idle solenoid
 

So does that mean anything that my car dies after I plug the solenoid back in?

The engine displays the symptoms of ignition timing collapse...as I explained earlier....however this does not mean that this is exactly the problem. This is sounding like lean fuel too....being as this manifests itself at warm, return to idle, when the O2 is controlling the fuel mixture.....

The C/O can be increased slightly with a 3mm allen driver down the adjustment port between the intake and fuel distributor head. .....turn it 1/8th of a turn CW and try your stall test again.

If the O2 is too lean it will not support combustion at very low rpms especialy if just then the O2 control is operating at the lean range as it hits 500 or lower..

Have you a digital voltage/ohms meter.?...Must have 10 mega-ohms resistence to not interfere with O2 reading.

Voltage reading of the idle valve should be 4 to 6 vdc and with the connector attached and not fully home to expose the pins....measure across the two pins for a voltage.

O2 reading should be 0.956 down to 0.125vdc...swinging between the two every 3 to 5 seconds or faster, at warm idle. Need your DVOM for this too.

Can't remember, but some engines had a switch on the side of the air flow meter that was to shut off the fuel pump if the motor stalled....it is activated by the air flow plate moving to the 'rest' position in the air flow meter..( fully up.)...connector usually a black Bosch style on the passenger side of the fuel meter body.


.

o2 reading
 

Where do I measure the o2 reading?

This car was in the mechanics shop just 2 weeks ago so that he could lean it our approprieately because it came from San Diego (sea level) to Albuquerque, New Mexico (5500 feet). Before I took it into him it ran rich and stalled, and we thought that after he adjusted the fuel injection (he adjusted a bunch of things, that's what I was told, I believe he said timing, mixture, shift point and etc) and after that I thought it drove good, but it never got hot enough to stall because I didn't drive it, now that I finished the climate control I was hoping to drive it and here we are.....

If he's any good....print all this post, and ask him if he could check it again for you.

He'll know where to check the base c/o % and check the ignition timing all the way down to 500 rpm or less.

The GREEN fat wire under the passenger carpet goes to the footwell plate to the O2 connector....earlier cars had a connector near the transmission.


.

tested
 

The base c/o % was as specified before and worked and didn't stall at 500 rpms.
He also checked the oxygen sensor and that was functional.

I think I will try to adjust the timing to 10btdc and see how it acts then.

ideas
 

Any other ideas?
I don't think that advancing the timing is a good solution? Seems like something is broken.....

Dmitri

Be more specific.


.

i wish i could
 

I wish I could be more specific...
It does not seem right to me that when you let go of the gas (and driving) that the car almost stalls and then starts back up or stalls.... none of my other cars do that, granted none of them are Mercedes. In my 96 Ford Ranger it was a problem of the idle solenoid located on the throttle body.
So I will advance the timing to 10deg and see how it drives then. I will also try to spray carb cleaner around the manifold and the air intake to see if there is a possible leak.

Dmitri

Not sure if I have the same problem with my 85' 380SE, but *sometimes* it will stall when I stop at a traffic light, when I am turning into a parking space, or when I start it and place it in gear. Its strange, because on the first trip out for the day, it does not do it. Only if I have to make a few different stops, it will do it on the next trips out. Sometimes it will go days without doing it. The other day it did it when I was turning off of the highway making a turn. When it was "upshifting" to lower gears when I slowed at the turn, it stalled. It always instantly restarts, but sometimes stalls again when I place it in drive, but sometimes it does not.

Its driving me crazy. :rolleyes:

updates:
 

to 86560sl:
question for you, just to see if you have the exact same problem.
When the car is HOT (after you've driven for sometime) and you rev it up to 2000rpms and hold it for 10 seconds, then go down to 1300rpm and hold it for another 10 seconds, then abruptly drop the gas pedal and see if it stalls.

to dkveuro:
First let me thank you again for spending all this time to help me. Second let me say I am sorry for not following your EXACT advise because that's what fixed it. Let me tell you what I did please give me some feedback:
1. Found a bypassed valve/solenoid (on the driver side fender well, went from intake manifold to this solenoid (which has an electrical plug on it) then to the retard portion of the distributor module) so after finding out that this thing is only good for the stupid California Emission Control I capped the whole line off because it was constanly retarding my timing. The stalling was 60% gone, but still wasn't fixed and still ran weak at startup........
2. Then as per dkveuro, I checked the timing when the car was HOT (advance plugged) and it was about 2 or 3 deg (stock should be at 5), since I am at 5500 feet I added another 5 deg to the and ended at up 9deg. Then test drove the car and could not stall it, but it still ran weak on start up and I could still stall by holding at 1200 rpms and dropping the gas pedal.
3. I turned the mixture screw about 1/4 degree (from 12:30 to about 3 o'clock) and then test drove again. When I initially started the car black smoke came out of the pipe during idle (so running somewhat rich), but when I took off it had a lot more power to the point where the back tires actually span on take off. And it didn't stall at ALLL!!! YEAH>>!!!!!
Conclusion: My mechanic is not a very good one...... I am wondering if I am running a little rich and what the gas mileage should be????
Should I do anything else, please let me know. Rpm in drive is about 700 and in park about 900.

update
 

So I guess my only question would be is that a satisfactory fix?
And is it running too rich?

Dima.....turning that 3mm allen screw 1/4 turn is a lot of adjustment...if the setting has never been reset, some profile wear on the screw tip will over adjust the setting when you move it 1/4 turn......do you remember where it was ?
If so, go back to that and bump it up about 1/10 th of a turn and drive it to see if problem resolved.....if not do it again until you are less then 1/4 turn up.

The Califonian emission levels for those cars was very lean and coupled with the vacuum retard it promoted what you where experiencing.

The vacuum retard was to do two things...

#1...Reduce tail pipe c/o reading.

#2...Cause the idle to recover when the rpm's dropped because the vacuum would decay and this would advance the timing by what ever the vacuum pulled off.......however, unless the fuel/spark/compressions/vacuum valves/system is top notch, it would stall.:rolleyes: but who cared as long as it passed CARB test.

Unless you have a 'dual/twin action vacuum canister' with two seperate vacuum hose connections, this information is redundant...I have usually seen these 'twin acting vac' canisters' on 6 cylinder engines...some engines had a single acting vacuum canister that was only retard, unlike usual function of advance.

Emission routings pages for your 107/116 : http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11508253949.jpg&s=x402

. http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11508201123.jpg&s=x402



.

try
 

Mine does have the dual/twin action vacuum canister with two seperate vacuum hoses. And as I mentioned before the hose that supposed to go to the retard part of the distributor was supposed to go through a selenoid, but was bypassed and the diaphram on the retard part of the distributor didn't hold vacuum.

After driving the car for a couple of days I will try to lean it out because I do remember where it was and see if it still stalls, the true test is gas mileage and the New Mexico Emission Standards. It has never ran better then it does now, it runs strong, dosen't smoke...

So I will mess with the mixture setting in a couple of days.

Thanks

'k
 

'k.

Now, if your retard function was working and retarding the ignition, setting the timing to 5 or 6 btdc without any vacuum signal at 700 rpm....then putting the vacuum back to the distributor, would pull the set advance off and it would read about 2 atdc....this would reduce tail pipe emissions c/o% as the retard function is secondary to the advance vacuum signal....the canister is coupled inside to allow the advance vacuum to overpower the retard vacuum when any vacuum is applied.
When the engine lost vacuum as the rpm's dropped, the vacuum retard would drop out and the added advance would pick the rpm's up again...(.a self correcting feature.)

When the throttle is opened, the induced throttle venturi vacuum is sent from the throttle body port to the advance canister and immediately the retards drops out and advance begins, mechanical advance starts around 1200 rpm. Total vacuum and mechanical advance would be around 42 to 46 degrees and would drop to mechanical only when opening the throttle for power, as also the manifold vacuum drops low so there is still no vacuum retard signal.



.
.

retard dosent' work
 

the retard portion leaks vacuum and there is three solenoids plugged, so I think it's okay with that part plugged. I check on a new distributor and without california emission standards there is not retard portion on the distributor. If I start having problems with emission control I can come back and visit this, but if it passes fine I don't see any reason.
So just to clarify:
1. If the retard portion of the distributor is disconnected it will not make the car drive worse, right?
2. Fuel mileage won't be effected if the retard portion is disconnected, right?