Hi - I have a 1981 380sland looking for mechanic near Jersey City07307

Having touble accelerating... how is the idle? Very lumpy? When is the last time you ever change the spark plug wires? If you have a multimeter... measure them... they should all be less than 1250 ohm. Anything over that is bad.

What mileage do you have on the engine now? Has it been converted to double timing chain? Open the oil filler cap... and look toward the front of engine... one row or two rows of chain?

One last thing... What oil are you using now? Dino oil or synthetic? Change your oil to synthetic soon... Valvoline 5W40 and 8 quarts... If the engine smooth out after a drive around town... then you are done... fixed. I had this happened to my 380SE... until I simply switched to synthetic... and boom... done... My hydraulic valve lifter was having problem and synthetic will free it... eventually.

If switching to synthetic really helps... stay that way... use synthetic. You can change oil every 7500 miles... but I'd suggest you change your oil filter twice... every 3800 miles. It is not a messy job for oil filter.

If you are not handy with engine... change to synthetic oil first before briniging to mechanic. Have a lube shop do it for you...

Thanks Tiger, The idle is fine - runs high during warm up, then settles at 800rpm. I recently got the car ...prior owner said just had a tune-up and oil change. I believe the oil is dino. Can any lube shop change to synthetic, and will they have correct oil filter? I did change the air filter, cleaned the air meter, sprayed (in small bursts) air cleaner, added lucas fuel cleaner, but no noticable difference. We recently took it to a mechanic in Brooklyn to look over...and he said everything looked good, including the timing chain. I looked, but can't tell if its double...but did specifically have the other mechanic check. This was before this problem and the car was running great.

One other thing - there is a "knocking" under the car during idle that I didn't notice before. The problem started when the wife took the car for a drive. I didn't here her start it, she just came home with the the car limping under

1500rpms. Thanks for any insite! Chris

Couple of other things: the car has 129k miles. Previous owner said engine had been overhauled recently...not sure when.

Limping? Yes, any shop can do the synthetic oil change. Go to Pep Boys, at least you can buy the right oil there... But really, any big lube shop can do it for you. They should have the filter too.

The knocking sounds like valve tapping... which is what I had too...

Idling fine... without rocking the car... that's normal... so leave that alone...

Timing chain is easy to see.... but your mechanic said okay... so it is probably double... it is very easy to tell... single chain is like bicycle chain... double is two rows of chains together side by side.

I would do the synthetic oil change first... before I do anything else.

What kind of engine overhaul are we talking about?

I got a great referral from a local who's got a 560sl. I went to the shop today"G & T Auto Imports"... Complete auto for Mercedes and BMW.

772 Communipaw Ave Jersey City, 07034 201-434-0197 Simon and Nick Great recommendation! Turns out the coil was bad and a loose wire. They are putting it up in the air tomorrow to check the rattling noise underneath. The shop was all newer and classic benzes. They have a warehouse full of "new" parts so they can turn repairs around usually same day! Note: I do NOT work for them, sorry if any of you read this as an ad. I am very grateful that Parkman made the right referral, and since I just went out there today (three times) I got a chance to talk to them, they showed me the classic cars they are restoring, and even offered cold beverage and ride if I needed it. That's service! Chris - once again happy owner of 1981 380sl