Normal Idle behavior?
 

My 75 450SL exhibits following idle behavior:

With warm or cold engine,

When in neutral or park, idles at about 1000 rpms

when in drive, stopped at a light, it idles at 700-800 which I believe is normal based on the metal tag at the front of the engnie compartment. If I shift it to neutral, the idle speed immediately climbs back around 1000 rpm.

is the car idling too high while in neutral or too low while in Drive and stopped at a light?

thanks in advance

dom

Pics of my 1975 450SL

Dom:

The following thread refers to a different model of MB; however, there might be some cross-over. It's at least worth looking at. Consider what Steve Brotherton has to say in the article.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/tech-help/20532-fast-idle-park.html?highlight=fast+idle

I checked out the posting, no ovp in mine, too old and I did lube the linkage, no luck.

more on the symptoms:

after the engine is nice and warm, say about 20 minutes or more of driving, she will sometimes idle at 400-500 rpm when in drive and stopped at a light, she idles very rough and shaky at this point. If I put it into neutral the rpms climb to almost 800 or so and the shaking decreases but does not go away.

when she's idling at 400-500 rpm, it almost feels like she's not getting fuel...it does not cut out mind you but it sure feels like it wants to.

what would cause the idle speed to drop like that from the "start of the trip" rpms of 700-800 when in drive and stopped or 1000-1100 rpm when in neutral?

thanks in advance

followup
 

I finally got around to replacing the spark plug wires, to complement the replacement of the distributor cap and rotor and plugs.

Also figured out where the dang idler adjust screw is and have adjusted it so that she idles just above 1000rpm while in neutral and just below 1000 rpm when in Drive. She feels a lot smoother now in terms of idle vibrations.

The data plate on the chassis says idle speed in neutral should be 700-800 but at that setting she shakes quite noticeably so I will live with this higher rpm setting till I figure out the real reason for the rough idle at lower rpms...could be a vacuum leak or my motor mounts which are apparently shot.

Will probably have a mechanic do the motor mounts replacement though since I am not sure that doing this myself is within my comfort level of expertise.