Merc 190E with W124 auto transmission

[bala62]

Hi All,

I recently bought a 1990, 190E Auto, and found that the RPM is lingering at 1400 at idle and drops down to 750 when the gear is engaged. Obviously the fuel consumption was very high. A trip to the mechanic revealed that the car is fitted with a W124 gear box (230E) hence the engine is getting loaded during gear engagement hence the RPM cannot be reduced much.

The car gives only around 250 Km for a full tank (45 Ltrs) and I have checked for possible leaks on fuel withe nothing positive. I also suspect that the engine is rebored to a higher capacity since I can feel the power while overtaking and takeoff.

Can someone help me with tips on what I should do to get a better fuel consumption. Is changing the gear box to W201 the only solution? How to find out whether the engine capacity is increased?

Regards
Bala

 

[Andy]

Hi

I would find another mechanic! The problem is else where. The 201 & 124 auto boxes are virtually if not identical. The idle problem is something on the KE system playing up. Once you sorted that the check the emissions & the rest of the engine tune.

Regards


Andy @ www.mercedesservicing.com

 

[talbir]

Hi there,

As Andy says, the W124 gearbox is not the problem. If anything it is better, since the W124 tranny is probably upgraded to handle the higher power of some of the W124 6-cyl engines (280E, 300E etc).

Given that you have both high idle and high fuel consumption, my guess would be a vacuum leak. I would search for vacuum leaks around the fuel injectors and around the intake manifold.

Else, it's your fuel inj system that needs inspection.

 

[talbir]

BTW, Andy sugests another mechanic - I suggest you hand your car over to Andy himself.

I have only had one job done by Andy, but several emails in which he has given invaluable technical advice. Andy is the best Merc tech I have come across and his team are also top class. Not many other techs can boast the facilities, team and competetive pricing that Andy's set-up can boast.

It is a trip to Smethwick, but it's wel worth it. I had my Air-con system converted to R134A on my W126 500SEC, a year ago. It has been absolutely perfect since and the job was done in a day. All throughout the day, I was updated on what was going on, which is very resassuring.

I highly reccomend them.

Talbir

 

[bala62]

Hi,

Thanks for the tips, I am relieved, now that the Tranny is not the problem. But I have a novice question, does the vacuum system affect engine performance in a gasoline engine? I only read about diesel engines having vacuum system to do transmission and engine control.

How does it affect the fuel consumption? Since the tranny in my 190E is from a 230E model and my engine, possibly beeing rebored to a higher capacity, do I need to have a different Fuel injection system from the one fitted for the 190E 2.0 litre.

MOreover at low speed I experience rough slamming gear change from 2 to 3. Does it mean anything.

Andy has been doing a great service by giving valuable tips in this forum. But unfortunately I am living on the other side of the world.