I recently bought a 1991 300TE 4Matic with 204,000 miles. It has been intermittently stalling when coming to a stop or slowing to make a turn. I've been reading up and seeing that this is a common problem attributed to many possible causes (I'm keeping a list of them).

But my car is doing something I have not seen described elsewhere. After stalling it will restart (though it requires a lot of cranking) but will die immediately on being put into gear. I go through this 8 or 10 times before it will stay running, sputtering, and get moving. Then it clears up and runs perfectly with no more stalling.

This seems to be a fairly neglected car in addition to the high miles, so anything is possible. But I wonder if anyone could suggest the most likely starting point for a diagnosis and repair effort. Many thanks!