Last fall I began to have a slight, intermittent hesitation problem. The car would start fine from cold, but after a mile or so of driving, then waiting at a stoplight, the engine would sputter and hesitate when I gave it gas to get moving. This would last a second or two, with no recurrence. (Interestingly, the exact same thing that I've lived with on my 96 Jetta for about 8 years. Always for a few seconds, then goes away with or without the aid of gentle massaging of accelerator.)
One December morning, the sl started perfectly, and I drove for maybe a mile before turning the engine off. 15 minutes later, it started fine, but under mild acceleration from rest, sputtered momentarily as above before smoothing out. Drove a block or two, and it died when I put the clutch in to stop. Wouldn't restart. Cranked but wouldn't catch.
Took it to a new mechanic, recommended to me, who seemed to know his stuff--works only on old MB. With one thing and another, he took a while to get back to it. Here's what he found:
Nothing coming out of the add-on voltage booster going to distributer. He disconnected it entirely.
Bad points. Now replaced.
The problem with starting is now intermittent--sometimes fine; sometimes won't start at all.
He is suggesting it's the distributor, since there's a lot of play, he says, in the plate below the points. He's talking about a replacement of the distributor [:0]. I'm skeptical. At the very least I want to get the distributor bench tested first, to see if there's really a major issue there.
Thoughts and advice? Can a problematic distributor manifest itself intermittently? Are there other potential electrical culprits? What should I have checked in the fuel system? Cold start system?
By the way, I have less than 5000 miles on a rebuilt top end and injector pump, including new injectors.
Rick
Dallas TX
1967 250SL, 4-speed
