Bad Fuel Distributor?

[190ESport]

hi all MB'ers

Recently i have been experiencing what is called a problem that is not a problem yet. In other words here is the information, I have a 190E 1987 with the 2.3, 8V engine. The first thing i noticed was poorer fuel economy, the economy gauge moving in the red excessively under light acceleration. (from a stop sign lets say)
Recently i have noticed uneven idle starts, by this i mean the car starts but idle does not come normal for 3-5 seconds (feels like the car is choking on too much gas or something). I asked around what can be the problem and some people told me it could be the fuel distributor which is leaking directly in the manifold, causing rich fuel/air ratio.

I took away the air filter, looked under the CIS air meter valve and i saw the manifold being noticeably moist but not dry as it perhaps should be. It did not smell like gasoline to my knowing.
Im also thinking im loosing some power on the car before i use to get alot more zoom zoom

Any ideas on what could possibly be the problem, all vacuum hoses have been checked and replaced as needed, all electrical connections are ok too.

here are some recent maintenance and mods
-Oil change
-Tranny oil change
-Spark plug change
-Replaced air filter box with free flow intake system
-Straight pipe exaust after catalytic converter with a remus exaust

http://www.geocities.com/tuningbyamg

[sbourg]

Sample the moistness in your manifold with a long q-tip. If not fuel, it is likely moisture condensing from your 'free-flow' intake. Such an intake will be unlikely to help performance at all, and defeats built-in engine management.

Steve