ANY Side Effects from richening my mixture???
 

Hello Board,

I was experiencing rough idle, hesitatation, and poor throttle response from my 1987 300E. I decided to use the allen screw and turn the air/fuel mixture to the right. It runs smooth now, but drinks gas a little more(I smell it out the exhaust too). Considering I have no multimeter, so I did it using my keen eye and ear. Are there any side effects to richening my mixture this way??

Perhaps you've enrichened it too much? Try a little less.

On the other hand, your symptoms might have come from an air leak, and your 'fix' has simply masked the problem.

I agree that you should check for an air leak. You can get a meter with duty cycle function at sears for $30.

Running an engine too rich is a bad thing to do. Having a higher fuel bill is the least of your problems. The excessive fuel dilutes the oil and washes oil film off the cylinder wall. The engine will also foul plugs.

Running rich is a very unhealthy condition for your engine. Running lean causes excessive combustion chamber temperature and also causes problems. It needs to be taken care of.

Good luck,

too rich a mixture will also compromise your catalytic converter.

There is no black smoke coming out of my exhaust, but the gas fumes are strong. How rich of a mixture do you think I am running???