So heres the deal, my brother owns an 1983 380 SEL with 180,000 miles on it. Basically its a beater car. However he has plans to restore the car. The main probems with the car is that when he starts up for about 20 seconds black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. And when driving the fumes are terrible from outside the car. I want to know what causes black smoke and terrible fumes in these old 380 engines. What are all the possiblilities? Also the other main problem with the cars idle. At stop signs it revs up and down continuously. What causes this as well? What is involved in the idling process of these cars? <br>
All your help is appreciated.<br>
Thank you for your time.<br>
Just want to let you all know this is the dumbest forum/club for a car make that i have ever come across. Lame setup. Also why does it feel like a fucking ghost town in here!!!! Cuz no one gives a shit about these cars. Thats why!!
ok about the balck smoke that means its WAY to rich, it sounds like your timing is off and that is one thing that would make your idle wavor at idle and the black smoke means that your motor is getting to much fuel and not enough air so i would check the air intake system (filter, air inlet hose that goes from air cleaner housing to behind the gril) and also pull out the O2 sensor and see if it is all carboned up. If the O2 sensor is all carbobned up it is going to tell the compuer that your car is running really lean so the computer is going to richen it up so compinsate for that so that could cause the rich condition and you should beable to notice a downfall in fuel mileage since your car has been running bad to so give that a whirl and see what happens oh yeah and check all your vacuum hoses because these mercedes run off of vacuum. my 560sel had a vacuum leak and that caused a wavoring effect at idle so also check the vacuum lines to ok
The smoke could be bad valve guide seals, if it goes away shortly after starting. Regarding the bad idle, it could be a lot of things. OVP relay, idle speed control module, Air slide valve and Ignition Control Unit all could be the problem. There are other possible causes including the EHA, thermovalve and any vacuum leak. I recently had similar problems and (finally) replace the ICU. To troubleshoot you could get the CD ROM of your car from Mercedes. Good luck.<br> <br> Steve<br>
Just went through a similar problem with my 1983 380 SEC, which is in great condition and had the top of the engine rebuilt at 125,000 miles (now crusing at 210,000). My problem was a sputter and lots of grey/blue smoke during warm-up (which I thought was oil). Also had the intermitent high idle. Problem turned out to be the fuel distributor, which is the heart of the fuel injection system. My mechanic says they are full of rubber parts that naturally break down over time and begin to leak air. Air leaks in the fuel distributor are major bad because the compromise the pressurized fuel injection system causing dumps of fuel into the injectors which results in the smoke plumes. Anyway, I lucked out. My mechanic had a good used fuel distributor taken from a blown up engine that matched. He sold it to me for $200, compared to $1,500 for a new one. Other problems that are likely: one or more fuel injectors are leaking gas into the cylinders and need replacing; the intake manifold gasket is leaking air into the system. I have both of these problems but can live with them now that I have a working fuel distributor. Performance improved dramatically. The smoking and idle problems went away, mileage is better and gas fumes are minimal. The mechanic advised me to drive it until a valve job becomes absolutely necessary (probably 100,000 to 150,000 miles away) because getting to the injectors and the intake manifold gasket mean taking off the top the engine. Labor alone is $2,000. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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