I Give Up

[rdc5000]

Hey everyone. I’ve made a big mistake and now I’m paying the price. I bought a 1991 black with gray interior 420SEL for $900 but it was not running and I was told by the previous owner that all it needed was a fuel distributor. Since it was parked at a shade tree type mechanic shop and he said that he could replace the fuel distributor for $300 if I supplied the fuel distributor, I figured that it would be okay for him to do it. I don’t know it that was my first or second mistake, buying the car maybe wasn’t the best idea. Anyway I buy a used fuel distributor and take it to him. He installs it but now the starter dies. Ok, I go and get a starter and he installs it, still won’t start. This guy has no experience with Mercedes or diagnostic equipment so he’s struggling to figure it out. Next he thinks it’s the ECU. This was a giant pain to find the right one. I now have 2 extra ECU’s if anyone is interested. I finally get the right one and he installs it. Still nothing. He says it getting spark, fuel, has good compression but it wont stay running. I’ve never heard it run myself but he says that it will start for about 5-7 seconds and then die. After that it won’t even start for that 5-7 seconds. If you wait an hour or so it will do the same. Ok he can’t go any further without the proper equipment and now I’m stuck with a $572 bill for a car that doesn’t run. I told him I’ve got to think about options and get back to him. Right now I’m almost ready to walk away or let someone come in and pay the bill and the car’s theirs. I’m open to ANY ideas.