190e stalling aka end of my rope!!!
 

After replacing the fuel pump relay as suggested in other posts, I decided to take my car, a 1986 190e 8v for a test drive. I made it about 5 miles!! Luckily I had my wife follow. It started doing the same thing as before. Runs for about 5 seconds and then stalls. I parked it and left it over night. Went back this morning to tow it in and it started and ran fine for about 3 miles. Towed it on in to a local garage (not MB knowledgeable). Fuel filter was replaced and car was driven about 10 miles. They let it idle at the garage for about 10-15 minutes, (guy said he even drove it 10 miles.) Thought they had found the problem. Got in the car going home this afternoon. It ran fine. Stopped at the grocery store and one other stop. Still ran fine. Headed home and tach started fluctuating( I had not noticed this before) Car shuddered and stalled. Same nightmare all over again. runs 5 seconds and stops. Had to limp it home (Thankfully it was mostly downhill!!) Someone please help. If i dont get it fixed soon there is going to be a cheap 190e for sale (If I dont decide to burn it first!!!) I think I would enjoy that at this point. I love the size of the car for personal transportation. Everyone says its CUTE. I dont care, cute dont get you home!!! I need dependability!! I am going to drive old reliable tommorrow(1979 450SL) (usually saved for weekends)
Someone surely has had this problem before!!! Please Help!!
It runs so good WHEN IT RUNS!!! But it is very frustrating when it doesn't. Not to mention embarassing and all the I told you so's about those European jobs.

Yikes! End of your rope? Don't hang yourself with it!;)

I love the 190 series. Had a problem similar to yours with another car. Turns out the alternator (or was it the generator) was bad. So when I first drove the car it was runing fine but was using the battery. In just a few short miles (depending on the accessories in use at the time) it would stall because the battery would be drained. Had nothing to do with the fuel.

The other explaination could be vapor lock if your fuel line is near a heat source. But then again, I think the EFI engines didn't suffer this malady. Hmmmmm.

Hope this helps! Good luck.