560sl stalling

[Rob Thomas]

My 1986 560sl stalls at generally low speeds. It does it intermittently. I might drive 100 miles and it never happens and I might have it happen twice in a few minutes. It usually happens at slow speeds and sitting still at idle. The first thing you notice is the tach goes to 0 and then the lights will come on across the instrument panel like you have the key in the acc position which it is. Sometimes it catches itself at higher speeds. What I mean is the tach will momentarily go to 0 and then come back up. The only difference is that at low speeds the engine will stop. At high speeds it will keep running after the droop in the tach. Any ideas? Thanks. Rob T

[Richard1]

My 560sl was stalling at low speeds, and idle was poor....mechanic found that old mechanic had hit the distributor cap with a blunt object and replaced it. Solved problem.

[Tom McMenamin]

Then start going thru the big expensive stuff!

A solid MB guy can probably find it in less than an hour!

[Strife]

The ignition switch(the electrical part) could be bad. It is not expensive or difficult to replace (yourself). I replaced mine because of an intermittent blower motor but that switch has many circuits and others have had the kind of problem you describe. Search the sl site on ignition switch.