300E Airflow Sensor Replacement - The Old Guy's on Viagra!

This process has been documented in the following post, but I thought I would add my
experience as a step-by-step.

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...threadid=65863
Anyway, this morning I took the first step to fix the sporadic idle-rough-and-die problem
in my 300E - replacing the airflow position sensor in the throttle body. I was discussing
the problem with my indie, Herr Fuchs, and he mentioned that he had a sensor that he
had ordered and not used, so I traded him a half-case of Heineken for it. We both
thought we got the better deal.

Before removing the old unit, I scribed a line on the airflow unit along the top of the
sensor body, so as to be able to position the new one. The unit rotates a few degrees in
its screw holes. Then I checked the output voltage (Pin 2) and found it to be on-spec at .
72v.

Moved the idle valve and the fuel regulator out of the way, and removed the old sensor.
Installed the new one along the scribe lines, leaving the screws just loose enough to
allow the unit to be rotated. Hooked up the idle valve and fuel reguator.

Started the engine and found that it would barely idle. Measured the voltage Pin 3 to
ground and found it to be 1.24V. Turned the sensor body the tiniest bit CCW. The idle
surged for about three seconds and then settled down. Remeasured and found .69v,
which I declared to be success.

Unhooked the fuel regulator, moved the idle valve a bit, and tightened the four screws.
Re-installed the regulator and idle valve. Installed air cleaner and took a test drive.

Immediately notice a smoother idle - no more flutter. But even driving at low RPM, I can
feel more power. Turn on to an arterial, and run it up through the gears and I've got
Permagrin. Definitely more pep - the old guy hasn't felt like this since I've been the
owner.

Of course, only time will tell if this fixes the stalling problem, but at the moment things
are looking good.

I offer the following as observations:

The pins on the sensor are as follows:

Pin 1 - brown - ground (to shield of O2 sensor - why?)

Pin 2 -blue/black - output to CIS control unit
Pin 3 - blue/green - from altitude sensor, loop to control unit.

I was getting a steady 4.92v on pin 3.

Adjusting the small screw (the "trim pot") on the outside of the sensor had no effect on
Pin 2's output voltage or the idle speed.

The biggest hassle in this job is having to temporarily connect the fuel regulator to allow
the adjustment, then disconnect it so the lower left screw can be tightened, then re-
connect it. Gas of course leaks out each time.

Thanks to Steve Bourg and the others for their contributions.

Your 6 may be different from my 4, but the only things I removed were the air cleaner
housing, the bolt securing the pressure regulator, and the fuel connection from the
regulator to the fuel distributor. Worst case, I could envision you might have to remove
one or more of he injector lines in a 6.

The 4 screws retaining the pot are hidden under pry-off covers, then the pot just lifts
out. Don't forget the scribe mark! Note the white streaks on the element of the old pot.
This is where the wiper brush has worn thru the deposited resistance element to the
ceramic substrate. No amount of cleaning or abrasion with eraser will replace the
missing conductor. When the wiper brush hits the white spots, contact is opened.

My temp fix involved slightly bending the brush wires to the side to contact new
material. This way, some of them are likely to retain contact with the unabraded surface.
This is a very delicate and dicey procedure that I wouldn't recommend to anyone not
willing to replace the whole airflow meter if it goes awry.

Steve

The airflow potentiometer is rather easy to test. There is a power wire and a ground and
the signal wire. The signal wire will have about 1-4v depending on the airflow. The
critical value at idle is around .8v. The important thing is consistant readings. Values
that change by more than .1v with constant airflow are probably bad. If you remove the
device from the airflow meter the semiconductor that the wiper rides on can be seen to
be worn through on the ones that can't be cleaned. As Donnie pointed out the traces can
be cleaned with an eraser if the path isn't worn through. The area worn through will
always be in the idle section.

Fine tune using a voltmeter from pin 2 to ground, connector attached and car idling, by
rotating the body of the pot to get that reading (0.7V). This would have to be done
slowly and incrementally, tapping, letting the speed stabilize, check voltage.