I went for a long drive to Southern CA from Silicon Valley, on Tuesday. Covered about 350 miles there without any problems. On the way back I filled the tank with 91 Octane gas and drove back. During the driving the CEL went on. I read the following codes : P0300, P0301, P0302, P0304 today. Is this related to possibly bad gasoline ? The car runs OK at engine speeds below about 4200, but it starts to shke pretty badly at 4250. The CEL was also flashing for a few seconds but is mostly just ON solidly. I have replaced the MAF, Fuel filter, Oxygen sensors on this car in the last 3-6 months. Anybody has any ideas ?
Just an aside the LHR window regulator broke in LA and I had to push stuff into the glass channel to keep it closed for the trip back ! I know the DIY on this forum for the regulator will be a life-saver.
On those facts it could be a bad tank of gas. I think I would dump in a can or maybe two of seafoam and get a fill up when you get down around a third of a tank. Wal-Mart has the best price on it...and they have mobil1 on sale, too.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
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Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
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Ditto to Greg. I'd probably use Chevron Techron Concentrate, but mostly because I'm in the habit if using it as preventative maintenance anyway (every 3000 miles).
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OliverK, the flashing check engine goes on for a few seconds and then off. I drove it approx 350 miles back from LA at 70+ miles an hour. It drove remarkably well, except for the check engine light. I got pretty good mileage as wel - 25.4 MPG on Highway. In case its the gas, should I try to drain the remaining 5 gallons and fill with new gas or should I just add Seafoam and fill up ? There are eight codes from the engine P0300, P0301, P0302,and P0304 that have repeated. Is there anything specific about cylinder 1,2 and four that may provide any clues ? Has anyone lese had this problem where the vibration starts at High revs over 4200 ?
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: The Mountain State
Posts: 6,381
dilsingh,
I just re-read the subject line of your original post, and it says you are in Neutral when this happens. Some of these MBs have a rev limiter that prevents high RPMs in Park and Neutral. Could this have something to do with it?
Musikmann, my car is yr 2000, E320. This is the first time I have tried to rev it up in neutral to see what happens at high idle ( in neutral ). The shaking is quite precise at around 4200 RPM; perhaps MB has set it up that way ? The CEL came on during driving, but there was nothing else abnormal for more than 150 miles. I can reset the CEL with the meter but I was trying ti figure out why the misfires occurred on the way back from LA. Getting there was 350 miles without problems then I bought about 16 gallons of gas and the CEL light went on within the first 80 miles or so and stayed lit. The MPG on the way back was still above 25. I am not sure if this model has the RPM limiter in neutral. In any case as an Engineer I would not have designed this system to vibrate at high RPM in neutral, perhaps I would have limited the RPM to say 4000 in neutral as the max, if anything. However, my German colleagues must have a different train of thought ?
I have just bought the Seafom to see what it may do for me. I will post after adding it and testing.
Any other thoughts ?
This may be too simple to be the problem, but you may have not put the cap on tight enough on your fill up originally. I think allowing for air and maybe containments to entire the tank forcing those codes. When I ran totally out of gas one day the car threw several misfire codes. I filled it with a couple of gallons, let it idle then rev'd the engine. The codes went away after I reset them. After a couple more fill ups of gas it idled fine. Also, I cleaning the MAF may not hurt if done correctly.
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Musikmann, my car is yr 2000, E320. This is the first time I have tried to rev it up in neutral to see what happens at high idle ( in neutral ). The shaking is quite precise at around 4200 RPM; perhaps MB has set it up that way ? The CEL came on during driving, but there was nothing else abnormal for more than 150 miles. I can reset the CEL with the meter but I was trying ti figure out why the misfires occurred on the way back from LA. Getting there was 350 miles without problems then I bought about 16 gallons of gas and the CEL light went on within the first 80 miles or so and stayed lit. The MPG on the way back was still above 25. I am not sure if this model has the RPM limiter in neutral. In any case as an Engineer I would not have designed this system to vibrate at high RPM in neutral, perhaps I would have limited the RPM to say 4000 in neutral as the max, if anything. However, my German colleagues must have a different train of thought ?
I have just bought the Seafom to see what it may do for me. I will post after adding it and testing.
Any other thoughts ?
Hi, ds. Personally I've always shied away from free-revving an engine other than throttle blips. There may indeed be a protective element built in for a neutral run up that acts like a rev-limiter before you can get up to an RPM that might inflict damage, but that is pure conjecture.
Your mileage to me seems a bit low, I've never averaged under 28 on a highway trip and that includes grapevine and coastal hills and speeds from 70-80. Flat level terrain for extended 70-75 mph historically I've been over 30 mpg (32.5 best).
How many miles? It is possible you're just starting to experience cat failure, as they start to plug up they can cause misfires and mileage loss. I'm contemplating that myself at this juncture.
How many miles on your 210?
Dump in the seafoam, that's a pretty high concentration for the gas you have remaining, then when your low fuel light comes on since you're back home fill it up at a station you're familiar with that has never given you issues in the past. If the problem goes away you'll be pretty sure it was gas related, if not you're only out $6 for the seafoam.
Vehicle: 2001 SLK 320(96K Miles), 2002 E320 Special Edition(113K Miles)
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Or did you perhaps overfill it - topped off? That can cause major problems on these cars.
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