Hlp Pls- Location of Crank Sensor on 300CE?

[fraz]

Hi All - having starting problems with the 300 - i undestand from previous posts regarding this prob that it may be the crank sensor which is at fault. Can anyone tell me where abouts it is located and if i can do anything to ascertain that it is defo this past causing the part before I purchase it. Finally where is the best place to buy the part and do they vary from model to model? I have a 92 300ce 12v - Regards Fraz

 

[Legoman]

can you be more specific on the starting problems , is it intermittent , is it when engine is hot/cold or both , when its running does it misfire etc and is this all the way through rev range or idle , when it wont start does it turn over (starter motor noise etc) , also check for a spark at the plugs. fault finding is a tedious affair but with patience the cause normally ends up being obvious.

 

[fraz]

Hi Legoman thanks for the reply - you are a gent. Yes starting problem is intermittent but is getting worse - happening more frequently.Problem is often present on cold starts - takes quite a while to get it started (the wife noted a puff of smoke out of the front grill this morning?!) whilst trying to start the car. Othertimes it may start first time no probs. However the problem is definatly worse when hot eg. re-starting after a short journey is a real pig and today i had to give up - leave the car for an hour and re-try and it eventually kicked into life. (N.B it is worth noting that i don't drive the car that often - mainly weekends so it sits unused most of the week - have obv. been using it less since this annoying problem has arisen.)

Starter motor can be heard on turnover.Haven't checked for spark at plugs - is this a simple test for any garage to conduct?

Whilst i remember - A trainee mechanic friend heard me trying to start the car recently and said it 'sounded like it was 180 out?' which means nothing to me and he didn't have time to explain - besides i'm not 100% sure he knows what he's on about!!

It's not misfiring when driving but does feel abit 'lumpy' when at idle in traffic.

i hope this all makes sense and i look forward to your reply.

thanks again for your help with this

p.s a 3.4 300ce??? i didn't know they did one - how much bhp? i bet that's a nice moto

 

[Legoman]

when they say '180' out means the camshaft in relation to the crankshaft is 180 degrees out , tends to be only possible on no inteference engines (pistons wont touch the valves) , if thats what it sounds like then thats an ignition problem without a doubt , id take a look at your distributor cap and rotor arm first , its only a few bolts and isnt hard , just make sure you mark the HT lead order if you do remove them ( i use a white marker pen) check for cracks , white deposits in centre , carbon on tips and corrosion. any of this will cause major probs.

on a lighter note , yes they did make a few 3.4 amg cars , most are left hand drive , ive not heard of any right hand drive ones or seen one and havent seen any geniune left hand ones over here either , i luv it and ive only had it a few months , im slowly sorting a few little niggles on it but its in pristine condition really for its age. its bhp is listed around 275 , i hope to get it close to 300 when i replace the exhaust with custom system soon which will also remove the catalytic convertors so i might get +/- 10bhp i hope

 

[fraz]

thanks again Legoman - will have to take a look at the distributor cap etc. I will keep you posted on my progress.

If you don't mind me asking what sort of money was the AMG? (pm if you like!) and how much of a ball-ache was it find the car and ship it over etc? I quite fancy one of these with 280 bhp - must be a cracking drive!

regards fraz

 

[Legoman]

pm'ed you . and yep its awesome to drive , just in the process of selling my golf gti which will fund some new toys for the merc