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[nss]

My wife just bought forfour petrol Ed1 12000miles and OK for first 2 weeks then flashing eng diagnostics warning light, now permanent or flashing - loss of power plus variable engine idling - booked into MB dealer soon but is there likely to be any serious problem if she drives it gently for a couple of days locally - engine seems to be misfiring a bit but not too bad !!??

[Brabs]

Do you have access (or know anyone who has) to an OBD2 code reader? Personally I wouldn’t drive it without knowing what the fault was. Risky. 

[CrazyG]

If it's mis-firing then I would definitely not drive it unless
it is an emergency.

If you bought it from a dealer/garage then I would have taken
it back the minute that there was the first showing of the EML
(Engine Management Light) as every secondhand vehicle
purchased from a dealer or garage legally must have a minimum
of a 6 month warranty, and they should be the one's you take
the car back to to be fixed/sorted. You must not take it to
ANY other dealer/garage or allow them to do ANY work
on it; even a diagnostics; as that will then void the warranty
that you have.
And do not for one miniute think that taking it into an MB dealer
should not affect that, because it will !. Whosever sold you
the car and that you have the warranty with (unless it is the same
MB dealer you are taking it in to to be checked) will then be able
to say that any problems were 'brought on' by the 'other' dealer
or garage and they will then wipe their hands of it.
Trust me, I have heard of this happening...and it has left the poor
owner with a car that is not fixed, no warranty and no one accepting
responsibilty or liability for whatever the problem is.

If however you sourced it privately, then you have no warranty.

[mr singh]

i think you may find that its a Gen 2 forfour 'G', so it'll be under manufactures warranty.

doesnt matter where you bought it, as long as its not a 3rd party warranty any dealer will happily look at it.

[brulaw]

i think you may find that its a Gen 2 forfour 'G', so it'll be under manufactures warranty.

doesnt matter where you bought it, as long as its not a 3rd party warranty any dealer will happily look at it.

I think  you may have misread  the  first lie of the post    "  My wife just bought forfour petrol Ed1 "  ..... I'm reading  the  Ed 1 as  Edition 1  ( the earlier version  of our excellent vehicles       ) .

[Problemchild]

If a Gen 2 “edition 1” then no one here (bar kate “lil smartie” who owns one and fixes them) will have much of an idea tbh but merc diagnostics is v good but expensive. Can also try the twingo forums as it’s the same car. It should be under warranty

If a gen 1 (I know it’s not)

The EML should not flash - it either comes on or goes off no? Check it’s defo the EML. Manuals for the ForFour are available from the very first page of this site if you don’t have one in the little cubby hole by the drivers foot

Secondly it sounds very much like the behaviour of a sticky throttle valve actuator - misfiring could be just the car struggling to maintain rpm (this is a very easy fix)

Thirdly id check the battery for age

JJ

[CrazyG]

i think you may find that its a Gen 2 forfour 'G', so it'll be under manufactures warranty.....

Early W453 ForTwo's are already out of manufacturer's warranty....
so it's possible that this vehicle may be too......however.....
let's assume it's not that old, in which case as you say
"as long as its not a 3rd party warranty any MBdealer will happily look at it."

[mr singh]

I think  you may have misread  the  first lie of the post    "  My wife just bought forfour petrol Ed1 "  ..... I'm reading  the  Ed 1 as  Edition 1  ( the earlier version  of our excellent vehicles       ) .

to my knowledge they never made a first edition 454, so on that assumption its got to be the W453

[CrazyG]

ok guys...the 'Edition 1' is a W453 (Gen.2) model...
so now we've got that straight and clear, lets not clutter this
thread up anymore with anything other than advice on what
the problem may be, ok.
But...as no one has as yet come up with any solution it's at the
point now where the owner has it booked in to an MB dealer
for an expensive session (circa £100+) on the Star diagnostics.
All we can do in the meantime is wait and see what information
comes out of that little trip....