Hello all,
1985 380sl starts fine and idles reasonably smooth for 5 or so mins. than it will just stall, no sputtering or shaking, it just quietly stalls. When I try to re-start there is no spark and obiously it will not re-start.....after ten mins, it still will not start. An hour later, it starts just fine and the whole thing begins again. Any thoughts? I researched other posts on similar subjects but can't find anything that is spot on.

Could the warm up regulator cause it to stall like this?

Doesn't sound like a no spark condition. Probably an Engine temperature sensor.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

would a faulty crank position sensor cause this?

No crank sensor on a 380.

This doesn't sound like a spark issue to me. How did you test for it?

Can you verify that the fuel pump is running in the no-start situation? Have someone crank, and put your hand on the pump and see if it vibrates. If it doesn't investigate the fuel pump and the fuel pump relay.

Given the odd timing, stops after 5 minutes, I would suspect:

- Engine warms up OK in open loop. At 81 degrees, it goes into closed loop, thinks the engine is rich when it's really not, tries to lean it and kills the engine.

- You have crud in the fuel strainer in the tank. Runs OK until it runs out of gas, then has to sit long enough for gas to dribble down to the pump.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Thank you MR. Taylor,
I'll do a more thorough check tonight.