E320 CDI - Intermittent No Kickdown & Power Loss

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Jonski

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MAF Replacement Looking Good so far...

Reporting Back:

My new MAF arrived today. It cost me 81 Euros including delivery from www.piecesavenue.com (France). Its the same brand as the original part - Pierburg.

After fitting it (2 minute job), I did a 30 minute run, starting and stopping the engine a few times, as this has triggered the limp & no kickdown problem in the past. I parked it up over lunchtime and went for another short run. Still ok. Yesterday the problem was evident within 20 minutes of setting off.

So, touch wood, its looking like the new MAF has fixed the problem.:D Will report back if this proves not to be the case.

Thanks to all for advice and guidance...
 

Zenshin

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Well, apparently my problems are caused by a split hose, leading to a loss of pressure within the system.

Going back to have it fitted - £30 for the hose and about a half hour fitting apparently.

Will report back on the results.

I'd like to add my thanks to the useful posts.
 

Zenshin

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Wel, it's a week on, and I've had no further occurrences of power loss, there's hardly any smoking (only as you'd expect from a diesel) and my fuel economy is back up to 35 mpg, for a 20 mile journey which is a mix of town and country roads.

So it seems in my instance, it was simply a split hose.
 

APTinUK

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2000 E320 CDI ESTATE
Wel, it's a week on, and I've had no further occurrences of power loss, there's hardly any smoking (only as you'd expect from a diesel) and my fuel economy is back up to 35 mpg, for a 20 mile journey which is a mix of town and country roads.

So it seems in my instance, it was simply a split hose.

Hi there, i'm having similar symptoms on my E320cdi. :(
What hose was found to be split ?
Regards
Andy T
 

television

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It is the charge tube on the turbo
 

APTinUK

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Ah , thanks for the info chaps.
It only happens now and again, but i'll check them .
Regards
Andy T
 

JimM

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W210 E320 CDi Avantgarde Estate 2002
I fitted a new Pierburg MAF sensor, not bad at £48.xx from Euro Car Parts and they had it in stock.

Sadly it didn't fix the problem.

I have had the EGR shunt in place for several months now but that doesn't stop the limp mode either.

Limp mode still happens when the box changes up from 3rd gear to 4th gear. If I lock it in 3rd gear all is fine.

I thought the ATF level was low so I put in 1 litre. No difference.

I had a 200-mile steady run yesterday and my mileage is up, from 43.4 to 46.4 per gallon at 75mph max. :cool:

Amazing! So that might be because of the new MAF sensor.

But I would like to get my power back, this car is a pig not a bear and I want my bear.

Can anyone shed some light on the gearchange-related Limp mode?

The engine revs up before 4th gear "grabs" and the car goes into limp.

Could it be a loose/worn 4th-gear band?

Or still not enough ATF? I tried the net-curtain cable and it showed about 7-8cm of oil smear on it. Should I try another litre of ATF?
 
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st4

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Sounds like a severe transmission flare, better quality ATF is needed and/or a top up. If this doesn't cure it, I'd see a transmission specialists

The car will have fault codes stored so a star reading by a local MB specialist is a good idea. STAR are a good garage so I hear and are based in Reading IIRC
 

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I fitted a new Pierburg MAF sensor, not bad at £48.xx from Euro Car Parts and they had it in stock.

Sadly it didn't fix the problem.

I have had the EGR shunt in place for several months now but that doesn't stop the limp mode either.

Limp mode still happens when the box changes up from 3rd gear to 4th gear. If I lock it in 3rd gear all is fine.

I thought the ATF level was low so I put in 1 litre. No difference.

I had a 200-mile steady run yesterday and my mileage is up, from 43.4 to 46.4 per gallon at 75mph max. :cool:

Amazing! So that might be because of the new MAF sensor.

But I would like to get my power back, this car is a pig not a bear and I want my bear.

Can anyone shed some light on the gearchange-related Limp mode?

The engine revs up before 4th gear "grabs" and the car goes into limp.

Could it be a loose/worn 4th-gear band?

Or still not enough ATF? I tried the net-curtain cable and it showed about 7-8cm of oil smear on it. Should I try another litre of ATF?

You must not over fill the box, and 7 cm up the wire is ok with the engine at 80c

Maybe the fluid has never been changed and new fluid and a filter might help fix it
 

Corned

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If it was me, I would remove the EGR shunt as the first step - if only to eliminate it from your enquiries.

Seems you have replaced quite a few parts whilst merely guessing as to the root cause.

Get the codes read.
 

JimM

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Thanks guys.

I did have the codes read and cleared, there were dozens of all sorts, so total confusion.

Some codes mentioned low ATF level as a possible cause.

So I will get them read again to see what new codes are there and go from there unless someone else has experienced this symptom?
 

JimM

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Hello again pals.

Gosh I didn't realise how long ago it was that I was last here, another year older and deeper in debt! :(

However, as I believe in closing problems with fixes for the benefit of others, here I am.

My limp mode got worse, happenng sooner and sooner on cold start, to the point that it occurred immediately I started the car and had no kickdown and no turbo. It was like driving a hearse, that is what my dear daughter nicknamed my car as soon as she saw it. Boy was I hurt! But here we are.

Finally it is fixed. Yay!! :cool::cool:

My problem was caused by a faulty vacuum valve, identical to the EGR vacuum valve we can see behind the windscreen washer bottle, which we bypass when fitting the EGR Bypass shunt by Dieselman (many thanks for that one, pal). I fitted that a long time ago because my car was smoknig badly, the EGR valve is faulty and I decided not to replace it.

Now I'm a lazy guy, I wasn't home when my friendly mobile mechie found the fault, he swapped the faulty valve with the bypassed EGR vacuum valve, and my daughter didn't understand or forgot what valve it was that he told her, except that they are identical, so can anyone shed some light without me taking the car engine covers off to find it please?

Thank you guys - and anyone who has this fault, the valve is apparently quite cheap from Mercedes, although I haven't called them to get the price yet. Check your EGR vacuum valve for the part number or wait until some kind soul here tells us which valve is identical to the EGR vac valve on the W210.

And thanks to the guys who offered tips and hints for me when I was trying to fix this problem. I was going to remove the manifold next and check the swirl flaps, but couldn't raise much interest as this car has been a pig.

Now - she really flies! The best acceleration I've experienced in any of my own cars, including a 5.3litre Jag XJ-S V12 Coupe and my S-Type Jag which is only a 2.5 litre but also flies - but not as quick as this beauty, and now I'm really enjoying this car as it should be. I even cleaned her out and cleaned old white paint off my black leather seats today and polished them with Leather feed! How about that then?

And with the earlier MAF change upping my mileage to around the 50mpg mark - how can I complain? :mrgreen:
 
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MrSpeedy

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A quick hello first of all.
I've just signed up so I can post a reply in this thread.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a 2000 320CDi estate, and shortly afterwards noticed that it wouldn't rev above 2200rpm and wouldn't kickdown.

Having read this thread, I ordered a new MAF sensor (pattern, not MB) and I'm pleased to report back that it has cured the issue. Coincidence or other, I can't be 100% sure, but I know that it now goes like stink!!!

So thanks to all who posted in this thread initially :)
 

JimM

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Good to know it's helped.

As I like to give feedback...

Since the fix, the car has been superb to drive and I'm enjoying every trip.

I used to call her a pig and even slapped her dashboard a few times out of frustration ;)

Now she does 0-62mph on target, definitely under 9 secs, pulls like a racehorse up to 110mph (I know it's not sensible but it was on a motorway and clear road, and I chickened out at that speed anyway and eased back to legality!) and I get the average mileage 35-36mpg round town and local driving, and today she hit 48mpg at a constant 70mph

I am well pleased and it didn't cost much in the end. Except for the MAP sensor when the chap at ECP got it wrong when I asked for the MAF sensor. But it was only about £50 so still OK.

These cars are well worth their money at this age.
 

S320Cornwall

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Hi,

Have the same fault on my s320 CDI, no power, no kickdown etc. Went for STAR diagnostic and it shows MAF fault. Having fitted new MAF from main dealer and for 3 miles car drove as a dream. After that fault came back, car in limp mode, no kickdown etc. Stopped the car fired it up again and fault disappeared for another few minutes and next came back. How can I check if it is pressure valve fault? Any suggestion what can cause car in limp mode?
 

GordonR

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Question

It is the charge tube on the turbo
Malcolm. you kindly assisted on my S Class last week. Anyway, we have a 2003 E320 Cdi W211 and it drops into limp mode, typically max 20 mph ish and no kickdown. Last week i took the top covers off, sprayed Winns EGR spray all over the MAF and also tool out the EGR, cleaned it and had a hoover around. Anyway, in short still does it. One thing i did notice was a small regular sneezing sound at tickover and this is not evident with the covers fitted. Interested to know where the turbo hose you mention is and would a leaky one potentially be my problem? As an extra the MAF sensor body has a top and bottom star bolt holding it in but i could not seem to remove the intake pipe to get to the bottom bolt. Today i plugged and ODBD II scanner in the port but diagnosed nothing. Gordon
 

Az187

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S210 2001 e320 cdi

I've been having the kickdown and loss of power problem for a while. I'm going for diagnostics tomorrow and I'll report back the results and recommendations. I definitely need an egr valve clean, and I'll check the MAF too. Noticed a small oil leak too.
 

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