Hi guys, I hate to become a member of this board because of a no start problem, it seems like thats how it always happens.

I just recently bought a non running 190E 2.6 sedan. I really dont know the circumstances leading to it not running, but i took a chance.

It will crank over fine, but it wont start.

Ive checked the following:
It has blue spark- it seemed rather inconsistent on two cylinders though.

It has great compression- 140+/- in each hole.

It has fuel pressure up to the fuel distributor, I can also hear the pump cycling like its supposed to. -however, I opened the line at an injector and it wasnt much more than a trickle?

Ive replaced cap/rotor/wires/plugs.

Ive checked for TDC, even cycled the wires all the way around the cap to advance timing.

Ive shot ether into the intake, no luck.

only glimmer of hope came when I was advancing the timing, and i had #1 in the #5 position. while cranking it, a small bit of smoke came from the tailpipe indicating detonation.

given the slightly irradic timing, Im curious if this might be a crank sensor?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this thing.