Thanks, Richard. Actually, I did replace the pump recently. Around Christmas time. I bought it from another Mercedes parts dealer. It was the "Monark Diesel" brand one. I had to remove the elbow adaptor from the side of the block in order to fit it on.

As I mentioned, I have a spare Stromberg for parts, so I'll take it apart and see if maybe there is a problem with mine and pull a swtich.

I really appreciate your expertise!

AARON ROCHARD

1976 230.4 W115

Hi Richard et al., This weekend,I got down to business, followed your instructions re: the needle seat on the carb. Removed the carb and checked it. Fund nothing out of the ordinary there. Unlike the Jaguar version of the Stromberg, mine has a "fuel shut-off solenoid" screwed in to the needle seat (as opposed to the plain brass screw) and the wire lead to it was frayed, so I replaced it with one from an older Stromberg I had got with my parts car.

Also, upon removing the water choke "coil" mechanism,I noticed that the coil was slightly sprained, so I replaced that as well and put everything back together.

One of these two things must have been the problem because the car starts up and runs without dying.

HOWEVER, I'm getting LOTS of smoke now. My garage was filled with whitish/blueish smoke that seemed to be coming out of the front end of my exhaust pipe (near the catalyst/resonator area) I could see it smoking down behing the carb area on the passenger side.

I will try and give it less choke and see if this helps, but I'm worried to drive it like this and unless you guys can give me any guesses, I'll call the mechanic tomorrow.

Thanks again for all your help. You've saved me a lot of money and bus fare.


AARON ROCHARD
1976 230.4 W115

I just wanted to update this thread, beacause I found what all the grief was about. I recently went under the hood to see if everything was working O.K.

I replaced the choke spring mechanism with the old one that I took off the car earlier (the one on the car right now isn't 100% compatible, it is probably from a 1975 or 1974 230) and the car reacted the same as I mentioned above. It runs for a bit, sputters, dies and hard re-start doesn't keep running.

I believe the electrical part is shot. This could also have affected my temperature gauge because the wire giving power to the choke warmer is also connected to my temperature sensor (and the gauge has been giving trouble for a LONG time, probably since I bought the car.)

I will be searching the internet for a compatible replacement choke spring. The dealer here has one for CDN $250 !!! Until then I'll leave the semi-compatible choke spring on there.

If anyone can help with this part (already tried Partshop) I'd appreciate it.

THANKS EVERYONE !!!

AARON ROCHARD

1976 230.4 W115