1994 E420 - Stalling Problem

[vaaccess]

Well, it's rainy this afternoon and while this morning I had no issues (no rain), today at lunch it hesitated and died at startup and even after I had been driving about 30 seconds pulling up to a stop it almost died.

I called a place near me that specializes in Imports and is highly rated and they're saying the parts + labor to replace all the rotors and dist cap would be no greater than $580, but he thinks he'd be able to get the Bosch parts for less than the list on the screen he was looking at.

Question is...Does that sound reasonable? He said the labor would only be around $125 or so, which is almost 2 hours worth of work...He charges $78/hr.

Generally I like to try and do stuff myself...But...2-hours for a pro to do something with all the right tools would equal me taking 4 hours to do it. :)

[vaaccess]

I took it to a mechanic that specializes in German cars.

Of course, when they looked at my car it wasn't having any problems at all. But, I wanted them to check it out anyway. So, they pulled both distributors and three of the caps that were easy to get too and they all look like they were recently replaced and none showed any significant signs or wear, etc, so they told me not to replace them.

I did have them replace the fuel filter since I couldn't verify that it was replaced, etc.

I'm going to pull the codes off the car this weekend, hoepfully. It'll be interesting to see what comes up. I still think the idle is a bit inconsistent at startup, but when I drove it last night it wasn't toooo bad. One time, though, the car just cranked and cranked, but didn't fire up. The dealership did say that they saw one code where some sensor was saying it didn't recognize that the car was cranking? Maybe a crank sensor?

Anyway, since it isn't the cap/distributor if someone has another idea I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

[germanauto]

I know its been a while since your last posting, but have you solved the problem, I have the same car with the same symptoms. Thanks

[97BenzC230]

I really do feel for you, I've had some expensive things on my E420...

A few things I've learned and maybe you can benefit from:

1. If you know enough about your car and its parts, try to supply your own parts. I routinely save about 50% on parts simply by ordering OEM parts from Auto Parts at AutohausAZ - OEM Auto Parts - Discount Replacement Parts, Resources and Car Care Tips. They are very good and expedient and got my parts to in about 10 days (from Arizona to Canada - very fast!).

2. Throttle actuator...is your car ASR or non-ASR? I had to replace mine (ASR) about half a year ago, the part alone was 2k, the labour for diagnosis about 4 hours (100/hour), plus 4 hours to install it...rough...almost 3k for that repair. This was before I knew about autohaus...my AC compressor still needs replacing, dealership wants 1500$ for the part alone, can get it on autohaus for about 500$...it ALWAYS PAYS TO SHOP AROUND.

With regards to YOUR actuator, I understand it was installed recently, BUT was it done at the licensed dealership? The MB specialist that works on my car couldn't install the actuator for me because it took some programming tool that only the dealership had...perhaps your part is fine but not programmed correctly? Maybe you should see if the dealership could just try reprogramming it (about 3 hours of labour w/o parts maybe approx 400$ instead of 2500).

3. Your symptoms sort of sound like my recent problem...rough idle and sometimes stalling all together...this got progessively worse until the car wouldn't start at all. My problem was the fuel pumps...perhaps your are weak or dead? Replacing the pumps (2pumps on my car, may only be 1pump for yours) was about 700$ including all parts and labour. Changing the fuel filter was a good move even if it didn't fix the prob...filthy fuel filters may lead to pump failure.

As per the car in general, yes they are expensive and sometimes tempermental...but they are very classy and most importantly, extremely safe. If you have a wife/girlfriend/kids etc. there is no other vehicle on the road that I'd like them to be in...MB safety is legendary. Maintenance is expensive but worth the investment (ie. spend 50$/year on fuel filters instead of 800$ every 5 years on blown pumps).

Cheers and good luck with the car!

[97BenzC230]

Also, one last note:

That mechanic that told you not to bother replacing those rotors - it takes a very honest mechanic to tell you that...you probably want to give him as much business as possible save for those things only the dealership can do.