A strange problem here, theories welcome.
 

Hi,

I was driving from boston to philly on friday night and suddenly my 88 190e gave me a weird response. The rpms shot way up but the car wasnt going any faster. It was as if I was in neutral. So I immediately pulled off to the shoulder and as I was slowing down the car stalled. Then it wouldnt start for about 1 minute. When I looked under the hood, all fluids were fine, but i noticed the exhaust manifold was glowing red in the middle of it. Not very bright but enough for me to notice. When i was driving i had the pedal steady not accelerating or decelerating, approximately 70 mph.

Any theories on what may have happened here? And whats with the manifold, is there a correlation between these events?

Many Thanks,

Josh

After you got it to restart it's been fine ever since?

Gilly

Yes , no problem since, I drove back today without incident. It was daylight out so I didnt notice a glowing manifold if it was infact glowing.

The manifold glowing red would indicate an over-rich fuel mixture or unburned mixture. You didn't say the engine was missing so it was probably an over-rich condition. The change in rpm may have been a spontaneous downshifting in the transmission. No answers - just a couple of thoughts.