They actually do have throttle bodies now, but not as a means to control the engine. They’re there to increase the amount of EGR “pull” through the restrictive EGR coolers.
It’s a trade off.
[
](Heated air inlet - Wikipedia)
In theory it could be used as a trick to get the catalytic converters up to temp faster as well, but I’m not familiar with any cars that do that.
Not so much for warming the cats, but for assuring that an acceptable portion of the liquid gasoline evaporates before ignition. Without it, you end up with large/numerous droplets of liquid fuel that survive the combustion event, resulting in unacceptable engine-out raw hydrocarbon emissions. Common in the days of carbureted engines, but not such an issue these days, with port fuel injectors firing right against the backsides of nice warm intake valves, which achieves pretty much the same effect.
No, it’s to make engines run more cleanly during warm-up by facilitating fuel vaporization.
Thanks, guys.
It could be a fuel pressure or a fuel flow problem. This may just need routine maintenance like replacement of the fuel filter, etc. Or there could be other problems.
MOST of the time just having the factory recommended routine maintenance done will resolve these problems on many cars. This is commonly called a “tune-up”!
So replace filters, change oil, replace spark plugs, distributor cap/rotor, oxygen sensor in U.S., etc. (Different cars have different things your need to regularly replace. Different with diesels, mechanical fuel injection Mercedes, electronic fuel injection Mercedes, etc.)
I think your car is gasoline (not diesel?) and electronic fuel injection?
Or there could be no problem, as suggested in post #15.
I have apparently continued to have problems…the friend and I had originally intended to check out the spark plugs and their wires, and on my car they are pretty much inaccessible. We had suspected that a loose connection at either end of a wire, or a bad wire, or a fouled (or otherwise bad) spark plug could be to blame. But they’re damned inaccessible…
You may be right, Me Billy…
If something is hard to get to, all the more reason to check/replace it! (More likely someone else would not go to the effort to maintain those things.)
Also with some Mercedes, it is very important you use factory specification spark plugs, wires, etc. The guy at the auto parts store is NOT an automotive engineer! So don’t listen to his suggestion to get wiz-bang plugs or wires… Rather listen to what Mercedes specifications require for your specific vehicle. (You can still buy these parts at most auto parts stores, don’t need to buy them from Mercedes which will be 10x the cost.)
That won’t be necessary. The Owner’s Manual I got–and I went to considerable trouble to find the correct one for my model and year–listed three brands (including Bosch) and numbers of spark plugs the manufacturer recommends. I would go to Pep Boys or O’Reilly’s, anyway, so the plugs, and wires, would be better quality anyway.
You’re kidding, right? Remember this thread? These posts? If that’s what you call inaccessible, I suggest you don’t touch the damn car and pay a mechanic to fix it for you.
Inaccessible my foot.
I have had a tendency to lose or damage, or misarrange, parts.
I would be doing myself a disservice to attempt to tinker with the parts covering the spark plugs and their wires, given my experience so far with the parts of the engine of this car.
Theoretically it’s easy to check the wires and spark plugs. I had it easy with older American cars. It’s possible to ride a pogo stick through a minefield, but I personally don’t have the expertise for it. The tubing was enough of an ordeal. Now I’m going to ask a professional mechanic; at least I’ll be playing it safe. One wrong move and I could do expensive damage to the engine. 