91' 300E starting mystery
 

After sitting for a few days my 91' 300E starts ok but after driving for approximately 10mi and coming to at stop at say a red light it starts to sputter and then stalls. It turns over but will not start after that but if I leave it for an hour or 2 it starts right up like there was nothing wrong. This only seems to happen if I leave the car sit for 3 or 4 days. If i drive it every day I never encounter this problem. i've had a mechanic look at it and he failed to find a problem . It has happened numerous times after the car has sat and just happened again on my way to work. I went back and got the car to drive it home . It started and it is idling and running fine now.Anyone have any idea what it could be as this is driving me nuts...

Thanx
Gill

WHEN the car stalls you need to see IF it has spark. Possibly a bad coil OR crank sensor.

IF it has spark at that time, then either a fuel pump or fuel pump relay (MAS) is the problem.

Thanks for the reply...I can understand the car stalling for the possible problems you mentioned but would it start and hour or so later and run like nothing was wrong.I just took it for another drive tonight for an hour and cannot duplicate the problem.It seems it will run fine as long as I don't let it sit for a couple of days.

Gill

Does this car have an Idle Control Valve ? If it does, it may be sticking. If it does have ICV, then also check the OVP relay connections, it powers the ICV and the power line may have something loose. M.B. Doc's suggestion of seperating spark from fuel related problem is critical. Checking for spark is easy to do, can get a spark tester for less than $10 which allows for testing for spark without removing the plug, just placing the sensor on the spark cables.

Thanks guys, I will check all of the above . Hopefully when this will happens again it will be in my driveway and not while I'm sitting at a red light....LOL