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1989 Mercedes Station Wagon

2K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  jhodg5ck 
#1 ·
I just bought a 1989 Mercedes station wagon off of a work colleague. I've had it for about a week. Well more than once the engine shut itself off while I was driving it. I was hoping that the problem stemmed from a low level of gas (even though when it happened the first time I had just a hair less than a quarter tank), but it happened again today when I was on a half tank. Before I go and spend a bunch of money on getting it fixed- does any one know what the possible cause of this problem could be? I know that the Mercedes needs to have a diagnostic test done because the engine is computerized, but I don't know how accurate this is and what the possibility is that I will end up fixing other things and not this problem. Thanks a lot. -Marcia

By the way- the problem is exasperated by the fact that I am in Germany and have to pay for all repairs in Euros.
 
#2 ·
Wie gehts, Marcia. I am sorry to tell you that I bought an 88 300E in 1991 and shortly after buying it I experienced "shutting off" problems. I took it back to the MBZ dealer and their first step was to boost the idle speed by grounding a pin of the Bosch fuel injection ECU. This did not solve the problem. I my case I could be driving along a highway at 70 mph, lift my foot off the accelerator while coasting down a hill, and when I put my foot back on the accelerator the engine was off. Very frustrating. At the time I knew very little about how my car worked and I left the dealer do all the servicing. Things got very expensive quickly so I took over. I replaced the injectors since the car also had hard-to-start issues and that seemed to fix the problem. I then sold the car for other reasons so I don't know if the injectors were a permanent fix.
If I had the problem on one of my cars today I would begin swapping over parts from a car that didn't have the problem until it was fixed. ECU, relays, throttle body assembly, fuel pumps, whatever it took... Not a good solution for you since you don't have spares. I'd hope that an authorized Bosch repair station in Germany would have experience with this problem and be able to help you. Good luck. I lived in Koeln-Porz for awhile and also Muenchen. I loved it there. Where are you?
 
#4 ·
Thanks for responding

Augapfel- you're situation with that Mercedes is one that I want to avoid at all costs! I will however toy with the idea of taking my car to Bosch. I've dealt with them before and had a good experience. Koeln, huh? I'm working for the Army in Heidelberg. Really love it!

Kestas- thanks for asking. It does restart just as soon as I put it in park.

Thanks again! -Marcia
 
#5 ·
Sounds like classic fuel pump relay..reasonably priced and takes about 10 minutes to swap out!

It's located behind the battery, you'll see a number of relays, but two will look almost identical.. You want the one the does NOT say Klima on it.

Jonathan
 
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