rough idle, loss of power
 

Hi everyone, new to this please help. Own a 380 sel 1984. Car ran beautifully before this even though i had high fuel consumption. All of a sudden car has very rough idle and big loss of power, bad shake in drive, not so bad in park and neutral. Checked most vacuum lines, dizzy cap and rotor, everything seems ok. Could bad fuel be a problem, never put fuel from this station before. please help out.

Fuel Can Certainly Be A Problem
 

Hello,

If prior to this fueling you had no problems, then I would bet it's related. Also, if your in a big city with smog controls, the amount of ethanol added varies by city and somewhat by dealer. In our back woods area they don't use it but in the city they do add it. Also remember that a lot of low cost stations are buying the bottoms of the barrel, literally. They buy the last few thousand gallons of gas in the tanks at a lower cost. There is a reason it is sold at a lower cost, quality varies. :rolleyes:

Try running some "heat" in it to see if you picked up water. Use the label mix to the number of gallons of gas you have in the tank. Don't over do.

I am having a similar problem especially when cold and I am tracking that down. I will let you know when I get it fixed and see if my finding are of any help to you!

trants4md

Hi,
If you are operating a US-380SEL, then it probably is a non-functioning frequency valve in the fuel control pressure line right under the air filter! If it ain't buzzing whilst the car running, then check the OVP-relay in the fuse box. It's the red head one with the fuse in it.
Good luck,
Dokta

fixed
 

Drained the fuel tank, replaced fuel filter, changed spark plugs (found water droplets on them) refueled and added injector cleaner. Car is back to normal, i assume it was definately bad fuel, not going there again (independent petrol station). Thankyou very much for your advice.