This could be the final straw

[mbsickness]

The picture says it all. Out of nowhere it stalls and fails to stay running for more than 10 seconds after any restart attempt. I'm thinking that it is a shorted throttle body. Even so I am losing my love for this car

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/9df8ffe5-503c-4eb6-8e66-02864fff9798_zpsb7d9d722.jpg[/URL]

[202brabus]

Take it to a dealer so they can fix it or tell you whats wrong with it. Or sell it to me. Sure its not a fuel pump. You got spark and fuel?

[Vetruck]

If you read up on my lastest repair post, I outline where I could keep mine running with a little throttle assistance, but without it the car would just die immediately f left to try and idle on it's own.

I just replace mine with a VDO unit for $530

[mbsickness]

Vetruck I thought of your post seconds after the car died out. I believe VDO makes the throttle bodies for Mercedes so you got a great deal. The cheapest price I have found for the C280 is around $850. I replaced the throttle body about three years ago with a used unit and it looks like that just gave up the ghost. As it turns out I had just mailed off my old throttle body to be rewired just five minutes before the failure. I found a guy that will rewire the throttle body for $279. Hopefully I will have it back in a week.

[Sulaco]

There's a thread somewhere with a really simple DIY on repairing the harness on the throttle body. For about $35 and 2 hours labor, you can easily rebuild the wiring harness with all new wires.

[mbsickness]

I did see the tread and I did expire diving into the rewiring myself. Crazy as it sounds I still wanted the OEM looking sheathing over the wires instead of electrical tape and a connector that did not look hacksawed and covered in epoxy.

[Vetruck]

I did see the tread and I did expire diving into the rewiring myself. Crazy as it sounds I still wanted the OEM looking sheathing over the wires instead of electrical tape and a connector that did not look hacksawed and covered in epoxy.
I am extremely handly at constrution, welding and fabricating. With that said, I do not screw with OEM wire loom connectors. THe very worst problem you can have on a car is electrical issue- SO I fully agree with the position

[Sulaco]

Typically, I agree. But it's a single black-insulated coating that hides about a dozen individual wires inside it. The insulation on those wires is what cracks and degrades resulting in internal shorts, which has sent many throttle bodies or even entire w202's to an early grave. I shutter at the thought of how many C36's ended up crushed because the dealer quoted the owner 2-3,000 to fix/replace it.

If you're remotely handy at soldering and order the right stuff, you can easily return it to stock-looking while rewiring it yourself. However, I digress. I sent my car to the dealership to have the EIS replaced when most DIY'ers would yank the EIS and jerry-rig it. So it's all relative I 'spose.

[mbsickness]

For what it is worth there are other things which have occurred recently although some not due to fault of the car but more of incompetent mechanics. It has not even been two weeks and then this occurs so my patience is wearing thin. Add to that I might have the opportunity to acquire a 2005 C55. If I do get the C55 this car has to go. In anycase I'll be doing the daily commute in the C36 until the throttle body comes back. Meanwhile this is how the C280 will be for at least the next week.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/null_zps4e1b4558.jpg

[Vetruck]

Typically, I agree. But it's a single black-insulated coating that hides about a dozen individual wires inside it. The insulation on those wires is what cracks and degrades resulting in internal shorts, which has sent many throttle bodies or even entire w202's to an early grave. I shutter at the thought of how many C36's ended up crushed because the dealer quoted the owner 2-3,000 to fix/replace it.

If you're remotely handy at soldering and order the right stuff, you can easily return it to stock-looking while rewiring it yourself. However, I digress. I sent my car to the dealership to have the EIS replaced when most DIY'ers would yank the EIS and jerry-rig it. So it's all relative I 'spose.


I always look at cost to maintain Vs cost of new car payments. If I have to spend $500 on a car 4 times a year (aprox $2000 on unexpected repair), its far less expensive than a $500 per month car payment as well as higher tax, registration, and insurance costs. I few major fixes like this a year is nothing. You have to put it into perspective. If you put money into quality repair parts and plan on keeping the vehicle for a long time? It will always pay off. I own evey car I have. I have 6 vehicles all in good to excelent shape and all paid for. Most people struggle to have two car because they have high car payments. Cars are the worst investment you can make, best to learn a car and keep it long term.

The biggest mistake people do to cars is slack off on minor repair costs. The car will eventually start to loose its appeal to you and also one day get bad enough that the next major incident cause a person to get rid of it. Then they are hit with reality of new car payments.

I always do quality repairs and try to stay on top of each vehicle. Having the room to keep them is a benefit I am lucky to have, so when something goes down I usually have to time to fix something properly as I drive another one of my vehicles. This is why I focus on quality repairs so it is least likey to ever happen again. Ill give an example of my next project- I have a Chev truck I've owned since new in 1989. The OEM rear axle went bad on it 7 years after buying it. Instead of repair cost of a direct replacement, I had for about the same cost a custon Ford Currie 9" rearend built for it. That has lasted me 17 years- twice what the OEM unit did. It is finally showing wear noise on the gears so I am pulling it next month and having the 3rd member rebuilt top notch again for about $650. That rearend new in todays market is about $4500 and a stock replacemetn about $3200 plus labor at a dealer. pays to learn your car and put quality parts back into it every time. DIY work means spending all the money on good parts rether than shop work with average parts.


(@ MBsickness:my pep talk- Keep you car, you'll thank me later. The new car just means new problems)

[Vincent Hor]

Mbsickness, looks like we are having similar issues with the C280. For the past couple of weeks, I have been having this throttle flat spot when I depress the gas paddle. Car seems sluggish too. Once in a while I can hear a pop sound from the engine bay area. It idles well, no vibrations whatsoever. However in my case the engine has never stalled. I also noticed that I needed longer crank to fire it up.

I have done the following but nothing seems to cure the problem
1. Replaced all sparkies
2. Replaced ignition coils
3. Swapped a couple of MAF
4. Removed and clean the throttle body
5. Checked for vacuum leak at FPR
6. Replace the cam sensor
7. Replaced the wireless throttle mechanism

My probable next action would be

1. Replace the fuel filter
2. Replace the throttle body
3. Check & replace the wire harness
4. Dump this 280 engine & transplant the C36 which I discussed earlier or finally to give up sell of this car.

[Vincent Hor]

Mbsickness, looks like we are having similar issues with the C280. For the past couple of weeks, I have been having this throttle flat spot when I depress the gas paddle. Car seems sluggish too. Once in a while I can hear a pop sound from the engine bay area. It idles well, no vibrations whatsoever. However in my case the engine has never stalled. I also noticed that I needed longer crank to fire it up.

I have done the following but nothing seems to cure the problem
1. Replaced all sparkies
2. Replaced ignition coils
3. Swapped a couple of MAF
4. Removed and clean the throttle body
5. Checked for vacuum leak at FPR
6. Replace the cam sensor
7. Replaced the wireless throttle mechanism

My probable next action would be

1. Replace the fuel filter
2. Replace the throttle body
3. Check & replace the wire harness
4. Dump this 280 engine & transplant the C36 which I discussed earlier or finally to give up sell off this car.

[mbsickness]

Well I received the rebuilt/rewired throttle body and it is quite impressive. You really have to look closely to see any evidence that something has been opened up. The wire sheathing looks factory and the plug looks like it is untampered with. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/null_zps3be9cb7a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/null_zps670ca4e8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/null_zps1549ce2c.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/geraldch/null_zps4a33633a.jpg

So the big question is....did it fix the problem......No. I drove the car around for about five miles and just as I was about to claim victory....the car started to bog down on acceleration and finally stalled. After some poking around it looks like the fuel pump is toast. In order to save my sanity I had the car towed to a local Indy.

So did I need a throttle body...yes I did but maybe could have held off for a while.

[mbsickness]

Vincent, I would check your fuel pump as last night when it was failing it popped/backfired, had the flat spots and was certainly sluggish. Previous to this whole stalling business I was trying to figure out why the car was sluggish after a long drive. 20/20 hindsight it looks like the fuel pump was dying a slow death. Early C280's originally came with two pumps but many were "warrantied" to run just one. My car did have the retrofit and ran just one pump.

[202brabus]

Read my post, what did I say. Tisk tisk. Im not an MB dealer tech for nothing.

[mbsickness]

Read my post, what did I say. Tisk tisk. Im not an MB dealer tech for nothing.

Yup, you are right. In my haste I faulted the throttle body as I was having some issues with that for some time. The car is at a local Indy for the fuel pump and should have it back next week. Fortunately the C55 did no come available so I will be doing my daily commute in this car. Even watching it today rolling down the street on the back of a tow truck I couldn't get over how good the car looked.

[Vincent Hor]

Bought a brand new Bosch air mass sensor (part no. 0280.....517) Problem finally solved. What a great feeling to experience a good drive again.

[mbsickness]

Vincent, great to hear that your issues were all related to a failed air sensor. I have my car back and the culprit was indeed the fuel pump. The side benefit is that I always had the occasional problem of the RPM's racing to 2000 rpm on a cold start. At least I got something out of rebuilding the throttle body.