Fuel starvation on 450 SL revisited
 

The other day I posted the issue I am facing with a 75 450 SL that runs fine for 10 minutes then exhibits signs of fuel starvation. It has a new fuel pump, fuel filter and a plugs, wires on and on. The tech has been telling me that the fuel tank has to come out and be cleaned. The other issue the car has is that it bangs its shifts indicating a vacuum problem or leak.

All that said, today I went to replace the small filter on the fuel line where it enters the fuel distributor and took the opportunity to look for a vacuum line problem behing the fuel distributor. What if found was a cloth braided line with a large hole going from charcoal canister to a valve on passenger side of engine.
The valve seems to be associated with the linkage that has control pressure rod, regulator lever etc as part of its deal. There seems to be a hose coming out of the bottom of the valve which disappears somewhere (possibly tranny).

Is it possible I have bumbled my way to two solutions allowing that the charcoal canister may be clogged after 26 years. Can you clean the canister or is a throw away?

Bob

Let them pull your fuel tank... have it "rebuilt" it shouldn't cost too much but it's worth it. my '76 tank had completely deteriorated internally and was preventing "normal" fuel flow... thus the fuel starvation symptoms. The valve from your charcoal canister should be the purge valve. I don't know if the canister can be cleaned or not, but they usually don't contribute to many problems. I'll bet on the gas tank a hundred times as your problem before I'd even play with the charcoal can.

Good Luck!

update on 450 sl
 

pulled the fuel tank and cleaned it twice with POR 15 products from Classic Restorations in Lake Placid Florida. Tank is now shiny inside. Replace fuel pump and filter. Started fine, went down road car backfired tried to stall, basically was a mess. Read thread after thread and thought possibly a bad coil. What I found was the connector in the distributor for the coil wire was snapped off and held in place by rubber boot. New cap and rotor. Still runs bad. So I attack the vacuum lines again and find a line from the intake manifold to the side of the fuel distributor was crimped under the retention plate for the #1 injector. Did a temp fix until I get new line from dealer tomorrow, used hose so I could drive and test it. Runs better but not great Seems sluggish could be timing or another vacuum line issue. Thanks for the help. Could anyone tell me what the crimped line does for the fuel distributor, I can't find anything in the limited documentation that I have.

Thanks again

Bob