smell although I did not particularly look for it...

 

which octane are you using kirtana? and how much % ethanol does it contain.

 

I have been using the plus and it contains no ethanol

 

I'm using 91 or 93 octane. I've been avoiding any gas stations with ethanol. There is a slight possibility the wife filled up a few gallons about a week ago with 91 octane with 10% ethanol. I'm not 100% sure though. The last fill up was at the usual Shell station though which does not use ethanol. That was the night before I ran into the issue.

 

My colleague has a GLK and uses ethanol + gas 93 at whichever station he prefers and has never had problems. Point is it appears ethanol gas is going to take over and then what? I had to visit 6 stations on my recent trip to Dallas and finally had to settle for Cheveron with gas + ethanol. An then I filled 91 at Conoco gas only and now the car is stalling so badly that even the MB service advisor was surprised

 

I haven't had issues with ethanol mixes in my other cars. However, I do notice a drop in mpg when I end up with ethanol. So I always avoid it since I get a ~10% drop in efficiency. And the prices are close enough that it's always worth it for me to just not use ethanol.

I hope my incident is just a single random event. If it becomes repeated the ways yours is I'll have more to tell you I suppose.

 

My GLK stalled once. Coming out of my neighborhood, the car didn't feel right. It stuttered slightly every time I let go of the gas pedal. I thought it was going to stall if I stopped, and that's what happened at the next red light. $#@!, I thought to myself. But when I restarted it, the engine felt normal again. Haven't had the same issue since. I get 93 octane at the same Sunoco every time.

 

pho75, Do you use ethanol +gas or pure gas?

 

Daimler AG/Mercedes-Benz has released information (in German) with regard to E10 and their “fleet” of vehicles. MB states that they have had as a goal, to prepare their engines for an increased ethanol % added to gas. MB claims that the major part of the “fleet” are suitable for the E10 gas, which includes the GLKs. And MB have released a list of vehicles which are not to run on E10, where the GLKs are not listed.

From my three years as “an E85 driver”, can I confirm what iewoals states; increased consumption, 25- - 30% driving E85.

Another issue with ethanol is the cold start challenge. Driving E85 is it recommended to use an engine heater from environmental temperature of +5ºC (41ºF), and I would say needed from 0ºC (32ºF). What that means transferred to cold start with E10, I just don’t know, however is it reasonably to assume that there is some impact.

Did the two incidents of stalling occur at cold start, or at normal engine temperatures?

 

GLKKa2H, that was very informative. So I need not obsess about the ethanol except for reduced mileage. The stalling occured even after the engine was nice and warm. Today the service advisor informs me that I need a new engine control module. I am just thankful the car is still within warranty. By the way would it matter if I have to switch between ethanol gas and pure gas for whatever reason?

 

No, it does not. The Electronic Control Unit (ECU), or "engine control module", senses the qualtity/grade of gas, among other parameters, and adjusts accordingly to "optimize" the engine.

Good luck with the replacement - hopes it takes care of the issue.

 

mine was a cold start. I started the car, ran it for 30-45 seconds and then shut it down. then when I went to start it again a few hours later it didn't want to start and then stalled after it finally did start.

 

To all those that do not know, ALL gasoline in the continental USA contains ethanol (year round) thanks to the powerful corn lobby of the mid western states, the Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), former President Bush and the Republican Party for voting for the permanent change back in 2006. Now this same farmer friendly but car damaging lobby is heavily pressuring congress to up the percentage to E15 or 15% ethanol. Essentially, it's a "bail-out" "pay-off" subsidy to the corn growers to the tune of $1.3 Billion and has NOTHING to do with the environment or reducing pollution.

EPACT 2005 (enacted in 2006) created a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) which required that 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels be blended with gasoline by 2012. The RFS was expanded under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (“EISA”) to require that 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels be used in the nation’s motor fuel supply by 2022. EISA caps the use of conventional ethanol produced from corn starch at 15 billion gallons in 2015 and requires the remaining 21 billion gallons to be produced from advanced biofuels including at least 16 billion gallons from cellulosic feedstocks. By way of comparison, an estimated 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol were produced and used in 2009, up from 9.2 billion in 2008.

PS: By the way, don't ask the guy sitting behind the desk or even the mechanics at the station, they don't know. If they say it doesn't, they're wrong. Most states require a sticker on the pump but it's not enforced very well.