Please Help! 1989 190E 2.6L Engine Dies Suddenly

[myhrd]

My previous post has elicited no response so I'm trying again. Any help will be greatly appreciated, I don't want to just start swapping expensive parts until the problem maybe goes away. In my line of work we call that "shotgun engineering" and is usually the most expensive and time consuming way of dealing with a technical problem.

I recently bought 1989 190E 2.6 Automatic, my first Mercedes. The car has 125K miles and from the CarFax appeared to have been driven very little since 2000. All the accessories seem to work well (sun-roof, windows, A/C, etc) and it is cosmetically in good condition.

The only annoying problem is that the engine will die as if the ignition switch was just turned off. If I am moving 30 - 60 mph all I need do is turn the ignition off and on, the engine starts and runs normally. This has happened about 10 times in the last 2 months. Occasionally, when I stop at a store for a few minutes, the car will require two to five tries of cranking for 10-20 seconds and then it fires right up. Perhaps related to this problem is finicky starting, I have to tap the gas just right to keep the motor running, the motor will die if I don't catch it just right. Once it's running it idles smoothly and runs well.

I drive the car 400+ miles a week with gas mileage of 20-23 MPG depending on short trips/freeway ratio which is I believe normal for this car.

Again, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave