Starting problems
Twice now I've had problems starting my car from cold. I had never had this problem before and has only occured now after not being driven for 2 months. The strange thing is that it doesnt even happen everytime. When I collected it from the shippers it started just fine, and drove fine.
On Saturday morning when to start it up and initially it fired up and then switched off. The I turned the key again, and it tried to kick into life with the engine trying to start up, but it just wouldnt fire up. Then after a couple of minutes of trying it fired up, and ran perfectly normally.
Same thing happend on Sunday. Didnt happen this morning though. Starter motor seems to be doing what it is supposed to be doing, so im guessing might be a fuel issue? Or maybe its just one of those things that will go with usage.
Any thoughts?
Perhaps a stupid question but seeing as you previously resided in a hot country.... are you letting the diesel pre-heater do its work prior to turning over?
If it was a petrol I'd suspect the fuel pump and filter; I don't think the dealer changes them.
Here is some detail for a G270 LWB
http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.asp?TP=2&F=463322&A=750%2E654&M=612%2E9...
I saw the "CDI" bit in your profile :) But seeing as the 270 also has a filter maybe that could be a starting point for something relatively cheap to replace before you look at more expensive bits...
does the preheater light turn on again after the car is running?
Hello modificata,
Sadlly, you do not give much information to come to an easy prognosis.
What is your current mileage? Has the vehicle been recently serviced?
Is the problem only a morning start or can it occur during any part of the day?
Your possible problems could be, now it is turning cooler in the mornings, your engine management system needs to allow for cold start enrichment. This is sensed by the coolant temperature sensor, which may be the one sending signal to the coolant temperature gauge or have a totally seperate one for the ECU.
Related problem could also be the engine does not fast idle during the cold to warm up stage, hence it flutters its self off. If ecently serviced and the fuel filter(s) having being changed could mean that there is an intermittant air leak in the system causing this problem. The air leak may emminent from the new changed fuel filter or the seal rings on any one of the fuel hose connectors found on the filter or pump(s).
When you next start and feel that the engine is going to flutter off, increase the idle speed with the acclerator pedal, if this is successful, then you can be assured that the idle speed is low for the ambient temperature.
Next step would be is to get a fault code reading. A M/benz dealer or a well eguiped independant diesel specialist will be able to tackle this for you.
Do you get any messages on the dash display when it dies after starting, for example "Power Control Unit fault" ?
The CDI engines have 101 things that can go wrong, but start by making sure your tank is full of good quality diesel and change your fuel filter, if it has not been changed recently.
Do you have an immobliser on this? If so might be playing up?
Good luck with this problem. I am now battling more than a year on my 290GTD (602) engine (brand new) showing similar symptoms, except it happens whether the car is hot, cold, full of fuel, or empty parked level or on an incline etc. It will happen twice in a row and then it will start every time for 3 months and 5000km! It definetely has nothing to do with the pre-heater. I do have air ingress into my front filter (bubble forms after shut-down and sometimes one can see the bubbles coming in from the fuel heat exchanger, but it starts up even with a 10cm air bubble in the pipe back to the fuel heat exchanger. All the filters was changed several times. All washers etc checked and replaced. The fuel line to the back was vacuum tested - no problem evident!
Then yesterday i was visiting some remote farm, when after start up and travelling very slowly the car suddenly started accelarating by itself and when i hit the brake it died - when starting again it ran normal but now with the EDC light on (Very glad about that - maybe the computor can now tell the problem)-now I can only get the car to the dealer on monday after which i will post the result...
Regards
Freek
Modificata
Any success on trouble shooting your problem?
I hopefully have a happy ending to my problem. When scanned the computor indicated that the EDC light referred to diesel pump problem (Mechanic cant remember the excact code or description) and after tracing wires etc they found a loose connection in the plug where the engine harnass plugs into the harnass from the front (located in a bag near the steering column at the fire wall). The cleaned the connection and re-set everything and error went away. Hopefully this is the problem. Since the error only happened once in a blue moon, i suppose i will have to drive it to the next blue moon before i can declare the repair a succes!
Regards
Freek
guys thanks for all the replies and advice. Things have just been hectic for me so I haven't had the chance to log on. The problem just went away as quickly as it came and I haven't had the problem since I first mentioned. The only thing I can think is that the car had been in the container for about 2months and the fuel was also slightly low. Maybe there was a bit of muck in the system or something. Main thing is the problemhas gone.
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Yup I always wait for the preheater light to go out before starting the car.
M2dxb - its a diesel not petrol. SOrry should have mentioned it.