Car had it's day at the dealer yesterday. They started it, and let it run for a half hour, and of course it ran perfectly. They put it on a scope and diagnosed "carbon arcing" in the distributor caps. This was caused, they believe by "aftermarket" caps and rotors which have a poor seal, and possibly by oil vapors getting past the cam cover seal. They said this replacement was needed to go any further with the testing.

So the owner swallowed hard authorized the work and parts. Back together, it went for an extended test drive and performed flawlessly. They will park the car until Monday morning and see if it will act up after sitting for a while.

The team lead and I had a long discussion about next steps. He believes that this will fix the problem. I am skeptical because I believe the stalling is caused by the injectors shutting down and I don't see how that can be caused by ignition misfires. When it was in a no-start situation, I pulled two plugs and they were both dry, and the car has never smelled rich like it was mis-firing and loading up with unburned fuel. And that moment in the driveway when it started after a tap on the ECU was pretty compelling.

So I bet him a latte that we weren't through with this yet.

__________________
Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe