1971 280 SE 4.5 - Need Help, Car acting up

Problem: When car gets warm (after driving it 10 or so miles)it sarts acting up by hesitating and loses power to the point that it is hard to go over 40 or so miles/hour.
The car spent the last week in the local independant mercedes and BMW shop (Very good mechanic). The following things were done to it: New Points, condensor, plugs, fuel filter and trigger points and fixed injectors wiring. The mechanic did the best he could and checked the car very thouroughly. The trigger points were the last thing he changed. Mechanic wanted to make sure it was the problem before changing them. Well I got the car back two days ago. The car did not sound the same, maybe timing was a little off and the car did not feel and have the same power as before the problem started. Today, while driving from work to home, about a 20 miles drive, the car started acting up again as nothing was done to it. I really don't mind putting new plugs, points,condensor, fuel filter but it seems that the trigger points were not the problem as suspected by the mechanic from the beginning. Trigger points were $230.00 plus $55.00 for putting them in. I hope he will install my old one back.
Regardless, has anyone out there has had this problem? and wonder what the fix is.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ctaylor738]

You need to redefine your problem. It is not technical. It is that you spent a bunch of money following your mechanic's recommendations, and now your car is worse than it was before he worked on it.

Yes, I have had this problem before. The solution is to take the car back to the mechanic and explain that he made it worse, not better, and that he needs to fix it! You may need to deal with the owner of the shop as well.

Good luck!

Sounds as if you need to find a new mechanic! My question is, did it temporarily cure the not going over 40 problem after the repairs? This problem sounds more fuel starvation related than ignition.
Regards,
Bryan

[Jim Villers]

The solution to all problems can be to spend more money and yell at the mechanic until it is fixed. Most on this board are mechanics (or want to be's) and try to discover the technical solution.

I agree with Bryan, it is a fuel starvation problem. Since the engine must get hot for it to appear, look for fuel lines near the exhaust or something that would create a fuel vapor situation. It also might be caused by a bad flexible fuel hose between the tank and the fuel pump.

Good luck and give the mechanic a little slack.

[bstreep]

Ditto me on the fuel starvation. Might also want to check fuel filter - I've been a fanatic about them ever since I was stranded trying to get back to college in '78 because of a stupid fuel filter clog on my 250S.