Newbie Performance Question

[pmerrill]

A quick question about performance tuning a 1994 C180. Yes, I know the car is underpowered with low torque but as some people have said on the forum, love the experience not the speed. The car is in immaculate condition and I want to keep it that way for the next 20 years at least.

I've put in a K&N air filter and switched to premium unleaded fuel and that seems to have made a little difference. I know that I could put a turbo or other more expensive additions (like a piggyback ECU chip) but I'm wondering whether there are any changes that I could make using the existing electronics?

For example, are there any settings that I could get the dealer or a good mechanic to adjust to better tune the car? I've heard that the car is set up to run on the "worst" fuel but could one reset it to be more appropriate for premium fuel? Are there any parameters in the Merc supplied ECU that can be tweaked?

[Paul]

20 years....I used to say that about all my cars....spend 20k on mods then sell them a year later for half price:( :( Anyway... more to the topic,I have no idea at all how to get more power out of ay 1800 NA MB engine...1800+no turbo+low revs+heavy car=not a performance car.sory i am no help at all.:)

[pmerrill]

Thanks for the comment. I'm not really looking for tremendous improvement (e.g., what you would get by adding a turbo, etc) I'm just wondering whether there are any existing setting that can be made in either the ECU or transmission that will modify the responsiveness.

For example, I've heard that the ECU "learns" from your driving style and adapts the shifting of the automatic transmission. I've also heard that somehow a dealer can "reset" the learning to zero so that you can start over. This tends to change the performance of your car to better suit your driving style. If that is so, do I really need a dealer to "flick a switch" somewhere. Can't I do that myself?

I've also heard, as I said in my first email, that the timing of the ECU has been adjusted so that knock is minimised and that the car has been de-tuned so that "general grade" petrol can be used in the car. However, if you decided to use high octane petrol, then knock is not as much of a problem and you can safely advance the timing so that the car performs better.

To me, these are relatively zero cost tweaks. Unfortunately, it seems that you need someone (dealer or otherwise) with all the gadgets to talk with the ECU and make the necessary setting changes. Another example is changing the air/fuel ratio but that is a bit more of a concern because you can impact other components (the MAS for example).

Are there any settings that you can make in the ECU given the right electronic tools?

[SpEeDy230]

my opinion is that its not worth the money to put little bolt on parts. I only have exhaust to make the car sound better not to make it faster. Unless you wanna spend the money on forced induction.

[heman]

hey pmerrill your in exactly the same situation as me all it is is mine is a diesel, non turbo heavy car and all the rest, anyway, what i reckon u should do had wicked impacts on my car and when i told one of the mercedes breakers i know who services cars he said everyone else realised the big difference in their c-classes im making the presumption that this included differences in c180's aswell,
anyway u know how u said ur using that premium unleaded fuel, use castrol gtx magnatec oil, get the engine flushed out with clean engine flush and replace the oil with brand new castrol gtx magnatec, uv done the air filter, replace the oil and fuel filter 10 min job and then you know on the air intake pipe theres a big plug into the pipe with wires going out, its a air intake sensor u know all that crap about how the ecu responds to the engine well u know put it this way the ecu only adjusts by listening to those little sensors all over ur car so, considering ur car is 10 years old like mine that sensor is so full of dust if replaced will make a big difference and it only costs £6 in england from dealers, so just go straight there for that and trust me you do all this on the same day and u see the difference, main things for me was changing the air filter for a normal replacement, with a engine flush and new castrol gtd magnatec oil and a new air flow sensor and trust me it never used to wheel spin so much before but now at the lights i need to rev it for about one second before taking off so all the rev is well picked up and as its a manual transmission soon as i let go of that clutch haaaaaaaaaaaaa move out of the way it goes quicker off the mark than my brothers jaguar xj6 sport 3.2 litre and i know its faster off the mark than a c36 too up to 30mph i guarantee you, its because one its a manual and two i know how to take a car to its edge, the only thing is when its gets into 2nd/3rd gear thats when all these big engines kill you off but thats why u shouldnt race on dual carriage ways race on traffic lights where it becomes one lane so u can make them think what the hell ur driving when theyre stuck behind u on that single lane for the next 10 mins hahahahaha
hope this helps
cya

[Paul]

I think that if your only after minimal gains than a good service on all consumable parts might give a gain,as far as ECU changes,I Dont think there worth hassel if it doesnt work out,from what iv read,merc are "surposed to be well tuned"and almost all ECU adapt to a higher octane to a limit.

[Tump43]

I know on my C43 (and have heard that others have done this as well) that you can have your dealer set the ecu to expect 93 Octane gasoline when the car comes from the factory set for 87 Octane gasoline. If this works, your ignition will now be advanced compared to the factory setting and may seem faster.

To reset the "adaptable" tranny, simply disconect your battery for a few minutes, reconect it and then drive in your preferred style for a couple of days. Your tranny will readapt to your new or more agressive driving style. However, if your tranny is "adaptable" or "learning" it should do this continuously and automatically adapt to your driving style. On my car, however, the tranny does not adapt quickly enough and I often have to down shift manually.

Neither of these two tweaks will do much. Keeping the car in tune by changing oil often with full synthetic oil; changing the transmission fluid and differential oil every 40 K miles, with approved synthetics; changing the o2 sensors, fuel filter and checking the wheel bearings every 60K or so; replacing the MAS when necessary, the plugs, belts, etc. will be the best way to keep your car running as long and as quickly as possible.

Marc

[pmerrill]

Since it is now the weekend, I've got the bonnet up (hood for the rest of you) and have had a good look around. The MAS that I have seems to be a stranger version that what might have been installed in a Apr 94 model. From pictures via a Haynes Manual, the MAS is displayed as a tube with wires that is fitted between the output of the air filter and the input to the inlet air ducting which rests on top of the cylinder head cover. The MAS is on the left side of the cylinder head.

In my car there is no MAS to be found in any of that area. It's a clean pipe all the way to the throttle body. However, there is a sensor that is "plugged in" to the inlet air ducting on the right hand side of the ducting near the throttle (if you are facing the car from the front).

To me this looks like a little newer technology perhaps that the MAS displayed in Haynes manual.

Any ideas???

I guess given this setup this is not much stopping the air reaching the throttle except the air filter, so it's not going to get much better than it is now?