92 300SL - Occasional engine stutter/cutout

[stevecora46]

My 1992 300SL has 87K miles on it. Every once in a while it doesn't seem to want to run smoothly. It starts fine, but then when you give it some thottle, it cuts out and acts like it's not going to run. You can nurse it along and it will finally get going and run OK, but when you give it too much throttle, it cuts out. Once it gets up to speed, it seems fine, unless you apply too much throttle. After a while, the problem goes away and car runs like it's supposed to. Today, I took it out on some errands and it started cutting out in city traffic. I haven't had it out in about 2 weeks. This is a very sporadic problem. It probably happens about once every 20 times I take the car out.

It seems like it's fuel related. I've had the car since August, 2003. I had a new E.H.A. valve put in it about a year ago. It actually had the same symtoms as it does now. I was taking it to the local Mercedes dealership to have the oil changed and a new battery installed (I've since learned to avoid the dealership), and on my way it started cutting out and I didn't think I was going to make it to the shop. They diagnosed the E.H.A valve. I've put new plugs in the car, but I've not changed the fuel filter nor have I replaced the plug wires or anything else ignition-related. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks, Steve