I am actually writing this post for someone else. He has a 420SEL with about 127000 on it. It's a bit neglected I hate to say...I hate seeing cars like this in that kind of shape. Anyways, he says it is flooding. I don't know the exact symptoms, since it's not mine...but he said he can smell the converter, says it smells like rotten eggs. He told me other symptoms, but I can't remember everything he told me. But he's sure it is flooding. I know he doesn't know much about MBs, but to my dismay I walked into his garage today and he is taking off the fuel distributor. The lines are already off, but he hasn't figured out how to actually get it off. I'd trust this guy on a Chevy, but seeing him monkey around on a Benz makes me nervous! So he is replacing the fuel distributor, being certain that that is the problem. So I am writing here to see if it could be something smaller, cheaper and simpler before he digs deeper into this endeavor and drops a grand...and then it not be it. Anyone?

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'86 420SE Euro
904 Midnight Blue, Gray Velour
Dad bought it new, now I own it.

"A Mercedes-Benz is like a fine wine, it only gets better with age."

Exhaust smells like rotten eggs????


O2 sensor????

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Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Well..I don't know. I'm just givin this post a shot to see if I can help this guy out a little and maybe save him upwards of a grand. He said he could smell gas, but he also said the thing about the rotten eggs. I don't know if he specifically said that the exhaust smelled that way, but he mentioned the smell in general. Could the O2 sensor be bad in addition to the flooding? Or could the flooding have damaged the O2 sensor? But assume for the sake of this post that it is in fact flooding. Is there something other than the fuel distributor itself that could cause this? O-ring? Cold start valve? Injectors? And if yes, which is most likely?

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'86 420SE Euro
904 Midnight Blue, Gray Velour
Dad bought it new, now I own it.

"A Mercedes-Benz is like a fine wine, it only gets better with age."