c180 classic w202

[mightymerc]

help please help!!! Anyone who can do a good deed please reply.

I took my car in today to my local mercedes benz dealer in bolton with a number of problems that I reported. My car is the basic of all w202 c class classic 1996.

Problems are:

1) misfiring and hesitatating heavy on different occasions at low speed and in between 1,2 and 3rd gear when downchanging or up shifting. ( spark plugs replaced and 1 x lead replaced all genuine last 2 weeks)
2) constant knocking noise from front drivers side wheel at low speed and over small bumps. balljoints, all arb front replaced last year)
3) engine rattling and ticking noise only in low gear and low speed and when revving in neutral.
4) BRAKE JUDDER FROM NEW DISCS AND PADS RECENTLY FITTED GENUINE

misfiring occured only when recently last fortnight had full service done with genuine spark plugs from dealer, air filter, fuel filter and oil and oil filter change. Local indie noticed engine spluttering after change and he messed withh the wiring looms it sorted out some of the splutter but not all.
Car has been running rough, rich in petrol and exhaust fumes very noticeable lots of complaints from people when start up in cold.
had the cat and rear box replaced 6 months ago just after mot in september but now after that had retest of cat and exhaust but failing miserably on emmisions. had diagnostic check done and it showed no faults to hand. not even the oxygen sensor or lambda sensor perfectly fine and maff sensor.
N.B car runs fine and well on motorway no misfiring, nothing clean as a whistle.
Mercedes said after spending 1 initial hour today they need 3 more hours to investigate and kept my car until monday. Cost £376 + vat £94 per hour * 4 hours. is this right or is the problem a quick fix. they said there are 6 different faults showing on the diagnostics but did not say what. I had enough left it with them cos im having sleepless nights. is this right?
What should I do?

 

[horgantrevor]

hello how many miles on the car

a car needs a things to go air , fuel and spark, you say you changed the air filter ,did you change the spark leads . also when it comes to fuel the fuel filter often gets left unchanged for a long time [if ever changed] this can put pressure on the fuel pump .a new filter and a an engine additive to clean the system would be a great idea .

 

[mightymerc]

hi thanks for your reply. your the first. anyway my car has 129,600 miles genuine Yes I changed the fuel filter genuine along with the spark plugs genuine. however only changed one spark lead genuine from dealer. had it all made to order thats the wire with the plug orange colour thing. Since then all failed mechanically misfiring at low rev when down shifting from high to low gears, car limping heavily just dont know give up. unless parts supplied faulty. what i do know before the spark plugs change i had ngk plugs and they were excellent no problems whatsoever. since fitting the parts genuine from dealer champion plugs and the new wire loom cable with connector all failed. car began misfiring and spluttering. added engine additive before service fine no problems.
however i noticed running rich after changing everthing and misfiring along with exhaust fumes. had cat test done and emmissions at local mot station failed miserably.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
Why did you only replace one Ignition lead? Was it visibly damaged?
The Ignition lead set on your car consists of 2 leads and 2 plug caps, I had similar symptons on my C230K and a new lead set from ECP solved the problem. The actual cause of the misfire was one of the plug caps that was fitted under the coils.

 

[vijilants]

Take this car to a decent MB Indie. It will cost you far less and you will be dealing with a real mechanic and not a "plug in technician" who can diagnose far quicker than the main dealer ! From my experience they seem to know very little about these models and when problems like this occur, they are useless !

Was the MAF or Lambda ever replaced ?

 

[mightymerc]

Hi guys
thanks again for your replies. Firstly I replaced one of the two spark plug leads because when I was checking the old NGK SPSARK PLUGS which were perfect when I disconnected one of the leads it came out of its casing plug cap . So I had a replacement made by mercedes. Thats the only reason they were not faulty and never caused any problems at all BEFORE. Its only when I fitted the new replacement and the champion spark plugs provided by mercedes the car began to go badly wrong. Indie who did job for me said he didnt know why it was misfiring. As fo rthe lambda sensor that is still original never changed on car even when did exhaust recently with cat. Checked on diagnostics never showed as faulty. The maf has been done over a year ago with new one fitted everything running perfectly well. I'm beginning to think you are absolutely right Selsdon because when I first took the car to mercedes they recommeded replace subframe bushes and rear shocks and a damper. All done immediately with original dealer parts.
Took car second time, for winter safety check brake light switch replaced. car was not same from then onwards. Could hear creaky noise when slowing down in gear coming from front under the gearbox or engine and then the misfiring after service.
After the car has been with dealership something always goes wrong. what do they do? I had wheels balanced the guy was tellingme they dont check properly? is that right? isnt that illegal if they do this?
I gave my car on friday and still with them. advised six different faults but didnt say what they are just they need 3 more hours at cost. it will be tommorrow now before i know anything was asked who done work on the car thats it.
I will let you guys know once I know and can find the money to pay em. Given what i've spent just going into debt.

 

[horgantrevor]

keep us posted the lead they made could be at fault do you have the old one

 

[mightymerc]

Hi I siincerely hope not yes I got the old one I always keep my old parts lets wait and see

 

[horgantrevor]

have a look some time and see if their are any differences and if you say that the old one (disconnected one of the leads it came out of its casing plug cap ) may still work .

was it working as you drove it to mb dealer to get it changed if so i would put back in and see ...............may be prob fixed if so then i would have it out with mb dealer and sort out money back

good luck hope it goes well

 

[cj...]

Issue number 1 is probably air mass sensor.

 

[horgantrevor]

being reading about the mas air flow sensor it looks like it could cause some of the trouble all right

 

[mightymerc]

yep bit too late though got the car back just now paid me £441.80. heres for all you mercers
when in neutral or 1st/2nd gear rattling/roaring type of noise can be heard. when applying brakes road wheels shudder- investigated poor running/missing from low revs, road tested would not go over 30mph. carried out diagnostic short tests no faults stored. carried out boot strap procedure. found airmass insecure, not fitted correctly. refitted airmass correctly removed and cleaned sparkplugs now runs ok.
n.b. noticed slight vibration underbraking.
3 hours buys you a airmass incorrectly fitted and spark plugs cleaned up.
no wonder this economy is falsely in decline. recession will never end at this rate.
i say mercedes benz keep it up!!!

 

[horgantrevor]

who was at the airmass sensor why was it insecure in the first place

 

[mightymerc]

The local indie who done my recent service. Surely not 3 hours though to resecure it they put on this ply and the metal clamp that holds it left off. Its secured by a plastic ply. Guess ill have to go and buy the new clamp metal clip that holds it properly in place. didnt bother fitting new ones on. The 4 hours was for investigation process of elimination what did they do? Nothing I bet.