Odd problem

[Angry Badger]

Hi Guys,

So, I'm driving the other half's 1996 C180 last night. Coming out of a roundabout in third gear, I put my foot flat to the floor (you have to or it doesn't move at all) and all of a sudden, it started behaving as if it were running on three cylinders, vibrating (although not a lot) and accelerating really slowly. I pulled over, had a quick check around and under the car, found nothing wrong, and carried on, as everything now seemed to be ok.

However, got to the next roundabout, same deal, accelerating away with foot flat to the floor, and the damn thing starts chugging along like it's being starved of fuel, or one of the spark plug leads has fallen off. This time I just dipped the clutch and freewheeled along for a few seconds with the engine idling, and found that when I re-engaged the clutch everything was ok.

So, I finished the rest of the journey without flooring it, worked a treat. And I find when I try to replicate the problem this morning (closer to home this time though) I can't-everything seems to be fine now.

So, what do you think? Just one of those things which happens occasionally, a known fault, or the precursor to a bigger problem?

Thanks in advance for your time,

Chris.

 

[blassberg]

my motorbike answer would be a fuel or air problem as it happens on max throttle.

eg dirty air filter, blocked air hole in petrol cap.

my forum instinct expects to see the letters MAF on this thread soon.

 

[miss cartastic]

Me too!

My SLK230 Auto (97) will be visiting the garage for the 3rd time in 2 months - same problem! I can't get kickdown or accelerate above 4,000 revs. The garage reckons it's the air intake system and this week I'm having the air-flap actuator replaced. Not being technical I have to believe what they're telling me - I just want my kickdown back - no fun!

 

[joe bloggs]

Pop in to the dealer for a star test, wont take long, the fault will be logged in the ecu the tech should then be able to tell you what it needs,.. at the least he can reset all fault codes so that if / when it happens again it will be the only fault logged and so will be easy to diagnose.

 

[Angry Badger]

Ok, thanks for your replies guys. It seems to be fine at the moment so I'll see if it happens again and take it from there. Cheers.

 

[andy_k]

this sounds like symptoms you could expect from a MAF that's on the way out. as suggested above, get the dealers to check the error codes, it's better to spend a few quid isolating the problem before starting to throw money at every possible potential cause.

Good Luck

Andy