Urgent advice required

[yellowbelly]

Hi,

My w202 c220 cdi on a 99 plate has died on me this morning travelling into work.

I have been experiencing problems with the fuel gauge where it sticks on empty, anyway ecu in bottom right hand corner of dash came on this morning and the engine just cut off - steering became heavy and just rolled to a standstill.

I know the fuel was low and thought it could be that i had ran out of fuel, yet after five minutes i tried to turn th ignition over and it fired up and allowed me to travel for another three miles before the same problem arose fortunately straight onto a garage forecourt.

I half filled tank and car will now just not start, starter motor just turns over! Ive left it for a good ten minutes and have now had to leave it on the forecourt.

Can anyone advise? Is there an automatic cut off if fuel gets very low that i can reset?

Appreciate any guidance that can be given.

Many thanks

Darren

 

[blassberg]

don't know but

lawnmower thinking - fuel pump may need priming
car thinking - may be flooded
m'bike thinking - you may have a blocked tank breather - try without the fuel cap on

good luck

 

[veedweeb]

don't know but

lawnmower thinking - fuel pump may need priming


good luck

That would be my guess. The fuel system in diesels is pressurised and if you run out of fuel, you have to prime and/or bleed the system.

Some cars have a rubber bulb type pump to do it, but others are self priming. You have to turn it over on the key for ages though.

 

[yellowbelly]

Many thanks for the advice! Fingers crossed!!

 

[Blobcat]

Pls check out the attached thread, if the fuel system has drained it can be very difficult to get the car started again.
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=18818

 

[television]

The big problem with injection is once empty, primming it, the reason is that you can compress air, but not fuel. So in the process of primming, the engine has to do a lot of cranking, to get the air in system presure high enough, to open the injectors to release the air and let fuel in.

By filling the filter with fuel, it eliminates a lot of cranking. years ago with diesels, we would undo one pipe to release the air and tighten when the engine started, but things these days are not made like they are now

Malcolm

 

[yellowbelly]

All resolved after removing petrol cap and turning engine over for approx ten seconds!

Thanks again for all advice!

 

[blassberg]

fixed = good
motorbike thinking then - and on a bike cause by a block on the breather hole in the filler cap causing a vacuum abive the fuel. But don't cars have a breather pipe? Is that blocked?

 

[television]

fixed = good
motorbike thinking then - and on a bike cause by a block on the breather hole in the filler cap causing a vacuum abive the fuel. But don't cars have a breather pipe? Is that blocked?

Modern laws require that fuel tanks run under a vacuam and return to tank system for excess fuel,for both petrol and diesel. this does not help the situation.

malcolm

 

[73plot]

I've just had almost the identical situation as Darren.................
Fuel qty approx 1/8 tank, low fuel light NOT on, engine cut, first to idle then completely.
Put 5 litres in and then, using booster battery, got it started after approx 45 secs cranking.....DUH!
Then filled it up, total uplift 58lts (including the 5lts), including some "trickling" at the end. Car worked perfectly afterwards. Normal uplift for me, should've been 5-7lts left in the tank then.
Conclusions: tank NOT empty; could have "unusable" fuel for some reason; ECU light was on so there'll be a fault code stored.
Merc's assessment:
1. You ran outta fuel! (no I didn't, though the car may have had some unusable for some reason);
2. The tank system is complex, ie 2 "saddle" tanks, with balancing pipework, additional pumps, return lines, etc etc.
3. Assessed as "fuel starvation" according to their investigation, fault code, etc;
4. Testing of tank components/system to (possibly) find the problem will take many hours and hundreds of £££££££££££'s, so they suggest just not letting the fuel get below 1/4 tank...........
So now I end up with 500-plus mile range reduced to 400-odd, with no guarantee it won't happen again at a higher fuel level.

Anyone have any additional suggestions or info? I'd really like to get this one sorted as I feel I can't trust it for a long trip anymore & otherwise it's a great car.
C220cdi Estate, Xreg, 115K miles.
Regards to all.

 

[television]

Hello, your problem is not very common, would it be worth draining it out when it gets low