Diesel only revving to 3k

[clifborder4fm]

Hey guys I know I should be posting about a vw diesel but maybe you guys can still help. My car in Europe in a 96' Mercedes E290 turbo diesel and it occasionally won't rev over 3k rpm's. In 4th and 5th gear there is no chance so I am limited to 150 km/h. In 3rd gear I can rev over 3k but eventually (pretty quickly) I will be reving say at 3700 rpms and something will "click" and my car will lose power even with my foot on the gas and the revs will slowly drop to 3000 rpm. In 1st and 2nd I don't usually see the 3k rev problem (unless of course it already happened in the higher gears, then it will do it until I shut the car off and restart it).

Have you guys heard of this problem in any tdi's or diesels, or might have an idea of what's causing this?

Thanks for the help

edit: also good to mention that when the rev problem starts, it won't even rev above 3000 in neutral. Also there is no smoke or anything, drives fine just less power and higher fuel consumption at higher speeds due to having to keep the pedal to the floor just to get somewhere.

[Glegor]

Hey guys I know I should be posting about a vw diesel but maybe you guys can still help. My car in Europe in a 96' Mercedes E290 turbo diesel and it occasionally won't rev over 3k rpm's. In 4th and 5th gear there is no chance so I am limited to 150 km/h. In 3rd gear I can rev over 3k but eventually (pretty quickly) I will be reving say at 3700 rpms and something will "click" and my car will lose power even with my foot on the gas and the revs will slowly drop to 3000 rpm. In 1st and 2nd I don't usually see the 3k rev problem (unless of course it already happened in the higher gears, then it will do it until I shut the car off and restart it).

Have you guys heard of this problem in any tdi's or diesels, or might have an idea of what's causing this?

Thanks for the help

edit: also good to mention that when the rev problem starts, it won't even rev above 3000 in neutral. Also there is no smoke or anything, drives fine just less power and higher fuel consumption at higher speeds due to having to keep the pedal to the floor just to get somewhere.

check fuel filter..

[Rockerchick]

Sounds like limp mode to me. Have you scanned the car for any codes?

[Glegor]

Sounds like limp mode to me. Have you scanned the car for any codes?

ah, yes, it IS sounding like limp mode now that i re-read the post..

[clifborder4fm]

Yeah I have searched around the web and it seems like it is limp mode. I have no check engine light but I guess that doesn't mean a code could be showing up... Fuel filter was one thing I also found on the internet, another I heard was maf sensor. When I bought the car though, the first thing I did was change the fuel and oil filter... All the dealer said was that it was an older woman who drove it in the city for 8 years slowly hence why it has just under 120k miles on it.. They said i just needed to drive it hard which I did for 4 or 5 months but that only helped a little bit.. any other ideas like bad knock sensor or something? or fuel pump?

The problem seems to have alot to do what gear im in though

[Glegor]

Yeah I have searched around the web and it seems like it is limp mode. I have no check engine light but I guess that doesn't mean a code could be showing up... Fuel filter was one thing I also found on the internet, another I heard was maf sensor. When I bought the car though, the first thing I did was change the fuel and oil filter... All the dealer said was that it was an older woman who drove it in the city for 8 years slowly hence why it has just under 120k miles on it.. They said i just needed to drive it hard which I did for 4 or 5 months but that only helped a little bit.. any other ideas like bad knock sensor or something? or fuel pump?

The problem seems to have alot to do what gear im in though

knock sensor? ON A DIESEL?

diesels run by way of detonation..

[Rockerchick]

Some of the earlier OBDII cars, it took a lot to throw a CEL. I know even some of the newer cars (ALH TDI's) its the same way. I'd get the car scanned and see what may show up. Just because there is a CEL, doesn't mean there aren't codes.