WOw, lots of helpful responses. thanks to all. Going to have to further read and give you guys some repsonces tommorrow.

Steve - > I concur, that could VERY well be the reason of the sale. The reast of the car is flawless, imaculate, etc... you know...

Idling it is at 80 all the time maybe, just maybe goes up a notch, but NOT even to the 1/2 wway mark....

Today, drove it to work, and three ends of the city, with no problem. I did buy a new ovp, will see. I have to travel to Daytona for Turkey Run in two weeks , and want to take my car... but dont' want to get stranded ...

Drove flawlessly today .....

btw, the fuel pressure relay was changed also , someone asked ....

We'll see. I can't imagine how a shop would diagnose the problem if the car is continously starting now ....

__________________
1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

SInce 11/15, my last post, it had been running fine with no problem. Then last week, on the way to work, it must have died / restarted 3-4 times in about 20 minutes, I turned around and drove home.

I figured it wasn't the ovp, since it was just restarting (a few times asap, a couple after a couple of minutes ).... After reading some of the responses, and doing some diagnosis, I changed to fuel pressure regulator and went ahead and changed the fuel filter ( I thought they were good, per my maintainance manual, for 60K miles) with 94K miles on the car, the fuel filter had been changed at 60K miles and the fuel pres reg at about 85K miles (6 months ago!!)....

So far so good, no problem.

As I mentioned before, I do idle quite a bit.. traffic shouldn't be an issue, as it is stop and go... but sometimes, at lunch time in particular, I might have to do some paperwork or just chill, I go start up the car, sit in the a/c for an hour.... I have stopped doing that, maybe the heat in the engine fried the fuel pressure regulator, maybe my "theory" previously mentoined about the fuelt filter, I don't know.....

Looking at it as an "enthusiast"... the prior OVP's were caused by the water leaking (but a real POS, when the fuse doesn't blow, but the whole thing blows), the first fuel pressure reg 6 months ago, maybe a fluke.... and this time, maybe for whatever reason. So if you eliminate the "wet" ovp's... its only been the 2 fuel pressure regs... Oh god I am accepting this, LOL

__________________
1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

I would suggest voltage regulator. if it is bad it can cause OVP fuse to keep blowing. to be honest, it sounds like you got a lemon. my '87 has been a really reliable car considering its age.

__________________
2005 Mercedes C230k sport sedan, 6 speed
1987 Porsche 924S - 968-engined track car

Now you can't idle these cars? Sometimes in the cold of winters up here in the northeast we leave our 95 E320 wagon idling with someone in it while its at the store, or something, for 30+ minutes or so. It has the original wiring harness, original OVP, original cat, etc. Engine temperature is never a problem in the winter-in fact, sometimes the temp needle will be a tad UNDER 87 degrees. In the summer, like in 95+ degree heat parked in a large paved parking lot in the sun we do the same sometimes--someone in the car idling it with the a/c on max--engine coolant temp may rise to 100-or even 105-but with three fans on and working properly, there has never been a problem.
I know you shouldn't rev a car in Park (auto trans) due to pressure build up, but I don't think idling for a reasonable amount of time should hurt these cars. Obviously, they can't idle for prolonged periods like a diesel, but 30 minutes or so shouldn't hurt them in any temp. Just make sure someone is in the car to keep an eye on things--temp guage, engine sound, etc. Its a Mercedes-Benz--durability-strength, etc. A properly maintained car should have no problems idling. As for red-hot cats-run the right grade of gas (premium, of course) and the cats should run cooler. Never park a car in grass which is near a cat or any part of the exhaust, for that matter. That WILL start a fire. But I have never heard of just a hot catalytic starting an under-car fire.

__________________
________________________
2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro