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Random engine stalling....then car runs fine...

the car is a 1986 300e with 93,000miles. Twice in the last two months I have had this problem.

I'm driving along fine, and I come to a stop sign or traffic light. After stopping, the car stalls out. It then takes about ten seconds of cranking the car to get it running again. Then it will stall as soon as I try to get going again. If i let the car sit for a few minutes, it will restart, and all is well. No traces of any problem after that.

Any Ideas on where I should start looking on this one? Fuel system, vaccum, ignition, timing, etc? any suggestions are greatly appreciated....

Thanks, Chris

Reply to
Chris O'Malley
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Chris, replace the fuel pump relay.

Reply to
fpharryc

Chris -

Your description of the problem 'healing' itself after a short rest is remi- niscent of a clogged fuel filter problem. I wouldn't rule that out as another possible cause.

Jerry Wolfram '78 450 SL - 210K miles

fpharryc wrote:

Reply to
Jerome K. Wolfram

Thanks for the responses. I was thinking filter too, though I thought it might hesitate a bit more often. It's cheap enough to change though, so i'll do that first.

Is there a way to test the relay?

Thanks again, Chris

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

Jerome- do you know off hand where the fuel filter is on this car? thanks again, Chris

Reply to
Chris O'Malley

Chris -

Uncertain, because mine is a 450 SL. However, Mercedes does seem to like to preserve engineering decisions across model series, so you might try looking around the rear axle near the fuel tank. Perhaps other users reading our posts can refine that a bit further for you?

BTW, at some point you're probably going to want to invest in either some manuals or the CDROM for your car. Prices are a little steep, but they tend to pay for themselves rather quickly.

-=[Jerry]=-

Chris O'Malley wrote:

Reply to
Jerome K. Wolfram

This is NOT a fuel filter problem. The engine stalls at idle, a clogged fuel filter would starve it of fuel when the most fuel is being used - acceleration and hill climbing.

There's a fuel pump relay that is the probable cause, or the fuel pump itself.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

This is NOT a fuel filter problem. The engine stalls at idle, a clogged fuel filter would starve it of fuel when the most fuel is being used - acceleration and hill climbing.

There's a fuel pump relay that is the probable cause, or the fuel pump itself.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

T.G. & Chris -

I had pretty much ruled out the fuel filter on my car for the same reason, which makes logical sense. It may be a question of the degree of clogging. Mine was definitely stalling at idle like Chris' car (I have vivid memories of being stalled in a left turn lane with traffic behind me within sight of the auto parts store when I finally went out to purchase a replacement filter!)

A simple way to resolve the issue would be to perform a fuel delivery test. On my 450 SL the book calls for a delivery rate of 1 liter/40 sec. Checking and comparing the delivery rate either side of the filter should resolve whether Chris has a filter or fuel pump/pump relay issue.

Jerry Wolfram '78 450 SL - 210 K miles

"T.G. Lambach" wrote:

Reply to
Jerome K. Wolfram

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