i, just joined this site tonight and have a question. i just purchased a 1983 mb 380 sl. the car had been cranked about 2 years ago loaded on a trailer and hauled about 7 hours on a trailer. it was cranked and driven off of the trailer and parked. it never cranked again i purchased it and put a new fuel filter, fuel pump, and screen in tank. it now will crank immediately , but i can't gete it to run past idle. when i give it the gas it dies out. occasionally i can get it past the initial push on the accelerator and it will run at a high rpm but i cannot let it get back to idle. when i crank it and leave it ideling it will run for about 2 minutes then die out as if it is running out of gas. the engine does idle up on its own. any suggestion would be appreciated, i have order a manuel and not very familiar with a mb. i work on my own autos and motorcycles, but this little engine has got me stumped. thanks randy
1983 380sl starting problems
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I'm going to make a wild guess (and there are others on the forum more qualified than I).
Methinks your fuel distributor is gunked up. I've heard in some cases of people flushing it by loosening the tubing flare nuts on top, one by one, until fuel (and hopefully the crud in the distributor) comes out. Aside from that, it may be time for a rebuilt fuel distributor. AutohausAZ.com sells them at a reasonable price.
But first, have you put any Techron in with your fuel?
Methinks your fuel distributor is gunked up. I've heard in some cases of people flushing it by loosening the tubing flare nuts on top, one by one, until fuel (and hopefully the crud in the distributor) comes out. Aside from that, it may be time for a rebuilt fuel distributor. AutohausAZ.com sells them at a reasonable price.
But first, have you put any Techron in with your fuel?
page62, i took your advise and disconnected every line on the fuel distributor and squirted a mixture of gas and sea foam fuel injector cleaner into each port also i disconnected every line i could find and did the same thing to each one that had gas in it. then i put a can into the gas tank and several ounce into the oil also. it is now running a lot longer. i can gete it up to 2500 rpms and keep it there for as long as i want. i do still have to play with the gas pedal to get it from idle to the 2000 mark, once at 2000 to 2500 rpm it runs smooth. i'm thinking about draining the gas tank and putting fresh gas and the gas treatment again. if anyone has any suggestions, i would greatly appreciate them. thanks again
the car has 133,000 miles on it, i don't knwo if it has the orginal cam chain or not, i will be changing it and the guides, due to the information i have read on this forum about these chains. it may have already been changed, judging from the condition of the car, it was well maintained. i appreciate the help and would like to hear any other suggestion on what should be checked on this little car. thanks randy
just to give an update on my 380sl, i finally got it running last night. called a friend of mine who is a mechanic, it took him all of 5 minutes to figure out the problem. it was the disk that allows air into the intake, it seems it was not flat in the body. he put a finger on it on one side and the engine began running perfect. we also adjusted the idle and i took it for my first ride. i actually purchase this vehicle to get it ready for my 14 year old when she begins to drive. i let her drive it in my large front yard and she was smiling the whole time. now i have to check out the steering, ther is about 1/8 of the wheel of slack when steering, any ideas on this?? thanks randy
The slop in your steering is more than likely the coupler between the steering column and the steering box. I just fixed mine. (450slc '76) The coupler has rubber bushings in it which deteriorate and fall out. If you turn the wheel back and foth do you hear a clicking or clucking noise? New couplers are about $60 from what I've read, but I chose to repair my existing coupler. I removed my column to access the coupler because I didn't want the wieght of the steering box on the column if I were to remove the steering box instead of the column. If you want to tackle this job yourself let me know and I'll give you the details on the column removal.
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