2006 Mercedes Benz C230: sudden loss of power

Filed Oct 4, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 68,450 miles · CA

I bought the c230 at one year old. I had e perienced two times thatwhile freeway driving all power would be lost. Pulled over and put in park, rev engine a bit but RPM's would not move. Fast forward to december 2008 I sold car go my mom because I had a baby and car was too small. My mom since having car has lost power while freeway driving a total of six times now. Very dangerous as there is no "code" or "error" for mechanic when diagnosing, nor is benz ackowleding ghe issue.

Filed Jun 20, 2013 · Engine · 78,000 miles · AZ

Zero issues with this car until now. This week, june 2013, the car has 78,000 miles on it. I pulled up to a stoplight off the freeway, and the car started sputtering like never before. The check engine light came on - for the first time ever. The car stalled and engine died. It restarted, but when I pressed the gas there was no power, traffic was coming up the off ramp fast, I had to flash my brakes to get them to notice something was wrong but it was a close call. The car sputtered into the middle of a busy freeway overpass intersection with my family on board and eager traffic behind me. It was a very scary moment because the car went from completely reliable and trustworthy to complete loss of power and instability. I sputtered back home, creating the same dangerous conditions at every intersection. I took the car to a mercedes benz shop the next morning. After a lot of testing it was determined that the intake manifold needed to be pulled to look deeper into the engine. Hours later they found that the problem was caused by a defective plastic bushing of the intake manifold which broke and was sucked into cylinder #4 and #3. This caused the valves to bend and compromised the integrity of the cylinders and valves, according to the mercedes qualified technician. There is extensive damage to the valves, and they don't know what all they're going to find once they pull the headers off. The cost to repair the car is $4,400, but it may even be higher. The cylinders have to be sent to a machine shop to see if they have any other issues as a result. Who knows what they'll find. The mechanics stated that mercedes benz is aware of this problem, that those moving plastic parts in the intake manifold are known to crack and cause problems and should never have been made out of plastic, but I don't see recalls on this obvious engineering & manufacturing defect.

Filed Nov 18, 2012 · Engine · 108,200 miles · AZ

Took our daughter's 2006, c230 mercedes benz to our mercedes certified mechanic to repair a sluggish problem that caused the check engine light to come on.. I was informed that a part in the engine called the balancer was going bad... The cost is an approx $5000.00. And that we would have to take it to the local mercedes dealership to do the repair. The part installed in the 2006 and 2007 models was made of a too soft a metal, so its a defective part to start with! This part apparently causes the engine to lose power while driving... Benz has not issued a recall on this part.

Filed Jul 17, 2012 · Transmission · 65,000 miles · VA

2006 mercedes c230, loss of power and acceleration. First time it happened when the mileage was 62k. I was driving on shennandoah valley then suddenly the acceleration and engine power keep decreasing though my foot was completely pressing on gas pedal. I decided to full-over to cool down the engine. After re-starting it, the problem went away for awhile and back to normal driving condition. Then it happened again when my car had 65k miles, I experienced the same problem but this time from a complete stop from traffic light, when I tried to accelerates.. The car was no acceleration at all though the pedal was completely to the metal. This will be a very bad situation when all of a sudden it will not accelerate to normal running condition, when I needed to enter the highway to merge to a fast moving traffic.

Filed Jan 20, 2012 · Acceleration, Engine · TX

Periodically the car would lose acceleration and rpms would be high and the vehicle would jerk when I tried changing gears. As I change gears from park, reverse or drive, the gear shift jerks and I am unable to accelerate past 20 MPH no matter how much pressure I place on the gas. : extreme loss of acceleration up hill and the steptronic (+/- shifting) did not work... (I could only go 35mph when every one else was going 70mph up hill) when I traveled on a flat surface with no inclination my car worked fine, I then decided to put it on neutral while traveling at 65mph...when I put it back in drive it did not pick up the gears it just continued as if it was in neautral. I had to pull over and shift it into park...as I shifted form "d" to neutral it shifted fine, but then from neutral to "r" the car jerked...from reverse to "p" it jerked again and shifted hard. I then shifted again to reverse, neutral, and drive thus the car jerked and did a hard shift with knocking noise and would not drive. I shifted to neutral again and shut the car off. When I turned it back on it shifted smooth and I drove off without any problem. Took it to a repair shop and received p0717/p0718 fault codes and something about the valve body. I was also told that it was an transmission internal speed sensor issue. There is something faulty with the design and operation of this model year transmission and losing power and being able to only go 35 MPH no matter how much you press the gas on the interstate or heavy fast moving traffic is extremely dangerous. Mercedes benz is aware of this problem as many owners have complained but they will not institute a recall.

Filed Nov 28, 2011 · Engine · NY

To whom it may concern. I have the mb c230 2006. I've been losing power while driving. While the car idles it's running as if it's missing like out of timing. I've been to the parts dept because I was told the vehicle was missing. I had the coils changed. Spark plugs changed, yet still the car has no power and when idling the engine runs so violent it's causing the belt to wear. So far I had to buy 5 belts and they won't last more than 4 days. This past week I was also told that the 4 magets would have to be changed. Well I had them changed and still I have a car that has no power. I was finally told by a md mechanic my problem with the car is there's a balance shaft that's inoperable. When I inquire about this item I was told that mercedes benz does not have this as a recall item when in fact this issue has been an issue since 2004. I would like to have any information in regards to repair. There is no way a customer of this auto maker should have to bear the burden of paying for an item when in fact it's been a problem with mercerdes benz from the start.

Filed Apr 25, 2011 · Transmission · 40,000 miles · CT

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 mercedes c230. The contact was driving 65 MPH and attempting to change lanes. When the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle began to lose power abnormally. The vehicle exhibited a slight jerking motion before stalling. The contact was able to get the vehicle to restart, but the vehicle moved very sluggish. The contact was able to get the vehicle to a mechanic and was told that the transmission slipped. The contact then took the vehicle to an authorized dealer where they replaced the valve body, k1 clutch and the transmission. The contact was told that the failure occurred because the hydraulic seal for the components failed. The failure and current mileage was 40,000. Updated 06/01/11*lj updated 1/18/2012 *ln

Filed Mar 1, 2011 · Engine · 42,000 miles · NJ

2006 mercedes c230 has a defective balance shaft gear inside engine which drives the timing chain. Mercedes benz knows that the materials used were insufficiently hardened, causing premature wear and possible sudden loss of power resulting in no power steering or power brakes without warning , thereby presenting a danger to vehicle occupants. Mercedes has modified the gear on late 2006 models but never took responsibility to the defective parts already sold in the early 2006 production. This issue has been noted through out a large number of vehicles in the mercedes line. Silent recall has been noted to the technicians but nothing is being done to repair the defect. Maybe save some lives in the process. Also note they are charging owners approx $5000 and dealers state it is happening often between 30,000-100,000 miles. No warning or symptoms until it "just happens".