motor

yellow_rice · 03-03-2004, 07:56 PM

Ok, I own a 560SL. 1st owner (my dad). About 2 yeras ago I noticed trouble with my car. it felt sluggish. when i accelerate from zero, it tends to lagg.. like not go... not rev.. for 1 or 2 seconds then go. My dad told me the car never felt this sluggish before. even during in motion, i'll give it a little more gas, the car will also take about 1-2 seconds til it actually tries to go.

So here's the funny part. Yesterday I took it out of a climate controlled garage, i kept it in there for winter. i start the car, let it warm up. i shut the car off to let it cool down again (the procedure mercedes taught me after long storage). Then i took it for a drive and WHOA! the car FLEW! So being confident, i decided to take it on the highway. i ran up to about 160-180km's EASILY... i didn't wanan go any faster because i'm wussy like that. So the entire day/night the car ran TERRIFIC. Then i start the car up this morning. I let it warm up for 5 minutes and it wasn't up to normal yet. I was in a rush, so i decided to drive like a granny til it was at normal temperature. Once it was there. I drove it normally. AGAIN with the sluggish movement.

WHATS WRONG WITH MY CAR?!?!?!! i'm so confusedd...
Mercedes Mechanics aren't even sure.
I've been told it could be my transmission, sparkplug wires + distributor, coils (he just said coils, i dunno), bad head gasket.

SOMEONE PLEASE give me some ideas or solutions...

T-Bird · 03-03-2004, 08:07 PM

well the ignition stuff is cheap and easy to replace so that wouldn't hurt to try and they meant ignition coils probably. head gaskets don't hurt to chang eevery so often either. if it was the transmission you would feel the transmission jerking around. I had this problem before and found out that my Cats collapsed so I replaced the entire exhaust and that solved the problem.

Vansquish · 03-03-2004, 11:19 PM

I doubt that it would be anything to do with collapsing cats or exhaust system problems, as it would always effect the car's performance, even after a winter of storage. Headgasket repair and replacement is not exactly a simple or inexpensive fix either, so you might want to consider some other possibilities.

If you could provide a little more detail about what you mean by "sluggish" that would be great yellow_rice. If by that you mean that the car is not running through its rev range quickly nor producing the kind of power you expect, then it could easily be a throttle problem. You might consider running some synthetic cleaner through the engine to see if you can free up some gunk that might've accumulated over the years. If it is a carburetted engine (I don't know myself) then you might want to replace the needles in the carbs and clean the rest of the carbs a bit. If you are saying that it doesn't seem to engage the engine for a bit when you hit the gas, but that once it does it accelerates as it should, then you probably have a transmission problem, though finding and fixing something may well be costly, difficult and time-consuming, and you wouldn't necessarily feel the tranny jerking if it has a problem, it could just be a torque-converter issue or a variety of other things.

dragula_bassman · 03-03-2004, 11:37 PM

Yeah, I would try changing the fuel filter and plugs, basically do a tune-up. Run some fuel cleaner in it and maybe run some higher octane fuel if you aren't already doing so. Now that I think about it, you might want to check the EGR valve also.

brijoel · 03-04-2004, 10:25 PM

sounds purely like ignition system, doesnt sound like fuel system as the fuel wont make it sluggish unless its running terribly terribly rich, but you would be able to smell that from your exhaust as well. change spark plugs, wires, distributor, etc.

but if you really want an opinion past that....id be willing to bet you are losing compression on one or more of your cylinders. which could very well be the headgasket. ive known many people to complain about sluggishness and find out compression is dropping.

yellow_rice · 03-06-2004, 06:10 AM

hi everyone. sorry i haven't really had time to look at the posts the past few days but i've been really busy.
I've read everything and they all sound probable. as for those that require more detail, i will quote after this msg. thanks for the help everyone.

yellow_rice · 03-06-2004, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by Vansquish

I doubt that it would be anything to do with collapsing cats or exhaust system problems, as it would always effect the car's performance, even after a winter of storage. Headgasket repair and replacement is not exactly a simple or inexpensive fix either, so you might want to consider some other possibilities.

If you could provide a little more detail about what you mean by "sluggish" that would be great yellow_rice. If by that you mean that the car is not running through its rev range quickly nor producing the kind of power you expect, then it could easily be a throttle problem. You might consider running some synthetic cleaner through the engine to see if you can free up some gunk that might've accumulated over the years. If it is a carburetted engine (I don't know myself) then you might want to replace the needles in the carbs and clean the rest of the carbs a bit. If you are saying that it doesn't seem to engage the engine for a bit when you hit the gas, but that once it does it accelerates as it should, then you probably have a transmission problem, though finding and fixing something may well be costly, difficult and time-consuming, and you wouldn't necessarily feel the tranny jerking if it has a problem, it could just be a torque-converter issue or a variety of other things.

Ok, wat i meant about it being sluggish was that if.... lets say i give u a scenario i just went through..
i'm on a big intersection waiting to make a left on a green, cars are whizzing by. So I see that its clear for me to go. I take my foot off the brake and apply gas. The car will roll forward as if i never applied gas for about 1-2 seconds then it will go. it feels as if the gas pedal or throttle is unresponsive. my car has lost its pick up. my car used to be able to do burn outs off the line if i floor it on "D". the car stays idling.

another scenario is if i'm on the highway, i'll be driving at a consistant speed but if i wanted to floor it, the car would take about 1-2 seconds to actually feel some pick up.
in the past, when i floored it during the highway, my head would fly back with all the G's.

yellow_rice · 03-06-2004, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by brijoel

sounds purely like ignition system, doesnt sound like fuel system as the fuel wont make it sluggish unless its running terribly terribly rich, but you would be able to smell that from your exhaust as well. change spark plugs, wires, distributor, etc.

but if you really want an opinion past that....id be willing to bet you are losing compression on one or more of your cylinders. which could very well be the headgasket. ive known many people to complain about sluggishness and find out compression is dropping.

ok here's the thing. i changed my sparkplugs but not my wires or distributor. as for the fuel, i use 91+ because minimum requirement is 91 but the funny part is sometimes i do smell something weird coming from my exhaust. only sometimes.

well i guess i have no choice but leave the mercedes mechanics and head to one of my dads friends. he's a former AMG/mercedes express mechanic for 21 or so years. The reason why i don't go to him first? he has a minimum of $160/hr, whereas mercedes is $107/hr. it kinda makes me wanna be mercedes mechanic... or stab myself for having a car that cost so much to maintain.

lol