1996 E300D Stalling at speed - Please Help!

[gavinrickwood]

I have recently purchased an E300D (I'm a convert from a Jaguar XJ40 although my first encounters with MB are not going well)

The engine is demonstrating an intermittent tendency to cut out. The revs drop to zero and the warning lights come on. No diagnostic warning light or anything helpful just a sudden death. It has happened three times as I slow down to approach a junction and twice whilst at a constant speed of 30mph and 40mph.

The restart is always instant and there's no coughing or spluttering to get her going again.

I had her checked out at a Mercedes garage and their diagnostic computer came up with nothing.

Has anyone else had this problem please?

Your help will be appreciated.

Gav R

[gtkriss]

hmmm... doesn't sound like it's a puter prob.. and this happens when you slow down? It's possible that it could be the fuel pump/ clogged fuel filter... Hmm.. is this a turbo diesel? if so.. turbo could be jacked. It seems that diesel probably is generating too much heat, too much friction, and zeizes and looses spark. Start there.. keep me posted, and give me more info.

[gavinrickwood]

Hi gtkriss,

It has happened when I slow down but on two occasions it happened when I was cruising at about 30 miles per hour.

It is not a turbo diesel.

Yesterday I did 260 miles and it did not happen at all. The day before I did about 40 miles and it happened 3 times.

[shamza]

Wouldnt hurt to get the fuel injectors cleaned. Use fuel injector cleaner in a quarter tank, maybe two bottles at the same time. Drive it around for about 10 min with that mixture, refill full tank and you should be ok.

Fixed my problem when I had it.

[Harry S]

Are you still having that stall problem? If so ,I belong to the same club! If it's fixed ,What's been done ? I'm looking for the cure. I'm thinking ,vac. shut down actuator,on inj. pump?

[djliveinfla]

I had the same problem with my 1996 E300D. I looked for a solution for over 30K miles spending over $10k replacing several computers, filters and valves. The cutting out became so frequent that I was finally able to bring it to my dealer ( MB of Tampa Bay - tampa fla). Cory found a bad relay and bad glow plug relay. So far the car again operates flawlessly.

[talonlover]

It seems that diesel probably is generating too much heat, too much friction, and zeizes and looses spark

????????????What the heck are you talking about??????

It sounds like your injection pump may be sucking in some air, or quite possibly a leaking diesel line. I would look very carefully at the lines going from the pump to the main fuel filter and the line from the filter to the injectors. Look carefully at the loop line connecting the injectors as well. If it is wet, replace them. I have seen quite a few 210 diesels have the fitting on the top of the main filter leak, so look at it when it is running.
One more thing, If you are overdue on a service then you might want to catch up on that, I can't remember if your car gets a valve adjustment at 15k or not but you may want to check it out as well as both fuel filters.

[John Van]

Originally Posted by djliveinfla

I had the same problem with my 1996 E300D. I looked for a solution for over 30K miles spending over $10k replacing several computers, filters and valves. The cutting out became so frequent that I was finally able to bring it to my dealer ( MB of Tampa Bay - tampa fla). Cory found a bad relay and bad glow plug relay. So far the car again operates flawlessly.

Do you have any idea which relay they replaced besides the glow plug relay? My 1997 E300D has the same problem which no dealer has been able to fix.
John

[Alex Jeon]

I have a 1996 W210 Diesel non-turbo. I'm experienceing the SAME EXACT problems posted on this thread. The problem is so intermittent that diagnostic computers or the vehicle main computer can't detect it if it hasn't happened in a while. Sometimes the CHECK ENGINE message comes on and a couple of hours later, it disappears. This means that the computer does not detect a problem anymore, but it stalls again.

Judging from all the people describing this same problem, I guess this a a typical issue with this diesel model. The air-bubble in the fuel line is a good hypothesis, but I like the relay problem hypothesis. I think it may be an electrical problem of some sort because the on-board computer displays "Electronic Problem" and disappears after the engine has been restarted. I don't believe it has to do with a clogged injector because the engine runs smooth unless it suddenly stalls. Clogged injectors will show symptoms of rough idle and rough acceleration. Both these symptoms are absent in my case. But none-the-less, I've tried diesel injector cleaners without results.

Is there anyone who has had this problem and was able to get it resolved??? There are a lot of people here who would benefit from the sharing of this information. DJLIVINFLA - Stated that it was the glow plug relay and another relay. Can you elaborate on the "OTHER" relay??? Thanks all for your help.

-Alex in California

[ebmcl]

i too have the same problem i now have 149k on the car and i will travel at 70 mph and the engine will cut off for 1-2 secs and restart and will stall at a stop light
the MB dealership/service states no codes came up on the puter and they could not explain it i did have them run the car all day in the shop and it did cut off once for them and still no codes came up on the puter.they did replace the battery and afterwards it has cut off twice again took it to a local mb repair shop and they could not find a problem although they thought it could be a fuel line getting air in it it was checked out no air.the shop feels there is something wrong with fuel getting cut off but still no answer i did have the glow plugs replaced 1-2yrs ago.
i don't feel anyone knows what it is so i am going to trade it.
I do like the car it is silver with blue interior(which one can not get anymore) but i don't like the unexpected problems with no resolution

[Alex Jeon]

O.K. People!!! I think I know how to solve this problem.

I took my E-300D to Rusnak Mercedes Benz in Pasadena, CA to get this problem diagnosed and fixed. They kept the car there for about a week and COULD NOT diagnose the problem. Then came the interesting part.

Based upon my research on this forum, I called Mercedes of Tampa, FL to try and figure out what Cory did to fix this problem on the posting that djliveinfla left. They weren't too accomodating in letting me speak to the mechanic. So...I had my service advisor at Rusnak Mercedes contact the dealer in Tampa, FL and got them talking. Cory stated that he replaced a "K-40" relay on the '96 E-300D and the customer never came back to complain about the recurrance of this problem.

I directed Rusnak Mercedes to replace this same relay. They advised that they cannot guarantee that the problem will be fixed and that if there is a problem then I would be responsible. The part costs about $170.00 plus labor. I told them to do it. I've had my car back for about a week and have driven it about 250 miles without it stalling once!!! I think the problem is gone now. Based upon my experience, the car should've stalled out at least twice by now, but so far so good. I hope this helps!!!

I know many of you are having this problem and I hope that this information is valuable in solving this stalling problem. Keep in touch and let me know how this works out. Thanks.

[4florence]

Did you ever solve this problem?

[cutter4u2]

I have a 1996 E300D with the same problem. I did notice that at night the lights will dim and brighten indicating variation in electrical loading. This would indicate a component failure and may be associated with the fuel issues. The K40 relay makes since in that the electric fuel shut off valve is controlled by the computer through the K40 relay. If this relay is faulty and over heats, the fuel valve will close and stop fuel to the engine. Once the relay shuts down, it will recycle and turn the fuel valve back on. My guess is a relay problem that the computer can't detect.

[eclass]

cutter4u2 is right, suspect the K40 relay in the module box under the hood next to the passenger side hood hindge. It's the part with fuses in it.

[kashwort2002@yahoo]

It could be the engine's electrical harness. About $1,500 repair - very complicated and an MB technician is your best bet.

If you are told repeatedly that different error codes are reported on the car's computer chip and read by the mechanic's computer....then you could be having this problem. I had 3 repairs in the $400 to $800 range before a MB regional service manager noted that the electrical engine harness "decays" over time and that small fractures in the plastic coated wires had created erroneous faults picked up by the chip and automatically shutdown the engine.

Symptoms look like bad fuel, bad fuel injector, bad fuel shut-off switch, bad fuel pump...and the list goes on.

Good luck.

P.S. - I have 228,000 miles on my Merc and it was worth every penny to put the harness on it! Still getting 38/35MPG in late 2009.