E320 temporary engine problem

[classic_motor]

Hi all,
despite using the forum as guest for sometime, i now need to appeal for help myself!
The 1994, E320 car has 154000 miles (Uk) and has been well cared for and regularly serviced. Driving in central London traffic the car suddenly started to run very poorly with a gentle but noticeable vibration felt in the car ( but no noise from the engine, just a regular vibration in time with the idle speed.) It took a few minutes to pullover and there was noticeable power loss. After leaving 10 miuntes and restarting it was fine and no problems for the 150 mile trip home, could be me being careful but there may be a slight loss of power.
The engine had got warm, slightly over the 100 mark, but has been higher than this, so was not overly concerned. No lights came on ( though the low water light has been on for a while, there is plenty of water)
I have it booked for a computer check (£40), would be grateful for any ideas/advice. Thanks

_____________________________

E320 1994 Coupe

 

[jberks]

Possibly a plug or lead breaking down ? - Temp related perhaps.

 

[classic_motor]

I thought that at first, but then thought that one cylinder dropping out of six wouldnt be so noticeable, then it seemed to recover anyway - i wonder whether the heat could be related though, maybe the cause of an electronic fault

 

[LNM]

Re: coolant level light: any mayonnaise in the coolant ?

My coolant sensor was trying to float in emulsion and gave false readingsas a result. Led to a regrettable incident requiring a new head gasket and radiator.

 

[classic_motor]

The water looked clean with no emulsion apparent. ( the oil also appeared clean, i checked both in case the head gasket had gone). re the water light I had a look today, and think i could see the plug (lower right side)looked a bit damp and dirty, couldnt release it to clean though. So no solution yet, also noticed some new bubbling on front arch near bumper which sucks! Thanks for the pointer.

 

[wilso67]

'94 E320

I did a cylinder head gasket replacement on a '94 E320 estate recently and discovered that the LT leads to the coils (three number) had deteriorated to the extent that one of the ccoils was no longer functioning. This is apparently a problem with cars of this age (something to do with experimental bio-degradable insulation?), and left the car running on four instead of six cylinders. Rather than replace the engine wiring harness (£500 'ish) I just re-sleeved the offending wire and made sure the wires could no longer short. Problem solved!

 

[classic_motor]

Thanks, that's really useful to know, i had heard mention of this problem with the biodegradable insulation breaking down prematurely and was dreading/expecting it to happen given the heat and age of this engine. If i can restrict the repair in the way you mentioned it will be a real bonus, I will ask my indy to check these leads on Monday.. and also to replace the passenger side mirror that my wife smashed off this morning, sickening, a stationery skip came out from nowhere apparently! :cry:

 

[flagstaff]

they have skips for stationery now? surely more economical to shred and then burn ...

 

[classic_motor]

Yes Flagstaff very good i'll stitch my sides up later.
I hang my head in shame and admit i made the old stationery/stationary error, I stand corrected.
While we are being pedantic if we are interested in economising, I would suggest more likely to shred or burn but not both, unless that is someone had an abnormally anal personality or something very secret!

 

[turnipsock]

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=9476

You better read this as this is the problem.

The vibration is the fans kicking in.

I'm thinking of fitting a warning light to tell me when the fans come on.

It's worth turning the heating up to max temp and opening the sun roof as this will help even though it leaves you exposed to being spat upon by bus drivers.