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why does my car shake when stopped then have slow acceleration?

i have a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D (3L inline-5 cylinder turbo diesel). Recently, it has begun to have accelleration problems: it'll run fine for the first 20 - 40 minutes, then as it gets warmed up (90 - 100*C), it'll start to shake when i come to a stop, then has very slow acceleration (about 10 - 12 seconds to get up to 20), and the longer i have it out on the road, the worse it gets - sometimes to the point where i have it floored and it'll only get up to about 30 m/h, other times it'll get up to 45 then slowly decrease down to 20 while keeping the pedal fully depressed.

also, when i come to a stop, the oil pressure guage drops by about 50% (from 3 to 1.5).

does the weather have this kind of effect on an old diesel engine (it only begun to do this when it started getting warm out)?

could she be in need of an oil change? it's been about 2 months since i had the oil changed, but since my odometer doesn't register all the miles correctly, i don't know how far it's gone.

thanks

3 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Have you checked the oil level? If it is low, it will affect the injection pump and cause the engine to miss. Also, if your oil pump is plugged from sludge it can cause problems. As the car warms up it also can warm sludge and debris that has collected over time in the oil pan and send it through the system. Check the oil on the dipstick and check the level and condition. Then check the oil pressure with a gauge to rule out a faulty sending unit. If the oil is low, fill it and see if your problem persists. Make sure your vehicle is hot when you change the oil - if it is cold, you will not remove all the sludge. If you find that sludge is your problem, since it does not appear that the oil pump is a total loss you might want to try doing an engine flush. That will require you to run a bottle of oil flush for the amount of time on the bottle and then drain the oil hot, then refill it. You may also want to switch to a Rotella oil or other high quality diesel oil if you haven't already and put some additive. Since your odometer doesn't register miles correctly you should start marking down your fuel fill ups (to get an approximate mileage) or calculating your useage in order to change your oil at the right times. Another thing people forget to do with diesels is to change the fuel filter every 15000 miles - this is very important. The Mercedes has a fuel filter that is a spin on and should be at the front of the vehicle and look like an oil filter. If you haven't changed it in a while, you should do so. A good way to remember is to do it every 3-5 oil changes depending on if you change the oil every 3K or 5K.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    while its dark out initiate the vehicle and open the hood, in case you notice fireworks you wires are shot. You dint point out lower back fires and so on. verify air clear out and the air hoses that feeds into the clear out housing for a plastic bag and so on. blockading it. verify and or replace the gasoline clear out, upload gasoline additive to scrub the device. verify the O2 sensor interior the exhaust device. Take the vehicle to autozone and have em study the codes, that would additionally supply you a good lead. replace your oil and clear out besides. Are your tires inflated ideal, are you brakes working nicely or are they dragging, is the emergency brake released and ideal working. as quickly as a chum drove their vehicle for 2 hundred miles with the emergency brakes on. The device almost caught hearth even though it became fairly much freezing chilly and windy outdoors! They concept it became the chilly and wind inflicting the vehicle to be sluggish!

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Have you had a tune up recently? Checked the spark plugs and wires?

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