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What is your question?
The car is very slow to get to speed. does not seem to misfire but lost of power. could the converters be stopped up?
3 Replies
Yes, this is a possible restricted exhaust, but there are many possibilities. Are there any check engine lights on? Have the diagnostic codes been checked?
Our 2001 S500 had this problem and it was the throttle position sensor was bad. You car sounds like it is in limp home mode.
Sounds as though either one coil bank is shot, or the Coil Bank Control Unit is shot. Do a visual on the control unit first. Pull off air cleaner and it is a 6" square box front and center. Check for heat swelling, and most important, cracks or damage. The box is fragile and not well protected. Any leaning or pushing down on it can fracture the case. In any case, I would say it is one or the other.
There are lights on but the codes say misfire
Address the misfire first, this may resolve the issue, but it would n't hurt to perform a back pressure check on the exhaust, to rule out a plugged catalytic converter.
the engine does not seem to be misfiring. I was thinking that the exhaust being stopped might give a false code for misfire?
The engine module can detect misfires even though you're not feeling it. Plugged exhaust will not cause misfire codes. If the catalytic converter is plugged, then it is due to the misfires in the engine, and they will need to be addressed to prevent the cat from plugging again. So fix the misfire first and see how it runs, if there is still a power issue, check the exhaust back pressure to see if it is plugged.
what ia the best way to check the exhaust back pressure?
You need to connect a pressure gauge in the exhaust, before the catalytic converter. When the engine is running, and under load, the pressure should never go above 1 psi. or so. If the exhaust is plugged it will go above 2-3 psi easily.
Mine had an identical problme, but it was the ignition "coil bank" for the driver side. $1200 part, $200 labor