W124 E280 Estate-Loss of Power

[W12421]

Have just returned from Paris having had my trusty E280 towed into a garage in St Omer. Previous day had driven to Dover from Manchester and on to St Omer where we spent the night. Next day all seemed OK until pulling onto the A26 and there was a real sense of a loss of revs and engine seemed to burble rather than usual refined note.

Decided it would be folly to carry on so called out RAC,local garage came out and explained that they did not have the diagnostic equipment to check exactly what was wrong so it would need to go to a garage near Dunkirk.

Hire car arranged we went off to Paris top drop my son off at Uni. Got a call to be advised all fixed and I duly collected the car from a Mercedes dealership.

They had fitted an ignition coil (Bobine D'Allumage no 1) a new headlamp bulb a cable and topped up the hydraulic oil cost £120.

All was well until about 10 miles from home started to develop similar problems as before- though now the engine note from the exhaust is like a demented Subaru, I also noticed a strong smell -hard to describe but my thoughts are that maybe I have a hole in the exhaust and the under seal has been scorched by escaping gasses.

The loss of power is there again and the car is not its usual responsive self


Any thoughts? or anyone had a similar experience?

Best Regards

Martin

 

[kth286]

Could well be the coil again.

Your engine (type 104 straight six in the W124 body) has an inherent problem with the main engine wiring loom.

The insulation fails on the feeds to the coils and thay short out taking out the coil as well.

IT is a loom replacement job if you intend to keep the car and cost of loom is near £600 only from merc dealer. Your VIN is essential for the correct loom.

You can fit it yourself within a day if you are DIY minded.

Do searches to find pictures and descriptions of the job.

There is a potential problem if you leave it or try and patch it without the proper Merc repair kit, and that is the potential to blow the main ECU which cost £1,000 ish. You can get them repaired but it is all a hassle you do not want.

 

[W12421]

W124 E280

Many Thanks David

 

[tobyd]

Hi,
I had a similar problem with my E280 when part of the wiring loom perished. Becareful driving the car around as I did as I ended up damaging the ECU. Fortunately a local specialist was able to repare the loom and fit a recon ECU for a reasonable sum (when compared to the cost of a new ECU and loom).
Thanks Toby

 

[Ian B Walker]

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showpost.php?p=206664&postcount=10

be joyful :mrgreen::mrgreen: