I've had a warm start problem on our '91 300TE (125k mi) for years and have lived w/ it, as it seems just the nature of the M103, but now it is getting to the point where it practically won't start if it's warm (20sec of cranking & you have to bury the pedal before she'll stumble for a few seconds then roar to life). I've also noticed a gradual decrease in overall power over the last year or so. She downshifts on hills where she never did and just doesn't have the pull on on-ramps she used to. Runs & idles great otherwise.

I'm in the process of chasing down every warm start lead I can, throwing as few parts at it as possible and doing or sending it out for full diagnostics where feasable. Maybe my search can help others with the same problem.

Someone mentioned a possible gumming up of the fuel distributor. I have never heard of any FD failure in the M103 personally, has anyone else? Could this be the cause of the above symptoms & is there any way to test? We use injector cleaner regularly & 91 octane.

I remember when we did the head gasket @ 70 or 80k miles (?? have to look that # up) we had a bit of a warm start problem & replaced the injectors as part of the job & it helped a lot. ... Just musing...

Also, what are the odds of an intake manifold leak being the cause and where would it leak? How does one go about testing if the problem is caused by a rich (flood) condition or a lean condition?

Thanks!

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Currently:
1972 350SL Euro 4spd
1973 BMW R75/5
1981 BMW R80GS
1995 FZJ80 with OM606 Conversion In Progress