Hard Start for 1987 560SEL
 

Thanks for any help. I have reviewed alot of the other posts before I posted hear without finding clear applicable help.

Recently my 1987 560SEL has been sometimes hard to start. This happens about 1 in 10 times starting and all the other times it starts fine. Usually I have always held my foot off of the accelerator and turned the key and it would start right up beautifully. Now sometimes it will not start after cranking for 5 to 10 seconds. Then if i put my foot on the accelerator and it will always start but seems bogged down or flooded for a few seconds and will smoke slightly and have a weird almost sweet smell to the exhaust (but not a gas smell). As stated, all other times it starts fine. I dont recall this happening more or less during first start up or cold days or after a long drive, it just happens whenever. I sure would appreciate any help. Thanks!

This one might be tough to get nailed down. Check the coils primary and secondary resistence, condition of the plugs, cap, rotor and wires. If all this looks good try doing a fuel pressure leakdown test.



The accumulators will leak as well, if you remove the smallest line (clamped on the end of the thing) and fuel runs out while running, its bad.


Intermitent hard starts on KE cars can take a lot of time to find.


Joe

Thanks for the help,

Although I have worked on my own cars all my life I have just started working on my Benz.

Rotor and Dist cap were pitted and dirty- cleaned and scrapped them so I hope that is good enough for now, wires look good and will check plugs tomorrow.

1 - can I test this resistance with a standard meter and what should the readings be.

2 - Generally how do I do a fuel leakdown test and finally where do I find the accumulators.

thanks again for any help

Lance