The check engine light on my E300 came on the other day. I had a friend checked it out with a OBDII and came with an error code "P0380".I'm not sure what he did but the light is off for now. What could this be? BTW, after the check engine light came on, I noticed that all the instrumentlights flickered and became dimmer but after a few secondsbecame stable and car started. The other day, While in traffic, my car died on me for no reason, the lights flickered and dimmer againbut started right away. anyone in this forum know what this code means?Can I keep on driving this car in the meantime?I thank you in advance.

Bob
96 E300D 3.0 90000mi
90 300E 3.0 179000mi
84 190E 2.3 2170000mi

 

Thank you for the code interpretation.Do you feel that I have a bad glow plug even if the car starts upin the morning with no problem? It gets to around 30-40 deg F whereI live.I took the car to work the other day and while driving, noticed the glow plug light was on for a brief moment butwent off after a few seconds. Did nothing though. I still drive the car every other day but feel that it might stall again in traffic. Why do you think it is stalling? Will the glow plug relay make the car stall? Can you tell me wherethe glow plug relay is located so I can check it ?

 

Thank you Mr. Moderator.I will have the car looked at by aMB mechanic soon. Can you suggest a website or a place whereI can get a good dealon a glow plug relay?

bob

 

You may not need a glow plug relay, and if I were you, I would have the glow plugs checked by your mechanic before going out and purchasing one. As far as the stalling is concerned, the relay should have nothing to do with that issue. I have the same year and model car, and this past winter, one of my glow plugs failed, but the car would still start in the temperatures you mention, but I could hear a slight miss until it warmed up a little. Ten or fifteen degrees cooler, and you may have a problem getting it to run. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Thanks guys (Pimpernell and ForcedInduction) for the solid advice.I will have toschedule a visit to my MB mech. Do you think It'll worsen if I drive the car some more? Unfortunately, my mech is 45mi away. I am a bit puzzled by the stalling though.It felt like an electrical connection or a continuity problem of some sort.This does not happen a lot. When mycar quitthefirst time,all the indicator/instrumentlights inthe clusterflickered a few seconds before stalling.When I tried to restart it, all these lightswere flickering and became dimmer, then all went off except for the red SRS and engine lights. Apparently, my car will not start without these lights (glow plug,abs, seatbelt, engine light, etc). after a few seconds, I turned the keywith all indicator lightsback on and the car started instantly. This incident happened twice and both during trafficbut different occasion and when it's beenwarmed up a bit. What could this problembe??I just want a heads up on things soI will not be totally surprised. anyway, I will take the car sometime on a weekend . I Will let you know what's going on. thanks guys !
Bob

 

sundaynsonz, what was the fix? Was it electrical or was it the glow plugs/ relay?