1988 420 se burns too much gas

I just bought this car, and I have minor issues as to the headlight wipers don't work and the electric windows are intermittent at best... "Tony Pike" wrote in message news:itMYi.33762$XF6.2650@edtnps90... Has anybody any ideas on how to fix this? I am only getting 10 mpg city. It is a 4.2 litre - I plan to change and inspect the plugs, and replace the distr. cap and rotor tomorrow. I can smell the gas at idle. Where do I go from here please?

Don't overlook the ignition cables and give the fuel injectors some injector cleaner.

a 4.2 litre - I plan to change and inspect the plugs, and replace the distr. cap and rotor tomorrow. I can smell the gas at idle. Where do I go from here please?

does that car have O2 sensor? check that. It's probably too old - when they go bad they default to rich mixture resulting in poor fuel mileage.

After what I've seen with mercedes cars (too many electrical problems) I'd never buy one. even if someone gave me one, i'd refuse it or sell it again without driving it.

Several of my friends have these cars (very from 1987 420 to modern

Pull out all spark plugs and see what the electrodes look like... There is a good possibility that the fuel distributor is letting too much fuel flow out... if not then I would highly suspect the timing chain is too stretched out.

That means your fuel distributor is not good... need rebuilding or rebuilt unit. I wouldn't gamble on used unit as the age factor is high.