Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => Drive train, fuel, suspension, steering & brakes => Topic started by: merrill on March 07, 2021, 16:30:53

Title: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: merrill on March 07, 2021, 16:30:53

i think the week long cold snap in Texas caused the gas in my 66 to go bad.

Drove the car before the cold snap and it ran fine. 
(recent partial tune up,  adjusted points, set timing, new fuel filter, oil and oil filter, new spark plugs)

During the cold snap, the car was stored in the garage and it had about 1/4 tank of gas in it the 9 days we had temps below freezing.

took the 66 230 out for a drive today,  it had bouts of stumbling between running perfectly.
Filled up the tank and the stumbling was more pronounced.

I wonder if the 9 day cold snap caused the winter blend gas in my tank to go bad?

i hope there isn't an issue with the fuel pump.

Title: Re: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: Jordan on March 08, 2021, 13:06:16

Don't think the cold weather would have caused the gas to go bad or everyone else would be having issues.  As your tank was only 1/4 full you probably got condensation in the tank and now you have some water in your gas.  Just a guess at this point but if everything was fine before the cold snap that is the only thing I can think of that would cause your problem.

Title: Re: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: Cees Klumper on March 08, 2021, 13:24:37

Agree that it seems very unlikely that the gas having geen subjected to cold is the cause. I would look elsewhere, for example in the ignition system (loose wire , short circuit in the distributor maybe, that sort of thing).

Title: Re: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: merrill on March 10, 2021, 19:08:57

hi all,
thanks for the responses,

i took the car back out today, it ran fine until the coolant temp got up to normal operating temp.

then the motor started to stumble,   looks like i need to look at the wrd circuit.

Title: Re: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: Benz Dr. on March 10, 2021, 22:49:07

Sounds more like a fuel delivery problem. Not so much running lean as not enough fuel or fuel starvation.

Title: Re: stumbling motor 66 230 sl bad gas?
Post by: merrill on May 02, 2021, 19:13:14

hi Dan
your hunch was mostly correct,  i went out to drive the car today and she didn't to start.

after several tried she did, backed the car out and had to get out of the car to shut the garage door and saw a spot on the garage floor which smelled like gas.

looked under the car and sure enough the high pressure hose from the fuel pump to the metal line was leaking at or near the hose clamp.

pulled the car in,  shut it off,  trimmed the line etc,   

took the car for a drive and it ran fine.  even on the freeway, i opened it up to see if maybe there was a fuel starvation issue and it purred at 5000 rpm.

made a stop and sure enough when i was close to home it stumbled a few times, then when pulling into the drive at idle it died.....

got it started again and pulled it in.    going to have to keep looking for another culprit.

thanks again