So I spin by my mechanic with my new '88 560SL I had for a few weeks. Just to show it to him and go over all the work I'm going to want done. He walks around it, sees the interior, sees the engine bay, hears the thing start (I wanted him to check how much timing chain life I have left, which turns out to be a lot), and after that and hearing what I paid is telling me how lucky I am. I know it!

But there's some problems, and I mention some of the things like the lightly leaky head gaskets, possibly needing valve guides too (as per the stealership; probably not BS as they know I wouldn't be getting it done by them) probably motor mounts (getting i kukunk in the floorboard @ low speed acceleration), maybe rear sub-frame mount, only the side airvents working, some tranni shifting problems, rough idle, vacuum econo gauge not working...

Upon hearing the last, he goes "There's a vacuum hose that's off... that'll cause tranni problems too." His friend there also mentions the car will idle rough, and -eat- fuel that way. Ok, Ya, I got all those things!

So after a few seconds he finds the hose that's off at the back of the intake manifold (I must have looked for a 1/2 hour one day after reading about it here), puts it on, and tells me to start the car. What a smooth quiet purr, and sure enough that means no more side to side loping of the entire car from the engine! Econo gauge is working, and later I notice when driving the -solid- positive shifts I now have in all gears. WOW! Unbelievable all that comes from a stinking small / thin vacuum hose that connects to the back of the intake manifold!

Only problem now is with the 2nd gear starts of these cars, while before with the hose off the car would take off with authority in 2nd no questions asked, now it's more of a "dance" with how much I can press the peddle. Light load is ok, and I can press the paddle a little more after about 2 seconds for a bit faster acceleration. But I get a major -bog- to almost no pull if I try to take off with more then just say 10% load for a few seconds. I have to press the peddle even more and almost floor it for the giddy-up to kick in, then the car shifts to 1st and takes off. ...any ideas on the bogging?

Thanx for reading.

 

oh ya, and I found out today that my center air vents are working now too after re-connecting that tiny vacuum hose...!