Hello, I recently picked up a 1990 190e 2.6, and it has some issues. I purchased the car not running. I discovered that the car had the wrong spark plugs installed (Bosch HR9DC). These are resistor-type spark plugs, and this car requires non-resistor plugs. I have full service history, and the car has 118k miles. It explains why the car has had 2 new coils installed in the past 10k miles, and has been thru 3-4 caps & rotors in it's life. I found a set of Denso non-resistor plugs and installed them, and the car fired right up.

Now, I'm going to build a smoke tester to check for vacuum leaks this weekend. The car takes a few tries to fire up cold, but once it's running, I can shut it off and it fires right back up. From idle, it seems I have to give it significant throttle to get the car to do anything, but once it's moving and the revs are up, small % throttle input makes the car act as-normal. On a WOT run, it seems to shift to 2nd gear at roughly 5500 rpm's, and shifts to 3rd about 6500 rpm's. Haven't had enough road yet to go any higher I've adjusted the idle screw a bit (somebody tinkered with it before me, and it idled and started like crap, so it's running fairly smoothly. I plan to replace the O2 sensor shortly, mainly because on the previous 3-4 receipts the shop had recommended it, and it was declined by the PO. I've read I can use the generic 4-wire Mustang 5.0 O2 sensor on this car, right??

If I wanted to do some fuel system maintenance, what should I look at? I've considered picking up one of those inexpensive ultrasonic cleaners and tossing the injectors in it. Good idea? What solution should I use in one to clean them, if so? Also, on my first test drive out of the neighborhood, it popped a heater hose (the one on the back of the head), probably the only not-new hose in the system. Where should the temp needle normally sit? The car had a line at 80, then a line halfway between 80 and hot. It seemed to hover around the line between the 2, and then the needed went up a bit, then came back down. As I was backing into my driveway, the hose burst. 90% of the cooling system has been replaced within 10k miles. Should I simply replace the burst hose, put a new OEM t-stat in it for a 'just incase' measure, and bleed it well?


I'm sure I'll ahve other questions soon, but this should do me for now. Anything else I should look into on the car? And I'll list the maintenance history below, so you all can see whats been done to help advise. Thanks in advance!!


1990 190e 2.6
118,xxx miles

116,445 - crank sensor
115,571 - coil, eha valve
110,017 - fan bearing bracket & pulley
109,806 - water pump, bypass hose, water line, thermostat, both radiator hoses, coolant level sensor, tie rods, idler arm, drag link, steering shock, ball joint, idler pulley & serpentine belt, belt shock, valve cover gasket, 2 breather hoses, front pads & rotors
109,051 - exhaust hanger, exhaust resonator
109,007 - coil, distributor cap & rotor, OV Relay, spark plugs
108,998 - rear pads & rotors, hood pad
105,860 - reman transmission installed, kickdown switch, rear main seal, front flex disk, trans cooler hoses,
83,422 - heater valve, rear muffler
(mileage unknown, 2 months previous to above W/O) - radiator, valve cover gasket, oil level sensor, front flex disk
75,507 - MAS control relay
75,425 - R134a conversion, full fluids change, spark plugs, air filter, p/s filter, serpentine belt, engine mounts, front shifter bushing
70,815 - distributor cap & rotor, spark plugs
70,322 - MAS control relay
66,715 - throttle cable, front pads & rotors
47,385 - serpentine belt, water pump, rear brake pads
47,113 - thermostat, thermostat housing, temp sensor
41,678 - front brake pads
27,612 - rear differential - warranty
15,746 - spark plugs, air filter,



And a handful of receipts from <15k miles, custom complains of coolant leaks, dealer techs could never find them, 'tighten hose clamp' type of receipts. It seems like this car has had a LOT of unnecessary maintenance, enough thats really making me wonder if I should even keep it. That, or idiotic technicians have just replaced everything under the sun whenever they could, especially when they didn't know how to actually diagnose a problem.....