[Munster]

Hi, The engine light in my Smart is on, I know I can put it on a scanner to find out why but until then maybe someone can help me. The car runs fine but when I stop at a stop light the light starts flashing and when I take off it's all herky jerky and sputtering and has no power. If I stop and turn the car off and re start it it runs fine. Any ideas of what it could be. I don't know if it is maybe a bad O2 sensor or what. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Munster

 

[jimvw57]

doesn't sound good... My guess is you are losing a cylinder. Hopefully it is a bad plug or coil. You are most likely going to see a P0300, P0301, p0302, or P0303. depending on the miles, I would change plugs, and maybe look into a compression test.
If the engine detects a cylinder loss, it will shut down that cylinder to try to save it. shutting off the car and restarting it will reset that but if the problem isn't fixed, it will happen again.

If you get a FLASHING Check Engine Light, that is usually a bad thing and you shouldn't drive it unless you find out what is wrong.

 

[Munster]

The car has 92,000 miles on it.If I was losing a cylinder why would it run good again after I restart it? I only got half of your reply until after I replied back.Thanks for the info.

 

[Rustedwrench]

The car has 92,000 miles on it.If I was losing a cylinder why would it run good again after I restart it? I only got half of your reply until after I replied back.Thanks for the info.

If the ECM detects a misfire it can turn off the fuel injector for the offending cylinder so it is not dumping unburned fuel out the exhaust. The injector is re-enabled when the key is turned off, then on again.

 

[Yukoner]

Hi, The engine light in my Smart is on, I know I can put it on a scanner to find out why but until then maybe someone can help me. The car runs fine but when I stop at a stop light the light starts flashing and when I take off it's all herky jerky and sputtering and has no power. If I stop and turn the car off and re start it it runs fine. Any ideas of what it could be. I don't know if it is maybe a bad O2 sensor or what. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Munster

Any funny smells ? My mind goes to plugged cat converter as a possibility. Mind you, there should be no reason why it would run fine after restarting, unless you let it sit for a while.

 

[jimvw57]

My 2009 ran good for 168,000 miles until one day it dropped a cylinder when heading to work. I drove about 3 miles and it would shudder and shake, no power, etc. When I shut it off and restarted it, the CEL went off and it ran for another 3 miles or so. eventually the CEL wouldn't g out but I could reset it with my scangauge II. I got a compression tester and found cylinder #1 had 65 PSI and the others had 155 and 160. even after finding that, it would run OK for a bit before the computer would shut down the cylinder. Exhaust was replaced at just over 100K miles.
Car was driven roughly 100 miles a day on highways and back roads so it didn't have any carbon built up. Adding oil to the cylinder did not change the reading so I assume it was a burned valve. Regular oil changes with Mobil1, premium gas and filter changes at recommended intervals, same with plugs, etc.

The computers on these cars do a big job of monitoring a massive amount of sensors, they will detect a problem before you can feel it.

 

[Yukoner]

My 2009 ran good for 168,000 miles until one day it dropped a cylinder when heading to work. I drove about 3 miles and it would shudder and shake, no power, etc. When I shut it off and restarted it, the CEL went off and it ran for another 3 miles or so. eventually the CEL wouldn't g out but I could reset it with my scangauge II. I got a compression tester and found cylinder #1 had 65 PSI and the others had 155 and 160. even after finding that, it would run OK for a bit before the computer would shut down the cylinder. Exhaust was replaced at just over 100K miles.
Car was driven roughly 100 miles a day on highways and back roads so it didn't have any carbon built up. Adding oil to the cylinder did not change the reading so I assume it was a burned valve. Regular oil changes with Mobil1, premium gas and filter changes at recommended intervals, same with plugs, etc.

The computers on these cars do a big job of monitoring a massive amount of sensors, they will detect a problem before you can feel it.

168K miles, nice ! I was wondering about lifetime mileage expectancy.........

 

[Munster]

How are the cylinders numbered?

 

[Smart Bob]

They are numbered right to left with the right side being cyl. #1.

 

[Soundeng]

Thanks for the info....

Hey guys - I have a 2008 Passion doing these exact things - just started this morning....
Check engine light popped on and the car runs rough - I got it home thank god - but this thread at least gave me a direction to start looking.... Gonna have the code read so I know exactly....it only has 67000 miles on it...

I've been working on cars for years - but this is my first Smart - and I love it as my commuter car..

I was gonna buy spark plugs soon anyway cause they are due - but I'm hoping the code will give me there exact issue...

 

[Miss Mercedes]

You'll likely get a code for a cylinder misfire, which outside which cylinder is the offender (the code will likely be P030x, where "x" = the cylinder that's missing, so 1, 2, or 3), it won't tell you much.

I think you already have a good plan starting out with new plugs. At one time following a small engine fire I had a misfire on two cylinders. It was thought my engine was cooked, but I tried to revive it anyway. The plugs kept getting covered in oil and I was lucky to get two cylinders running on any given day. I went for plugs in a slightly higher heat range and ran some Marvel Mystery Oil. A couple spark plug changes later (they kept getting oil fouled) it eventually just stopped happening and the engine is healthy today.

