I have a 1987 260E which has developed a strange problem. It starts fine in the morning, drives normally till I reach the office, a 30 mile drive. If I try to start it after 45 minutes, the first crank will start but the car will stop right away, the second crank will start fine. If I try to start it after about 4 hours, it will not start (note that it again starts fine the next morning, in just one crank). I checked the output of the coil and there is spark everytime the starter cranks, this spark is similar to the one that occurs when the car starts cold. Inspite of the spark, the car does not start so it looks like a fuel problem. Another thing that happens is there is smell of fuel coming from my a/c vents if I continue to crank and try to start. Note that there is no gas smell once the car runs (e.g. in the morning). I have a new fuel pump, new starter, new rotor, new distributor, new fuel relay, new integrity relay. Once the car starts, it runs great.

On a seperate issue, my condenser fan does not come on, I have tested the fan, it works just fine, what could be the problem ?

I dont know if the starting problem is related to another problem I am having, my ABS light ocassionally comes on, after making some vibrations on my brake pedel. As far as I can tell, the ABS light coming on and car not starting have no correlation. I have seen the messages mentioning OVP relay, but I cannot understand how a relay failure can cause the gas smell, my guess is these two problems are independant, if I change the OVP relay, my ABS problem will goaway but the starting problem will stay perhaps because it is fuel related.

If anyone has any suggestions, please advice.

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Saumil S. Patel

I would suggest looking into your ignition clutch for the first problem.

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... Kerry

126 tailed by a 203, 129 leading the pack.

the OVP cures a lot of problem. since your diagnostic
message points to your OVP, change it and for sure it will
fix some if not all your problems.

Hi,

Here is some more information, that most likely rules out the ignition clutch.
When the car fails to start, there is current going to the spark plugs, meaning the
rotor is turning.

Also accidently, I found out that if I depress the gas pedal all the way and then
crank the engine, it starts right away. So far this technique has worked all
the time (atleast 10 times).

Also right before the car is going to stop, if I press the gas pedal, only the
indicator that shows fuel economy on the dash moves, but the rpm does not
change. After it stops, as usual, if I keep cranking without depressing the gas pedal
the car does not come on. As soon as I press the gas pedal, has to be all the way in,
the car comes on right away.

Have not tried to replace the OVP yet.

Any clues ?

Thanks in advance.

Saumil

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Saumil S. Patel