Car dying all of a sudden - Fuel pump?

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Ok its not a toyota, but i figure you might be able to help nonetheless...

I yesterday purchased myself a 1995 Mercedes Benz C36 (AMG - Mercedes HSV). The car has done 61,000 genuine KM's. (40,000ml) Its only done 3500km in the last 3 years, so has done very little work.

Driving home from sydney to brisbane in australia yesterday with it...it drove for about 600km (a few stops here and there for food etc)
and about 700km into the journey, at around 1/4 tank of fuel the thing just started to drop rpm, had no power and just died on me...i tried numerous times to restart it but had no success at keeping it running.
So i thought to myself i must have run out of fuel...so i waited for roadside assistance to bring me 15L of fuel. We waited approx 1HR for it. We filled it up, and then when the motor was primed, it went good, had power and we started on the highway again. We got up to 130km/hr (80mph) for about 5km, and the same thing happened. So we had it towed to a local garage. We started it a few times during the night to get the heater going. (we had to sleep in it!!) and it was fine. We then took it for a few 1km drives the next morning..it was also fine...

Next i thought it was the fuel filter clogged up with crap from being not used for a long time and there being a lot of crap in the fuel tank....then i thought, wouldnt the car's behaviour not change at all after the first time it happened??
Next and my current thoughts lie in the high pressure fuel pump - cutting out when it gets too hot??
A friend who is a mechanic also mentioned it could be the ignition coils loosing contact when hot - but it just ran like it was starving, but still had spark??

Can anyone tell me if they have heard or experienced this type of thing before and what it might be if its not the fuel pump?

thanks so much
Blake

[oldcorollas]

i hope it's had the engine loom changed
if not, you might be in for some sticker shock

check to see if any of the insulation has gotten stiff or crumbly... if it has, don't drive it until it has been replaced (around $2K) or you could kill the ECU from short circuits (around $4K? ) it's possible the injectors are shorting out already casuing loss of power....

good luck!!

(this happened on my Ex's 93 320E )

[Robbos_Toyotas]

i hope it's had the engine loom changed
if not, you might be in for some sticker shock

check to see if any of the insulation has gotten stiff or crumbly... if it has, don't drive it until it has been replaced (around $2K) or you could kill the ECU from short circuits (around $4K? ) it's possible the injectors are shorting out already casuing loss of power....

good luck!!

(this happened on my Ex's 93 320E )

the car has shitloads of power (smashed an R8 on the highway), its only when the fuel pump im assuming gets hot....The motors well and truly up to the 80~ degree operating temperature...then it all of a sudden just coughs and farts like it has no fuel...exact thing like my ma70 when i ran out of fuel

[RONA]

Looms on the mercs are biodegradable need replacing every 5-10years don't they?

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Looms on the mercs are biodegradable need replacing every 5-10years don't they?

where on earth did you hear that?

[oldcorollas]

check wiring

and ask your local benz dealer if the wiring was a problem on that model as well as the earlier ones...
if they don't acknowledge a problem with the earlier models (ie... 93 320E) then go to a dealer who will...

[Robbos_Toyotas]

check wiring

and ask your local benz dealer if the wiring was a problem on that model as well as the earlier ones...
if they don't acknowledge a problem with the earlier models (ie... 93 320E) then go to a dealer who will...

where specifically? Theres a lot of wires on this puppy....

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Haha, he's taking the piss. That said, loom for A/C and dashboard died for no apparanent reason on gf's Mum's 1994 C180....

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Haha, he's taking the piss. That said, loom for A/C and dashboard died for no apparanent reason on gf's Mum's 1994 C180....

whos taking the piss, oldcorollas or BHGMA61?

[oldcorollas]

not sure if they are meant to be biodegradable or not... i had thought the reason was a move to more environmentally friendly platics.. rather than the good ones previously used which were not so friendly.... and they farked it up for a while....

dunno about actually being biodegradable tho

supporting evidence or ban Rona

[oldcorollas]

whos taking the piss, oldcorollas or BHGMA61?

i'm definitely not... my Ex is about 6 grand out of pocket cos they had to change the WHOLE ENGINE LOOM and the ECU..

they gave us the old one... it was well and truly farked.. you could crumble the insulation off with your fingers...

specifically? injector and ignition wires to start.. wherever is near the most heat i suppose... most of it should be taped/covered tho.... hard to get to.

if you feel it crack when the wire bends... it's farrked

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Rona is...not Stu. Scary thing is he is telling the truth.

[RONA]

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w140...1996-s320.html

Found out on the weekend my mate who installed the ecu on the supra is an auto electrician and he mentioned it too.

I wasn't taking the piss I'm serious.

That thread is one of the many hits you'll get on google searching the topic

[Robbos_Toyotas]

ok well i might open the hood and let down the ass where the fuel pump is...cheers dudes..pretty helpful from a jap forum - am impressed!!

[Robbos_Toyotas]

I just looked, and all my wiring is wrapped in a cloth typish wrap, which there is nothing wrong with. Squeezing it in a few different places and there were no real mashing sounds....
If it needs to be replaced, im lucky as the ecu is in the engine bay and the loom isnt that big..phew! obviously very different to 320E's!