Sluggish, rough idling 380SL cured! Over voltage relay

[Alan S]

Had to reemphasize the importance of the over voltage relay. Recently purchased a rough running, and sluggish 1982 380SL. Took it to an independent shop where they diagnosed the problem as several large vacuum leaks and a faulty warm up regulator, estimate close to $2k. I said no thanks and took her home. After reading several threads, I decided to start with the over voltage protection relay, and to my surprise, the 10amp fuse was split. Replaced the fuse and astonishingly all the roughness and power loss disappeared! In fact, I took the car on a 250 mile trip today, ran 75-80mph the whole way, with plenty of power on tap. Now, I'm not saying the car is a speed demon, but if I ever get around to fixing the vacuum leaks, I might actually consider the car "sporty". Thanks to the good folks on this forum and others that lead me to the over voltage relay...Alan