new to mercedes could use some help

[kcpets]

hello everyone,
I am about to be a first time mercedes owner. I am trading my jeep xj for a 1988 Mercedes 190E 2.3 in great shape. What a cool looking car and from what i've seen they sure can be fun to drive. Anywayhere is the problem he drove the merc for 8 months no problems what so ever and then one day it wouldn't start and he doesn't know about mechanics so heleft it alone ..... from the information he told me and that i posted it sounded like a cps sensor, would this be a good place to start ? how much is a new cps (i'm in bc, canada) ? where exactly is it located ? i have done these changes many times on jeeps but never a car and again i'm new to mercedes. also is there anything else i should look at ? any advice on these mercs would be helpfull. is there anywhere to buy performance parts ? any good parts places in canada ? thanks again everyone and i look forward to owning a mercedes.

[kcpets]

also is there a cps from another model or motor that will work ?

[bobs]

The first thing to do, especially if you're not familiar with Mercedes, is get access to the service manual. You can do this in several ways. You can subscribe to it online for something like $15/year at alldatidiy.com. You can also buy copies of the Workshop Information System (WIS) on ebay pretty cheap. Lastly, you can access the Mercedes Electroinc Parts Catalog (EPC) online for free. Check out www.StarTekInfo.com/epc

Second, you've come to the right place. There are a lot of really experienced Mercedes Techs that hang out here. The trick is to give people enough time to respond. Some only log on every few days, so give it some time.

[kcpets]

thanks i did some checking today and i think i found the problem. i have spark up to the distrib but after that nothing so it must be the cap and rotor

[riorust]

You can download the W201 service manual at http://modtech.us/w201-mercedes-shop-manual.html if you don't mind a 75 meg download.