280 won't tick over

[Pigpen]

Hi all,

My 1992 280 has decided all of a sudden not to tick over. It starts and revs fine but if I take my foot off it dies. I have adjusted the throttle cable to stop that happening and (stupidly) taken it to a Merc dealer to take a gander at it.

Their prognosis was that it needs new plugs, leads, coils and the throttle body needs cleaning out. That all sounded dandy till they quoted me £850 to do it!

So a couple of questions.... How easy are the three coils to replace and does anyone know the correct part number for them? Is there a mechanic in central London that people would recommend to clean out the throttle housing?

Obviously if you think I'm being spun a line please feel free to let me know.

Cheers

PP

 

[television]

If the car runs above idle ok and does drive, then nothing wrong with the coils.

Throttle body cleaning maybe, and maybe the leads

 

[Pigpen]

Nice one, many thanks.

 

[kth286]

What car is it - E280 or C280?

The dealer should have read the diagnostic fault codes and given you the results - perhaps £50 cost.

BUT there lies the problem - horses for courses and all that.

It is not appropriate to take an old car (in main dealer terms) to a franchised dealer.

They do not know what to do with them. The young technicians at those places had only just been born when your car was made.

Find a local Merc independent (and check they do actually work on cars like yours) and ask them to tell them you what fault codes are registered, if any, and to explain to you what they mean and what the cost of rectification is if a problem is highlighted.

 

[Pigpen]

It's a 280E. If you know of a handy bloke out your way I can get it to Reading no problem.

 

[television]

It's a 280E. If you know of a handy bloke out your way I can get it to Reading no problem.

Try STAR of reading,a good guy who used to post here