I've never dealt with Enrique (I'm a northern California resident), but there are dozens of posters here who have nothing but praise for his professionalism. If your experience with him was unsatisfactory, that would seem to be far outside the norm.

Your engine issues are possibly due to a failing throttle actuator, based on the symptoms.

I've never taken a close look at the diagnostic connector before on my own 500E, but I'm happy to do that as an anecdotal data point. Will follow up later on.

s/b

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST..PLEASE READ..
I have been trying to figure out the problem on y 500E for over a month now and still no luck. I have taken the car to the Mercedes Dealer and to Mr MB Motor and still same problem. The problem is after driving the car hard for a little bit the car just goes into limp mode. If I drive the car normal it runs fine but who resist driving a 500E like an old fart especially with an asr defeat. The mercedes dealer told me it was a disconnected throttle sensor and that it has been reconnected and should now be fine, that was 3 weeks ago and as soon as I picked it up it was the same problem. I then took the car to Mr MB Motors in Tarzana CA only to find out this guy knows nothing, he told me that the little plug next to the computer box on the passenger where the scanner hooks up to is missing some wires. I looked at it carefully and noticed that it has 2 pins inside, Enrique told me that it should have 4 pins. I then looked at a friend's 500E and two others and all are the same with only 2 pins. Now my question is HAS ANYONE EVER HAD THIS PROBLEM? IF SO WHAT WAS DONE TO RESOLVE IT?IF NOT,WHERE CAN I FIND A MECHANIC WHO IS CAPABLE OF FINDING THE PROBLEM ONCE AND FOR ALL?

Thanks in advance for the help seacoast_benz. I have also heard many good things here about Mr MBZ Motors and that is why I took the car to him to look at. I just dont understand why he would tell me that my car has wiring missing when all 500E's have the same amount of wiring in the little plug where the scanner normally hooks up to.
As for the throttle actuater, where is it located on the car and is this something I may be able to replace myself? and is there anyway to test the actuater itself to know if this really is my problem? By the symptoms of the car it makes a whole lot of sense that the actuater is my problem. If it's inexpensive I am willing to replace it to see if it makes any difference.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to hearing more of your take on this situation.

Hmmm. How odd. My reply to the original post ended up at the top of the thread. Hope that no one got confused.


Thanks in advance for the help seacoast_benz. I have also heard many good things here about Mr MBZ Motors and that is why I took the car to him to look at. I just dont understand why he would tell me that my car has wiring missing when all 500E's have the same amount of wiring in the little plug where the scanner normally hooks up to.


Just to be sure we're talking about the same thing, and so that I don't make a public idiot of myself (at which I am remarkably skilled), this is the connector that is located to the front of the engine computer box?

Clipped to the firewall beside the strut mount? A rectangular connector underneath a round connector?


As for the throttle actuater, where is it located on the car and is this something I may be able to replace myself? and is there anyway to test the actuater itself to know if this really is my problem? By the symptoms of the car it makes a whole lot of sense that the actuater is my problem. If it's inexpensive I am willing to replace it to see if it makes any difference.


The device lives under the air intake assembly, down in the vee of the engine, towards the rear. Not trivial to get to, but it does not require engine removal or anything like that.

I've never removed mine. Anyone have suggestions?

I don't know of any definitive test other than to swap it out.

It is certainly not inexpensive. $900 new? Something like that.

Cheaper from a reputable boneyard, but be sure the new old part is functioning well. Opening the case might be smart.

They tend to die from engine heat.

There's a thread here which talks about them:

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49628&highlight=heat+killed

I would bet that the best course of action would be to find an independent shop who have a spare lying around, and ask them to swap it in.

s/b