really bad acceleration, any ideas?

[steveo04234]

Ok, so i just got my first car, a used 1996 mercedes-benz c220. its got a 4 cylinder and about 150hp. But my 0-60 is 10 seconds, quater-mile is 18 seconds....Any one have any experience with mercedes or any good ideas to help with my painfully slow acceleration? I'm 17 yrs old and have limited experience with this car. Please help!

[waynne]

HI Steve and welcome to Torquecars. 150bhp will produce a 0-60 time of 7.5 seconds in some cars. The Merc is quite a heavy car - weight reduction will help. The gearing is also quite long as they are built for cruising on autobahns so a lower ratio gearbox will also help improve your 0-60 time. If the engine is high mileage then it will be worth decoking it and getting the head flowed and ported. Run a good quality injector cleaner like REDEX through for a couple of tank fulls and that should at least get you nearer the factory standard spec. Has the car been serviced recently? Before you start modding the car you should make sure it is running as efficiently as possible.

[HDi fun]

Don't muck about with cheap petrol, either. Stick with a known brand, Esso Shell etc.

Get it fully serviced and then drive it progressively harder over a couple of hundred miles in one go, thus burning away all the clag that's probably accumulated.

[steveo04234]

The car has 134,000 miles and is scheduled to go into the shop in 2 days because the check engine light and abs light is on, and it also just needs a tune up. When you say "decoking," does that mean just cleaning out all the junk that has accumulated in the engine? o and the car weighs about 3500lbs, so yea it's a little heavy haha. Im going to run by the store today and get some REDEX, thank you so much i really appreciate it!

[waynne]

You are spot on with decoking. Ideally its a head off and manually clean the head and cylinders but you can get sprays that go in the intake and clean the engine as it runs (ekotek power boost spray is one of those!)