I'd be willing to bet that the backseat of a pristene 83 SDL sleeps pretty good!! But we'll do better than that. I have a BIG couch left over from my Dad's estate that you can sleep on as long as you share it with the babys (dogs).

If you remember, i had the exact same problem going on for months with my 300E.
After 17 hours of diagnosing and replacing various parts, the tech replaced the entire fuel distribution system with a used system just like in your case. That did it!

But here's the important part: He had the car standing for 2 days before he could start diagnosing it. He was waiting for a new catalythic converter for it. He told me that a clogged/collapsed cat would cause the engine to run very bad (run rich - low milage), no matter how perfect it is adjusted.

The black smoke you are seeing is the remaining soot in your cat being burned. And as long as it's there the engine will run bad and propably cause more soot in the cat.

My $0.02 is on the cat!

Freestyler

__________________
Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do, you're a mile away -and you have his shoes!


'86 300E optically converted to '95 E300 (Sold)
-Blauschwarz on silver
-Black leather
-17" AMG & 15" AMG for winter

Freestyler, didn't your tech change the exhaust after the fuel injection? Was it still performing poorly until the cat was replaced?

He wasn't doing or changing anything before he could replace the clogged cat. He wouldn't be able to troubleshoot anything with a clogged cat, as it makes the engine run very bad, he said.

After i told him that my 300E had been doing less than 10 mpg for a period of 2 months, he immediately called for a price on a new cat, as he would bet anything on that it was toast. -It was.

He had seen cat's collapse from just cranking the engine over and over (fuel pouring through - no ignition).

Freestyler

__________________
Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do, you're a mile away -and you have his shoes!


'86 300E optically converted to '95 E300 (Sold)
-Blauschwarz on silver
-Black leather
-17" AMG & 15" AMG for winter

Cap'n

Have you got the problem resolved?

I worked on it this weekend. The cat was defineately causing excessive backpressure. Just for 'test' purposes I enlarged the flow path to 1.25 inches(3.3cm). After reinstalling the header pipe with the precats and the main cat, I took it for a short spirited drive in the country to blow out any debris that might remain( and there was some). It felt like it had more power and response but I didn't drive far enough to measure fuel consumption. I will install the muffler system and check that later this week. One thing I did notice though, it requires about 250 -300 rpm less to maintain 60 miles per hour.

Hey Cap'n,

Were you able to clean out your old cat, or did you find that you have to install a new cat?

__________________
Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cap'n Carageous
[B]I found used distributor on an engine a local tech had swapped out because the owner ran it hot.


Hello Cap'n Carageous

I will need to dismount one of these days the distributor on my 260E 1988, 370K km, and never did it before.
Have you taken any photo from the distributor top face and bottom face?

Pictures of these expensive parts are soo helpfull before opening everything that I would appreciate to see it before starting.

Help is appreciated.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cc260E
[B]I had images but they got lost when my hard drive crashed. My advise to anyone except a trained tech would be to stay out of there! The inside of the distributor is full of parts that have to be precisely aligned and calibrated. I could not find a source for parts either. There are some good pics in several of my threads about fuel distributors. A quick search will yield some pretty good results. Good luck!!

I drove the car 38 miles today (highway mostly) and it used about two gallons of gas. That ain't but 19 miles per gallon but it sure beats 12!! I have to go to Atlanta on business until Saturday so I won't know for sure until next week, but maybe, just maybe I'm on the right track!! More later.

I would think you have to adjust the mixture after 'un-clogging' the cat. -Preferrable while measuring CO from the exhaust.

Mine went from 7 mpg to 23,5 after replacing fuel distributor and cat. -And a good mixture adjustment.

Freestyler

__________________
Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do, you're a mile away -and you have his shoes!


'86 300E optically converted to '95 E300 (Sold)
-Blauschwarz on silver
-Black leather
-17" AMG & 15" AMG for winter

I am still having to run my car in open loop. The problem I had causing poor idle and engine stumbling and eventual stall is still there. If I leave it in closed loop by connecting the EHA(which came with the airhorn assembly) the engine will run worse and worse until it dies. All I can hope for at this time will be to get the basic mixture set and then try to track my intermittant electrical failure. But to almost double the fuel mileage has got to be a step towards the final goal, which is to make this thing run like a Mercedes! I still have hope!!

Cap'n

Great to hear you got your fuel mileage back (well, most of it if not all!).

If you run OK open loop and crappy closed loop, I guess now you ONLY have to deal with an electric issue!

Is your car running OK in open loop with the existing cat?

Cheers.

While not official, I think my mileage is back up around 22-23 mpg. It's starting to get cool at night so I have to deal with the cold start issue of running open loop. And yes, when the engine is warm it runs fine in open loop.

Great!

To me, the cold start issue (with the car in open loop) is just a little irritating but at least the car runs great!

You are now back in the ballpark with that kind of mileage.

Now, you have time to sort out the electrical issues at your own pace, whatever that might be...

So I guess the cat was not really an issue, huh?

Good show, Cap.