W168 A160 1999 Engine dies while driving

DirkDK

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Hi there,

So I recently bought an A160 from 1999, gasoline engine, but haven't been able to enjoy it too much.

After driving for just 2 days, the car started having issues while driving, stalling and losing power. 2 days later, it became so bad it hardly wanted to start, and couldn't drive 20 meters without losing power. After I connected it to the MB Star, it showed an issue with the Air Mass Meter. Shipped it to ecutesting, and they repaired it after a week.

After refitting the ECU, those errors went away, and besides having some difficulties with a cold start (have to crank it two or three times), the car ran without issues.

A week later, when the car was on only a quarter fuel, it started stalling again while driving. Especially when stopping at an intersection, it has a habbit of dropping death. I can always restart after that, but it doesn't really make driving anywhere enjoyable. After completely filling the car with fuel, the issues mostly are gone. The car sometimes holds back, but doesn't die and does start from the first try (though barely). What could the issue be?

Star diagnosis doesn't show any error related to this anymore. I did notice however, at the bottom of the ECU unit, there is a small pipe that goes in. That little pipe is covered in what I think is fuel. Could that be linked to it? Pictures of that here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/g8LyCJJ
 
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DirkDK

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A small update:

Car has gotten a lot worse today, and won't even drive a mile without dying at least twice. Even at idle, the car doesn't keep running for more than 30 seconds.

I hooked up Star Diagnosis again, and while the quick run did not give any faults, I did encounter this:

In the Mixture Adaption test, it gives an error at Cylinder 3 or 4 just before dying. Could this be a sign of a faulty injector?

The throthle valve is between 2.3% on idle, to about 6.2% while giving gas

When I test the purge control, and switch it on, car recovers when it's about to stall, and takes a good 2 minutes before finally dying.
 
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DirkDK

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The car has gotten maintenance, where they said they changed the fuel filter. Though I will take a look at it myself this early next week, to make sure.
Keeping the revs up doesn't help, often it actually makes it stall faster.
 

badger_wazzala

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Sounds like you’re right regarding a fuelling issue though. Like the cylinders are being starved or you have incomplete combustion.
 

LostKiwi

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Sounds to me as though you have a vacuum leak.
 

Flyinspanner

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Try driving with fuel cap off.
Could be a breather issue, where Partial vacuum Forms starving flow.

check fuel filter - they are dated- last service at 125k mine got changed - it was the original .

weak/failing fuel pump?
 
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DirkDK

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I ordered a meter to check the pump pressure, a new fuel filter and ignition coil rail. I will also try driving with the fuel cap off today. Hope that helps, should be by the end of next week. I will keep you posted here.

How do I check if I have a vacuum leak?
 

badger_wazzala

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I ordered a meter to check the pump pressure, a new fuel filter and ignition coil rail. I will also try driving with the fuel cap off today. Hope that helps, should be by the end of next week. I will keep you posted here.

How do I check if I have a vacuum leak?
I’ve never checked for one before, but assume you could perform a pressure test of some kind to prove the integrity of the hoses?
Firstly have a really good inspection of all your hoses and inter cooler for holes/splits loose clamps?
 

Flyinspanner

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Hopefully the new bits you’ve bought aren’t too expensive, but if the “free” checks suggested don’t do anything. Don’t continue to throw money at it without checking STAR at each stage.

To check for a vacuum leak, engine on, idling.
Spray “easy start” carefully around induction pipes, one at a time.

If you get a sudden increase in RPM, that’s the pipe with a leak.

Hope you find the fix.
 
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DirkDK

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Small update. As I wanted to check the fuel pump pressure (which I couldn't as the set was missing a part), I noticed something. Behind the engine, there are 4 plastic tubes. 2 of them had fuel hanging on them.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/w14qpzr for the pictures I took.

Could these be the culprits? (Before I go installing the fuel filter and injection rail)
 


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