Mercedes having start up problems
 

The other days I was taking the Mercedes out and noticed that when I start the engine, it feels like it doesn't have enough power to start up and sounds like its sputtering, then revs high to start itself up.

I asked my parents if they've experienced this problem as well, and they said they have too...but didn't think too much of it...

So I played around with it a few times, and found that it only sputters whenever the engine is cold, and has no problem when the engine is warm. The gas is about 3/4 full, so lack of gas shouldn't play a part in this problem.

I called Mercedes Benz to see what they can do, and since our warranty ran out it costs $190 + tax just to diagnose the problem, then whatever it costs on top to fix it. I would take a look myself but I don't want to be touching and messing around with a Mercedes's engine... scared of not being able to put it back together LOL.

Does anybody know what the problem might be? Or know who can take a look at it/fix it for cheaper?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

The car's a 2005 Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor.

has the battery ever been replaced? it could be not holding charge properly, remember benz has lots of shit that will drain the battery fast.

how much km is on the car right now?

my friends s2000 is having the same problem too. He recently got new spark plugs and the problem kind of went away, but its starting to come back. also, check your alternator, maybe its getting weak...

There's only around 57,xxx kms on it.

I was thinking the spark plugs too... does anyone know a reputable shop that can replace a Mercedes spark plug?

No the battery has never been replaced... I'll take a look at the charge on the battery. But it shouldn't be the problem cause my principal driver of the car is my mom and she rarely listens to the radio.

it is because of the summer gas...

On my mom's 02 C240 the battery went at around that mileage, and when the battery was dying weird stuff was happening, gear would stay stuck in 2nd (automatic) door locks went berserk etc. LOL I guess the computer went crazy lol

i love c230

^u being cereal?

where the hell ( which mb ) are you going to spend 190/hr to diagnose a problem???..because i think shop rate is 140 or so.....

check ur fuel filter; and cps sensor.

when my fuel filter was dirty, a lot of problems came along with my car...including electrical problems from HID ignitor failure, sidemarker failures and radio failures...swapped out filters and voila....all the problems went away.

but im gonna put money down saying its a bad fuel filter....and i can do it for half the price in your backyard.

craigslist it --> sell it --> ???? --> profit!

theres a couple of shops around town that specializes in benzes.. i know theres one on marine and oak.. under the bridge.

i like cereal :p
wow sounds like you are really confident that its the fuel filter thats causing the trouble. Is this fairly common with benz? i mean i have/had 3-4 cars that are over 100k km cars and never had to replace once (all japanese)

Yeah...coming from experience. I replaced all the electronic sensors...and still had the same problems until i replaced the fuel filter...the next on the replacement list was the fuel pump..lucky i didn't have to go that far...

a very expensive lesson.

i think the shop tofu1413 is the one i know of, the shop under the bridge at oak and marine. i dono the name of the shop, but the owner name is Frankie, my friend use to take his car there until the engine blew cuz of cars age..
the shop might look shady but they do good work. a R34 was reassembled there:thumbsup:

How does the car feel when you're driving/accelerating? If it feels sluggish, and combined with your startup symptoms, chances are its a fuel filter. You will want to change it as soon as you can. As Supafly said, you'll be lucky it isn't the fuel pump. That in itself is a very expensive lesson. :p

most mercedes benz have a common problem with the crankshaft position sensor (CPS). Maybe this is a sign that it may fail soon. I've seen lots of them have this problem, and end up becoming defective. A tune up (spark plugs, injector cleaner, intake cleaner) would be good for the car now at its age.

If you needed a recommended shop, I go to and trust Gold Wrench Automotives in North Vancouver.

Best of luck.

To be exact, shop rate is exactly $130 for Mercedes dealership in Vancouver.

Did you buy the car brand new or used? Have you brought the car back for the recall of a oil return hose under the air filter assembly?

I go to Flying Tiger in no.6 and westminster in Richmond for my Mercedes repairs

Henneken.

Hans, a bit critical but nevertheless, good guys.

Thanks for all the reply guys, will take a look into all of the possible suggested above, and hopefully its just something small that needs replacing.

I called the Mercedes Benz in the Richmond Auto Mall (which was then transfered to their shop by Bridgeport)

The car was bought brand new, and I can't remember exactly what the recall was for, but I remember vaguely it had something to do with a hose being bent slightly, and "not up to Mercedes Benz standards"... Can't remember exactly though.

The 1.8L engine in the 2005 C230 is so easy to work on. If you cannot change thew spark plugs on this car, you should be ashamed to call yourself a man.

x2

Any problems with starting are either spark, fuel or air.
- Spark plugs and fuel filter are 80-100K or 4-5 year maintenance items, so changing this would be good anyways.
- When was the air filter changed last? I find I clean mine more often, Vancouver is dusty.

OR

It could be one of 2 major problems:
- There are 2 vacuum hoses under the airbox that crack over time. There are replacements that last longer and TSB for them. They are a PITA to replace, think 6 hours labour! I can the top hose in 2-3 hours, yet had a shop do the bottom hose. The top hose fails more often.
- There are 2 cam sensors on the front of the engine. The seals in them leak oil into the engine harness, which eventually leaks oil into all the electronics. If you catch it early it is a cheap fix, $40 for engine harness extensions that block oil from leaking out of the cam sensor into the engine harness. If you catch it later, you may have to replace the 2 O2 sensors as oil leaks down the harness to the lowest point, which is the O2 sensor connectors - which happen to be the sending units too. If you catch it really late oil leaks into the ECU and you might as well sell the car for scrap.

Ask me how I know about these problems :(

Was this made a recall in Canada? I know it was more than a year after it was first a recall in the US and it still was not in Canada.

It could be this, yet low voltage would be producing all kids of other errors too, especially with the interior electronics. There is a post on MBWorld detailing all the symptoms of a bad battery.

I've read that 6 years is about standard for a MB battery, yet I am almost on year 9 and 185K kms on my battery and alternator without issue (knock on wood).

If you're talking about Cannonball, then good luck ;)

Just take it to a qualified garage, you don't need a Mercedes specialist for these types of common problems. I have most of my work done by a couple good guys at a Big-O tire in Kits and I buy my own parts online. It is just another car, and very easy to work on.

My dealer changed my O2 sensors twice under warranty before I diagnosed the cam sensors leaking oil into the O2 sensor connectors. They changed the O2 sensors twice with evidence of oil in the connector and thought nothing of it. Dealerships are glorified part swappers, don't expect them to diagnose an intermittent problem without it costing you a fortune.