Guys,

Thanks for all of the replies...

I have had the car 3 1/2 years - all new ignition parts (Bosch OEM) within the past 2 (?) years - new coil, cap, rotor, copper plugs gapped correctly, new wires...I guess something could have gone wrong here and I will pull the cap/rotor and take a peek. Have pulled some plugs and checked, and they looked fine (probably less than 20K on these new parts). Also, replaced the O2 sensor and the fuel accumulator previously.

This is a CIS-E system with the M104 motor - has a MAF sensor on the side of the fuel distributor - have not checked it as I'm not sure how. Also, I'm not sure what I would do if it was bad - can't find the sensor anywhere now.

Yesterday, car would not start in the morning before church - in the 30's here Sat night - car cranks and cranks until battery starts to drain, but no start. Come home and try it around 2:00 and car starts after some (less than normal) cranking. Again, I should emphasize that the car runs GREAT then - you wouldn't know there was a problem at all running down the highway. BUT, it is running rich - no doubt about that as my duty cycle issues have been documented in previous threads. But, it has been running rich for a while now - just started with this no start/hard cranking problem...

Also, I have tried turning the key on and off - and I do hear the fuel pump(s) running - but it doesn't help. When it finally starts, it does so without me touching the gas pedal at all. If I hit the gas pedal too quickly, it will die - but then it will start right up again. It 'seems' like a fuel problem to me - warm and hot starts are OK.

Ryan

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RG Newell

1984 300D
1972 250
1986 560SL
1991 300CE