Hi all,
I am experiencing some problems with my '88 Mercedes 230 GE. The truck has stayed for three years. I started it, it starts and idles OK but after few minutes the pump starts to work louder, the idle goes rough and the engine does not want to pick up RPM's. If I start driving immediatly after starting the engine, it will drive fine for the first few minutes and then - the power goes away and the engine stalls. I changed the fuel pump with a known good working one and put a new fuel filter - no sucses.
What else could I check/repair?

How the car was stored?
Regular gas is good for 1 month or so
Premium good for 3-4 month over this period - add gas stabilizer

Also full tank will prevent humidity and therefore rust in the gas tank

sounds like a fuel issue.

pump out the fuel in the tank. you will notice that it is ORANGE not clear.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Thanks guys!!!
The truck was stored bad, very bad, actually it wasn't stored it was abandoned . The tank was empty. When I changed the fuel filter I noticed the gasoline was orange. I put half tank new fuel in.
benhogan, it is definatelly fuel issue.
What is the next suggestion?

you can attempt to dilute the orange fuel with good fuel and burn it off.

personally, i would pump it out completely either from the filler neck or via the fuel pump.

you can hot wire the pump where it pumps continuously to the disconnected fuel line in the engine bay.

get rid of the orange and you will be fine

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo

Well, thats the problem, there is no more any orange fuel in, the tank was empty and I filled it up with about 25 liters of new fuel thinking that this will solve the problem - it didn't.

if you injectors are working fine and squirting out clean fuel then your problem lies elsewhere.

i'm not familiar with the 230GE but in general,

-make sure you are getting decent spark. disconnect one on of the plug wires and attach it to a known good spark plug with a BIG air gap. BIG means 2 or 3 times the proper normal air gap. Ground the crown of the spark plug and observe the spark. If it jumps the gap and it is blue then you have good spark. If it does not jump the gap or if the color of the spark is a weak yellow then you have weak spark.

-make sure you are getting enough air. is the air filter clogged? are throttle plates moving freely?

there is a number of possibilities, eliminate them one by one.

If I were you, I would pull one of the injector (or all of them one at a time) and check the spray pattern. You might have clogged nozzles. In which case, not enough fuel is getting into the combustion cylinder hence the poor performance other than 'idling'. I bet you this is it.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo