rocker

Hi I finally got my 82 380 SEC home. Yes I got it for FREE from my brother in law. Actually I had to put a battery and air filter on it, plus I gave him 300.00. I drove it from Calgary to Regina on bald tires but I made it. Car is in decent shape too. It has 143000 km on it. There are a couple of problems. It seems to idle at 2000 for some reason. Also it is really hard to push the gas pedal down. There seems to be electrical problems as things will work and stop then start again. Oh well I will need to ask you guys for help. I runs strong and smooth I think this could be a great care. Little rust and glass and interior are good.Not sure how to post pics but I will for sure
Glenn

nomad

Looking forward to more
Welcome aboard

London380sl

I'll give you one piece of advice right now. Find out from your brother in law if the timing chain was ever changed. If it wasn't or he doesn't know plan on spending $800 or so pretty soon and get it changed. 1981 to mid 83 engines have a single row timing chain which has a reputation for jumping the sprocket and destroying your valves. Apart from that little problem the engines are pretty bulletproof.
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Actually the best idea would be take it to a mechanic and have them check the car over to see if its really worth spending money on it.
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Good luck with new acquistion. Once sorted out they are great cars.

harkgar

Lube the throttle linkage system. It has a number of levers (not cable) and has to be lubed well. Take off the aluminum air filter pan for good access to both front and back of the engine. Get someone to depress the go pedal in the car and you can see where to spray the WD40.

It really makes a big difference and has to be repeated every now and then.

rocker

Hi everyone this is a great forum for tech help. Yes I got this vehicle for free with 143000km's on it. It sat for 4 years untouched. Well Im discovering problems with it that need attention. First the car idled at 20000 rpm so I cleaned the ilde control vavle with carb cleaner and took off the idle control unit and resoldered most of the contacts and that fixed the problem. Second the climate control seems to have a mind of its own so Im going to take that apart too and clean it and see what happens. Third the brakes started to SQUEAL! its driving me nuts. The pads are good but I dont know if they are actual mercedes brakes. Any recommendations? Last the car seems to shift weird every once and a while. Is there a control unit for this also? What should I be looking at,as I dont think its a major problem just something that needs to be cleaned. The fluid is good and clean. Does anyone have any tips for removing the climate control on the dash? I dont want to break anything. Anyway any help appreciated, thanks for the help to those that reply
Glenn