EPC warning on Mercedes 220CDI

Choclolate

Mercedes 220 CDI Diesel.

The power total lost and car came to a halt.

The engine is trying to start but wont turn over or rev.

The dash warning light is saying EPC visit garage.

Any idea what this might be.

Mr Benevolent

A quick Google gives the following quote:

15 miles out of the dealer after some work I had this error (EPC light) in my E320 CDI 1999 UK. Not had it before.

Would restart but then cut out immediately.

This could be a whole host of things but..............I would get someone to take a look at the electronic connectors to each of the fuel injectors.

There are six of these in above model and if any one is loose or cracked or broken it will cause an error.

My MB dealer has drilled and screwed these tight (not an official remedy, but seems to work).

It seems that these connectors can get dirty, crack, fall off etc etc often with age.

A loose or craked one could create an intermittent.

What year is the car?

Choclolate

Its a 2001 model.

Though it migth be the fuel pump.

I am not a mechanic, but the car is dead on the side of the road. Would like to at least try the simple fixes first before I bring it to the garage.

If it is the dead fuel pump at leats I can change that myself, but I have no way to know for sure yet.

Mr Benevolent

Choclolate wrote: »

Its a 2001 model.

Though it migth be the fuel pump.

I am not a mechanic, but the car is dead on the side of the road. Would like to at least try the simple fixes first before I bring it to the garage.

If it is the dead fuel pump at leats I can change that myself, but I have no way to know for sure yet.

Don't just randomly change bits on a hunch, it's a surefire way to empty your wallet very quickly. If you're going to go to the bother of changing the fuel pump you might as well just bring it to a garage, even if only to diagnose the problem.

Francoirish

Greetings

In response to the above common question -

You may well have sorted this by now but il stick it up here for others who might Google it as its a nasty little problem..

Your flashing triangle that says BAS PDC or DTC VISIT WORKSHOP !

or whatever it exactly states and wont let the car start at all - or will let it start and then cut out is often due to you playing games with the 'hungry light' Cette a dire THE LITTLE YELLOW FUEL TANK RESERVE LIGHT...

Your trip computer may tell you that you have 5 litres and 100 km left in it, but one bump in the road or sharp bend can make the fuel slop and have the sensor tell the car its empty and leave it starved for a second- thats all it takes.

As a rule once you reach below 100kms of reserve in the tank - your in danger of this scenario happening as in the eyes of the engine managment computer you have nearly no fuel.

Do not continue to try to start the car it will achieve nothing !

I had this a while back much to my surprise, the car just cut out in the middle of the road, i thought it was rightly 'f***d' and living in the countryside was ready for a main dealer milking for the repair bill on complex electronics.

My search suggested many things that it could be many things ,

The most obvious being low fuel, Never i thought... but it was just that, we need to forget the movies or the 1990s where cars bumped along for a few hundred metres so twas obvious what it was, that only happened on carburateur petrol cars and no longer applies.


The Mercedes common rail is obviously assez complexe that even low fuel shuts her down, an alarming way to do it from my opinion, im sure a garage could charge 1000 Eur to an old lady not in the know... with such a cineama of a breakdown who would even question the price tag to repair.

The Fix and good news.

Find your battery and disconnect it . this is usually under the back seat on the right hand side accessed by pulling the little black handle along the seat bottom and then removing the cover under the seat.

It is as simple as taking a 10mm spanner/socket/vice grips if your stuck.. to the terminal and take off the - NEGATIVE terminal preferably -


While its disconnected go and get about 10 litres of diesel in a clean can with a clean funnel or a 1ltr plastic bottle cut to make a funnel...
pour it into the tank taking care not to spill it on the suede shoes....


Reconnect your battery , ( after about an hour )
(This has the effect of erasing any not so serious stored codes in the ECU )

If you do not disconnect your battery your car will remember and continue to act on its last stored fault.

Now you have to start the car...

if you have a good battery this will generally be enough to crank engine over until the car fires up - this can take some attempts - bearing in mind your fuel lines are probably empty or full of air bubbles all the way from the tank , it may fire a couple of times and die until it starts and runs as normal.

When it starts you should imidiatly bring the RPM to about 2500 rpm and hold it there for 1 minute then let the car idle - this will purge the fuel system of all bubbles before you go back on the road and limit the chances of it cutting out again - and in turn recharge the battery.

Notes.

you CAN NOT tow the car to start if its an automatic !

if its a manual this might be possible in second gear with the ignition on!

If you already have help there or are in a cold winter i would recommend connecting jump leads to another vehicle to give it a helping hand to start- otherwise the battery will die quickly at -0 degree temps.

The 'fuel bowel' filter can be re-filled to quicken the starting process - but this means removing the top engine cover and upsetting gaskets etc and is in general not not so easy for a novice with no tools and may create even more trouble if the lid is not refitted correctly airtight ! not advised



Finally make a note to not play the Fuel light game again to avoid the embarrassment and the mess and happy motoring.



Source - Mechanic for about 15 years.
Hands on experience of curing this very problem
Rodge - Westport / Sauze Vaussais