Greetings all,

This will probably be one of my last posts here, and I just joined! A few months ago, I became the proud owner of a beautiful 1970 220 4sp manual. A month after I had it, some bonehead rear-ended me and the insurance company wrote it off as a total loss. I thought I'd take it out for one last drive before handing it over to the salvage company.

The engine is/was still in excellent condition and had enough power to climb hills and keep up with the ever-escalating aggressiveness of Bay area drivers! Suddenly, the engine seemed to lose most of it's power. Idling was fine, but as soon as any load was applied, the engine would not respond. Even in neutral, I could floor the accelerator pedal and the rpm's would climb slowly and top out at maybe 3000 RPM.

This sounds similar to another post by 380SE, but I didn't find a decent answer there. I just had the resonator and muffler replaced and there is a new fuel pump and filter.

I'm not going to have the car much longer, but I still am curious to know what could have happened. My question to all you experienced MB owners is: What is the _most_ likely cause for this sudden loss of power? Could the carburetor suddenly become un-tuned? Clogged fuel line even though pump and filter were recently replaced?

The major points that I noted are:
1. Idles fine
2. Doesn't sound like any of the cylinders are mis-firing
3. Low max RPM in neutral
4. Slow response from the engine when depressing gas pedal
5. Transmission/clutch are fine
6. Linkages to the carburetor are fine

Anyway, thanks for your time. It's been a real pleasure owning such a neat car. When I win the lottery or something, I'll be back as an MB owner.

Skrunch.

I imagine that the rear end collision crimped a fuel line or vent line. In either case I presume the fuel flow was restricted.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician

Hm. Interesting. The floor of the trunk _was_ crumpled and it is quite possible that the tank was damaged. If you opened the windows, the vacuum caused the cabin to become filled with gasoline fumes! But would this explain that the car was running fine for a while _before_ the flow was somehow restricted?

If the vent is restricted the fuel pump draws a vacuum on the tank. With a mechanical pump it is very likely that this would slowly stop the fuel delivery over time as the pressure in the tank drops. Removing the cap or letting it sit should restore its performance if that was the case.

__________________
Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician