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Jerking Vibrations after car rests in cold W203 C230

2.7K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Flickspeed  
#1 ·
Hello,

I own a 2002 W203 C320 Automatic.

The car is normal early in the morning when cold. But after driving and having the car parked for about 30 minutes in cold weather, right after ignition the car starts jerking and vibrating on the spot, it is more in Reverse and Drive compared to P and N. As soon as I drive away the problem fixes itself.

I had the MAF checked out - was ok.
I had the EGR cleaned now is ok.

There are no malfunction codes in star or anywhere.

But the problem remains.

1 of the spark plugs was inspected visually and seemed ok.

Now we are thinking its either the injectors that need cleaning or the spark plugs need changing.

Again the car is ok when cold in the morning. Just after some rest 30m to 1h in cold weather it starts acting up right after ignition.

All filters (fuel/air/oil) are replaced.

ECU connectors had some green on them but cleaned with wurth substance twice now!

Not sure what to do next, change the spark plugs or clean the injectors...

Problem is it is a used car and we don't know when the spark plugs where changed.
 
#2 ·
could it be crappy fuel ?
changing the spark plugs couldn't hurt especially if you don't have any maintenance records.

Im not an SME on your chassis, but Winter can affect the car via the fuel. Try some Heet (RED BOTTLE) and see if that helps
 
owns 1992 MB 300ce
#4 ·
We checked those, transmission seemed ok, motor mounts are not as great but specialists said they are not the cause in this particular case with such violant jerking as it would have persisted in other scenarios too.

I will have the spark plugs changed to be sure there is no problem there..

Any thoughts on having the injectors cleaned? Car may have been parked for a long time and I was told the heads tend to dry up or something..
 
#5 ·
If the car has been sitting it is certainly worth running a tank of fresh fuel with a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner. The car may just need to be run for a while. Try a highway trip and once you have fresh fuel do the occasional brisk acceleration - wide open throttle up to a legal highway speed (also known as an Italian tune-up). These won't fix an actual problem but sometimes the fuel system just needs some cleaner and higher flow to resolve an issue like this.