I have a 92 300 TE wagon with about 120K miles - Great car. Now am having a cold start problem that is getting progressively worse. The car starts and runs fine when after the first time it is started - but starts in the morning can require cranking the engine for 5 or 10 minutes to get it to go. After that the next time it starts immediately. The car runs better than it ever has otherwise.

When the problem first started I put in a can of Berryman's in the tank to clean out the injection system that that had no effect. I have also tried parking it at different angles thinking that there may be an air leak into the injection system. I had that problem on the 190D I owned.

One shop changed the voltage regulator and charged $236 - that did not fix the problem - The car cranked fine and the battery was charging fine before the repair.

Now the local agency has spent four hours trouble shooting the problem and they claim the coil and spark plugs are the problem. I have not heard of a coil causing a cold start problem - but this could be unique to the 300 TE? They want $563 to change the coil and for the time in diagnostics. I am tempted to go this route and let them own the problem until it is really fixed.

I have a strong background in mechanics and have owned shops in the past but am not up to date on the injection system on the 300 TE. Someone told me it was the last of the CIS systems - but some how that did not sound right.

Does the car have a cold start injector - where is it and how is it powered??

I was also told that there is a by pass circuit to the coil that gives it a boost while starting for a hotter spark. Is the 300 TE coil special or is it just the standard Bosch coil??

I am open to suggestions either what to look for or for a good shop in the San Francisco Bay area to take it too.

Thanks a bunch

Dan