W203 C220CDI Auto Limp mode

[CrazeUK]

Hi Guys.
I had an ESP issue which i think i corrected, mentioned in a thread here.

Anyway, a week ago i noticed the car doing something strange.
It just didnt have that kick no more. Also it was drinking more fuel than normal, only getting about 300 miles inner city on a full tank.


The symptoms:
In Neutral, it wont go over 3000 revs.
On a hill it takes ages accelarating
The kick down button does nothing.
No error messages on the display.

Today i noticed it at its worst, so i got a Guy to come out with his PC, who plugged the car in.

He read it and didnt have a specific error code but showed me something on screen (god knows what) but said that indicates to me its the EGR valve.

He explained that using cheap fuels can cause dirt to clog up the valve which controls exhausts gasses going back into the engine. He said every now and again use one of the premium fuels from shell or some place.

He said dont have it replaced unless its faulty, chances are its just clogged up and dirty, which you can do your self or pay someone to do.

Anyway,
1. could it be the EGR Valve causing the Limp Mode.
2. If so where is the valve located, is it the one circled red in the engine bay pic? (i can probably try clean it my self if its easy enough).
3. Could this be causing the leaky pipe?

Thanks in advance.

 

[oigle]

There are many threads about various egr valves on here. Just find the one that applies to your vehicle. Very popular to disable them and keep the muck out. Once again, do a search on the subject. Check threads by dieselman and Alex Crow for starters.

 

[CrazeUK]

There are many threads about various egr valves on here. Just find the one that applies to your vehicle. Very popular to disable them and keep the muck out. Once again, do a search on the subject. Check threads by dieselman and Alex Crow for starters.

UPDATED the original thread

Hi, Thanks for those.
I had a read through, but modding the EGR looks like something i may severely mess up :s

I have looked for a few threads to firstly recognise the EGR and secondly remove and clean it. But they are generally for other models aside from W203.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

With no specific fault code from the generic diagnostic machine means no specific diagnosis. Take it to an indie who has STAR diagnosis who can check the fault code and monitor live data to specicially diagnose your faults.

Fitting parts and doing mods when you are just guessing is a time consuming and potentially expensive way of fixing your car.

 

[CrazeUK]

Previous pictures re-uploaded on photobucket:

With no specific fault code from the generic diagnostic machine means no specific diagnosis. Take it to an indie who has STAR diagnosis who can check the fault code and monitor live data to specicially diagnose your faults.

Fitting parts and doing mods when you are just guessing is a time consuming and potentially expensive way of fixing your car.

Just read this now :S
I already took the EGR valve out cleaned it here are some pics.

I will go back to the guy for the codes or more info seen as i paid him :s



Inlet or out? to the plastic box after the EGR valve


To the rubber tubes going into the EGR Valve


Cleaned EGR Valve




Sensor - i presume one of these are MAF sensors?




Sensor Mount

 

[oigle]

Typical filthy egr mess. Whole inlet manifold will be like that......

 

[CrazeUK]

Typical filthy egr mess. Whole inlet manifold will be like that......

Yeah the black box, was disgusting inside, i actually ha my fingers inside it scraping the black gunk from it out. Didnt get no where near everything.

I did forget to add, when i first started the car, it revved up fine, i had it hitting the limiter.

I switched the car off, and tried it again and it was on Limp again.

I did notice that if i had my foot full down as i started the car, the car would rev up full, then after a short while it would go into limp mode again.

 

[PARESH]

Hi

Have you checked the Air Mass Sensor?

I have the same the same vehicle with the same 220 CDi (611) engine.

A few days ago, I was experiencing similar symptoms to those that you describe - would not rev above 2000 rpm, sluggish performance when going up a hill, no kickdown performance at all.

I thought it may be the Air Mass Sensor that is located in the air intake pipe just after (in front of) the black box that houses the air filter. I disconnected the plug that goes into the sensor and tried the car again. Exactly the same symptoms as before - no kickdown, no revving above 2000 rpm etc.

So I purchased and fitted a new air mass sensor and tried again. What a result! The car feels like new again. Its so much more responsive and kick down is instantaneous! The car pulls like a train. You don't realise how much performance decrease with a gradually failing Air Mass Sensor. As I drive the car daily, I did not notice the degradation in perfomance until the sensor completely packed up!!

Try changing your Air Mass Sensor to see if it fixes the problem. I would have the fault codes read before you change it to narrow down the fault to a specific part. Or try unplugging the sensor to see if it make a difference (or not) to the performance. If there is no difference then you may have a sensor problems

Hope this helps

 

[CrazeUK]

Paresh thanks for that.

I havent had a chance to test the MAF sensor as yet.
I will be getting the car checked on a Star machine later this week.

A friend did give me his ODB2 ELM 327 connector.
I plugged it in and used it on my laptop.

It showed that my MAF was reading at a constant 8.8 gs no matter what i did.
Also my intake Manifold pressure was around 100-120 kpa.

I presume the MAF should go up and down?

 

[oigle]

Paresh thanks for that.

I havent had a chance to test the MAF sensor as yet.
I will be getting the car checked on a Star machine later this week.

A friend did give me his ODB2 ELM 327 connector.
I plugged it in and used it on my laptop.

It showed that my MAF was reading at a constant 8.8 gs no matter what i did.
Also my intake Manifold pressure was around 100-120 kpa.

I presume the MAF should go up and down?

Yep. Absolutely. Maybe your diagnostic tool could be wrong? If not, MAF looks like it is bad.

 

[CrazeUK]

Yep. Absolutely. Maybe your diagnostic tool could be wrong? If not, MAF looks like it is bad.

I will definitely get it on the friends machine tomorrow.
Does anyone know how much a MAF sensor can cost?
Also is there a used option for it?

 

[oigle]

Can't help with price but don't buy a cheap ebay special. Genuine or Bosch is the only way to go. Someone else will no doubt guide you there.

 

[CrazeUK]

Hey guys.
GREAT news..
I didn't actually get it on a diagnostic machine. Ran out of time yesterday.

But randomly decided to venture out in the drizzle.
I took the MAF sensor off, cleaned it with some kitchen paper (not sure if you are allowed to clean them but it looked simple enough).

I turned the car on without the sensor, reved it, still in limp as expected.
Turned it off, reseated the sensor, checked all the contacts where clean and reconnected. Started the car...

Low and behold it worked no more limited revs or limping.

I know the ODB2 connection is low tech, but i recconnected it and used Digimoto to check the values and the MAF sensor is now no longer stuck on 9gs, it does fluctuate dependant on revs

So, thanks for ALL the help you guys gave, i wouldnt have known where to start.

Much appreciated

 

[CrazeUK]

Hey guys, Final update to this thread.

Yesterday i had the car diagnosed using a SnapOn machine.
It had numerous erros.
1. the MAF sensor was showing excessive voltage.
2. One of the Glow plugs had failed
3. and there was Excessive pressure in a fuel rail or something.

It did give error codes but i didnt write them down seen as the machine gave a description.

They initially cleared all the errors then took the car for a drive and diagnosed the car again.

This time only the glow PLug and MAF error showed.

I bought a new one from GSF, which happened to be an OEM part and Vuala.. One perfectly running Engine.

I did purchase a glow plug as well, but the Mechanic said no point in doing just one, your car should be fine. Just do them all together when the next one fails.

So jobs a good un.