230TE stalls at low speed

Mine too!

Sorry I can't add anything as far as a solution, but my 280TE does the exact same thing after it heats up on warm days, I was thinking of turning up the idle, maybe it went out of adjustment? I haven't really actively tried to solve it as of yet but would be interested in anybody's thoughts on this matter.

Re: Mine too!

Looking around the net for fuel injection troubleshooting advice, I've found the suggestion that a car which starts, warms up, then stalls could be suffering from a dodgy fuel pump relay. Guess I'll check that first.

Fuel pump relay

Looks like the fuel pump relay is the problem on my car. It is situated in the passenger footwell, just above the bonnet release lever. You need to undo the bottom section of the dash on the passenger side to get at it.<br> <br> On my car the problem got worse and worse, until the engine stalled and would not restart at all. With the ignition on there was no fuel pump noise. Removing the relay and bridging terminals 7 and 8 to force the fuel pump to operate all the time allowed the engine to start, indicating that the relay wasn't working.<br> <br> Apparently these relays can overheat, so if your car is stalling on hot days this could be the problem.<br> <br> Easy to fix, but my local dealer wanted £95 for a new relay...

Andrew,<br> If your FPR, is anything like mine ('85 500SEC),<br> You can pop the cover off. Inside you'll find two solenoids, plus other assorted circuits. The ground/coil support, for the larger of the two has a bad solder. Check out the back side of the solenoid. I'll wager that you'll see corrosion and minute cracks around the joint. Vibration and disimilar metal corrosion are the culprits. A ten minute solder job, has fixed mine.<br> Good luck, John

Re: Mine too!

I have a 280ce and had similar problems especially when the weather warmed up in the summer. I replaced the HT leads put in new spark plugs and had the tick over adjusted, its been fine ever since.

Hi Andrew,<br>
just found this excellent forum and your problem. I bought my 230te only two weeks ago so I'm new to the car but the fuel pump relay is mounted in view on the left side of the car and looks new so hopefully its been changed. <br>
I had the bonnet badge pinched on Saturday night (in Anglesey of all places) do you know where I can get a replacement in the UK? I'm in Manchester. The illegitemate ones pulled out the whole unit rather than snapping the star off.<br>
Auto with 108,000 my car and runs a treat on the motorway, though a bit slow up the hills in Wales. How does yours pull from 2000 revs? Any tips gratefully received.

Try www.mercedesparts.co.uk - the prices seem cheap, though I've yet to actually do any business with them.<br> <br> My 230TE is an auto with 165,000 miles on it, though I believe the engine had a top end rebuild done by a previous owner. Pulls well, and for a big non-sporting four-cylinder engine it's surprisingly happy to rev.