I have a 1988 560SL. It will start fine cold, starts right up, hardly any cranking. But, if I drive it 5 miles & shut down, then try to re-start, it won't start. I've changed plugs, plug wires, dist. cap, rotor, fuel filter, and fuel accumulator.
It has a hot spark, but I can't smell any fuel when I try to start it. Sometimes pumping the accelator will get it started but not always & it's getting worse. The only other symptom is when hot & I first crank it, it will sometimes try to run on just a feww cyclinders, then stalls. HELP!

Just wondering what happens if you only depress the accelerator one time and hold it down while starting. Often hot starting problems are related to wet plugs. Cranking in this way would allow enough air to dry them a bit. Similar to the old sticky choke problems of normally aspirated engines.

Several possibilities with that, but first need to identify if that is a possibility?



trants4md
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85 500SEL
80 Leland TR7 Convertible
And Some American Stuff
94 Dodge Ram
93 Chev Lumina APV
79-81-83 Forzda

I would wonder if it might be a fuel pressure problem, or possibly a problem in the idle control valve.

I'm dealing with a similar problem in my 300e and it's a bit of a mystery to me.

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89 300te 222,222
92 300e 190,000

I've tried depressing the accelator (per the manual). Sometimes pumping the accelator while cranking helps, but not always.

you replaced the cap and rotor with new parts, or just cleaned and replaced the old ones? Had an identical problem on my '94 SL 500, first cleaned up the old ones, still had the problem, replaced with new, problem solved.

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jcciem
'94 SL5000 60,000
'91 350SDL 545,000
'91 350SD 197,000
'00 E55 AMG 77,000

I had the same problems with my 560. I eventually had to replace the fuel injectors to solve it. It seems the injectors leaked fuel pressure off as they sat - it's not particularly good for the engine either so if that's the case with your car you should have it looked at.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

If you haven’t tried this yet! Run Some Injector Cleaner thru it, if it is starving for fuel this may improve the problem. That failed "nhdoc" probably has your answer as he has been thru it.

The injectors may not be completely gone however, just plugging. Several may be worse than others, hence, partial re-fire! Injector systems do want regular cleaning. The fuel you put in it may not contain a system cleaner like techtron in it. It never hurts to run a bottle of cleaner thru them with the oil change schedule! This insures you are remembering to keep up on this before the vehicle asks for help. Worth a try!

trants4md
______________
85 500SEL
80 Leland TR7 Convertible
And Some American Stuff
94 Dodge Ram
93 Chev Lumina APV
79-81-83 Forzda