I have a 1999 e300 TD with 100,500 miles on it - just barely out of my Starmark period darn it!!

The past few days when I first accelerate the car barely moves. To "fix" it I can either release the gas pedal and then depress it again and then all is well. The other "fix" is to keep the pedal depressed (you can depress it all the way to the floor and the car barely rolls) and then eventually it will accelerate really hard and fast.

I live in southern California and this has happened when I am parked in the garage or outside and of course it's warm weather right now.

The other day while running errands I made several short trips (driving 10 miles or less and the car stopped between 5 minutes and 30 minutes) and each time I started I had this problem. Yesterday it happened after being driven for about 10 miles and then resting for about 10 minutes and then it was driven for about 2 hours without stopping and it never happened again even though it was restarted after that drive about 5 times.

Do I need to take out a 2nd mortgage - is a new transmission needed?! Is it hopefully something totally different?

Yesterday I dropped by my mechanic and he tested the fluid with the car running and the fluid level was fine but he did not like the color - it was brownish color.

Any ideas?

Thanks!!!
Christy

 

changed the fuel filters lately?

 

you have a bad throttle position sensor or a pedal value sensor. its the item under the hood that your throttle cable is attached to. the part is like no more than 150 bucks.