Welcome to SCoA!!!

 

[Soundeng]

Awesome!!! Thanks for the info and the welcome......

Ill def take your advice on the mystery oil - I have yet to do an oil change on the car - so that's on the To do list too... just need a warm day.....

 

[jimvw57]

I have had 3 bad coils lately. After the first one, I replaced all 3, and then one of those went bad, 6 months later a second new one went bad. Engine lost power and when shutting it off and restarting, it ran OK for a bit, then shut down the cylinder again. A new coil did the trick (after replacing spark plugs first) The Denso long life plugs go roughly 100k miles, the standard ones go about 30K miles.

A little Marvel Mystery Oil never hurts!!

 

[1983JZR3W]

I have had 3 bad coils lately. After the first one, I replaced all 3, and then one of those went bad, 6 months later a second new one went bad. Engine lost power and when shutting it off and restarting, it ran OK for a bit, then shut down the cylinder again. A new coil did the trick (after replacing spark plugs first) The Denso long life plugs go roughly 100k miles, the standard ones go about 30K miles.

A little Marvel Mystery Oil never hurts!!

Were the coils original smart units or the red ones Smart Madness sells? I was planning to buy a new set from SM, but I will reconsider it if you had trouble with them.

 

[jimvw57]

first bad one was a stock coil with 112k miles on it, second one was a SM red coil about 3 days old, last one was a SM red coil with 7 months on it, about 35k miles. Smart Madness did replace the coils extremely fast and they do have a lifetime warranty on them. Price is real reasonable compared to the factory ones.

 

[Brabus]

I have a 2009 Smart with 11,000 miles on it. It started misfiring today for the first time on cylinder 1. Engine code P0301. I bought some HEET in the yellow bottle as I thought well I filled up with gas yesterday and maybe it's bad gas, but I feel like if it were bad gas then it'd be less predictable when it's sputtering. It sputters when shifting between 2nd and 3rd and when you're letting off the gas then reapplying the gas, especially at speeds of 45mph or higher.

Not really sure what to replace with such low miles. Spark plugs aren't suppose to be replaced until 30k miles. Hmm. :shrug:

 

[Smart Bob]

I would administer a double dose of Marvel Mystery Oil to the gas tank and take the car out for a drive on an expressway. If this doesn't work check the coil and if you remove the spark plugs, I would do a compression test.
Smart cars will carbon up on the intake valves if driven on short trips at slow speeds for a protracted period of time.

 

[Brabus]

I would administer a double dose of Marvel Mystery Oil to the gas tank and take the car out for a drive on an expressway. If this doesn't work check the coil and if you remove the spark plugs, I would do a compression test.
Smart cars will carbon up on the intake valves if driven on short trips at slow speeds for a protracted period of time.

I guess tomorrow is my time. I have to get my hair cut tomorrow which is a 30 minute commute on I-95. I normally take my sedan, but I'll do the mystery oil. Fingers crossed I don't get stalled out on I-95. My hair really needs a cut.

There seems to be more than one mystery oil product. :nerd:

There's the MM12R product that comes in 16 ounce or 32 ounce. I suspect a double dose for a Smart car would be the 16 ounce due to the 8-9 gallon gas tank?

Then they have product called Ultimate which comes in a 12 ounce bottle, which is part number 50665.

I guess if this doesn't work, then I could try to swap the cylinder 1coil from my 2008 Passion onto my 2009 Brabus to see if it's a bad coil without having to buy a coil to find out. I don't have the testing tools to figure out if it's bad compression or a bad coil, not sure if AdvanceAuto or Autozone loans those tools.:shrug:

 

[Brabus]

So the MM12R MM13R says to use 4 ounces per 10 gallons of fuel and for oil it says to replace up to 20% of oil with MMO. I guess I'll buy the 32 ounce, add 7 ounces to the fuel and pour the rest into the engine without replacing the oil. It's about a 3.5 quart car, so 22 ounces would be 20%.

Okay, I answered my question. Hopefully being overfilled by 25 ounces of oil won't too detrimental. I really don't feel like dumping oil just to put in MMO. :shrug:

 

[Brabus]

Car is running like new again. I purchased the Marvel Mystery Oil in the 32 ounce size. Put 7 ounces in the gas (full tank) and 25 ounces in the engine. Drove it on I95, it puttered some for the first 5 miles, then cleared right up and drove it an additional 45 miles without any sign of engine troubles. Best $6 I ever spent. Thank you for solving my problem Bob. :Thankyou::Thankyou:

I have been driving the car short distances over the past 18 months, rarely ever going further than 4 miles on the highway at any given trip. I also sometimes put in regular unleaded in the car instead of premium when the prices are 60-70 cents higher, maybe that's contributed to the carbon build-up. :shrug: