Hello all, let me first apologize for asking things that probably have been asked a million times, but I’m a complete noob. I found a deal I couldn’t pass up on a 1985 380 SL this week, and very quickly pulled the trigger. It had been in storage for a very long time, but surprisingly we were able to get it started and onto a trailer. I got it home yesterday, washed it up, and started trying to compile a list of all of its ailments. It ran, smoking and smelling of old gas, but after a couple mile run to the nearest gas station for a top off, and just warming it up, it cleaned up and started running pretty smoothly. It was filing a bit high, and a bit roughly. I popped the hood to see what I could see, and immediately see that the vacuum advance was disconnected, and the vacuum tube was not plugged. Boom, there is my vacuum leak causing a high idle I figured. Well, I plugged it back in, and then the car basically wouldn’t stay running. My thoughts are maybe just that someone messed with the ignition timing and set it to retarded, so when the vacuum is applied it is far too retarded. Need to pick up a timing light today (haven’t had to use one of those in a long time!) to try and verify. That leads me to my next issue of a service manual. I bought a manual on emanualonline and it is such a mess. Over 7000 pages from all kinds of manuals that aren’t in any order, and the search function isn’t working. Almost an unusable situation entirely. So, I need to find some data to use to set the timing. There is evidence that someone has been messing with this, as the green pickup wire has been replaced, but the old one hasn’t been removed from the group of wires it is run with.

Right next to the distributor is the thermostat housing, and the temp sensor directly on top does not have a wire connected to it. The wire is right next to it, but the connector is broken off. I can fab something up, but would love to find a factory Mercedes connector for it. It’s just a one wire deal, that would just slide onto the temp sensor post.

The speedometer works, but the odometer doesn’t. Haven’t dug into that issue at all yet, but if the issue is obvious, please do let me know. Odometer is stuck at 89k miles, and the seller thinks it can’t be a whole lot more than that. It’s a one owner car, and the one owner had passed away, so the son has just had it in storage. I don’t think he had any reason to not be truthful.

The climate control seems to just be putting out heat, but to be fair, I need to look at the owners manual (which I do have) because I simply do not even know how to operate it. That all said, we know from problem one that I have an open vacuum line, and I know the valving is vacuum controlled here.

I fell asleep to the hundreds (thousands?) of YouTube videos about this car last night, and it seems I should probably be planning on doing some timing chain work soon. Any other big items that I should be working on?

thanks again, and many apologies for my ignorance.

Joel

 

Forgot that the power steering is whining, has plenty of fluid.

 

change all fluids
put on ift and check all rubber suspension parts and ball joints etc.

Exhaust is held up by rubber donuts if my memory is still working check those out as they get old and dry rot.

NEw tires might be a nice treat so they do not fail on you.

Tune up = plugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter etc.

realy drain the fuel tank as old gas once it hits engine can ruin parts - just not worth it.

Clean car inside and out.
look for mouse nests and other stuff critters leave behind as they love to turn a sitting car into home.

many many other things I am sure....

 

For engine manual, check M116 on this link: https://www.tonk.ca/models/r107/Main.html

Known fault of 380SL is single row timing chain, but I believe that had been upgraded by 1985. Nevertheless, confirm that it has, and have the chain stretch/wear and condition of the chain guides checked now. These do affect the camshaft timing and in turn the ignition timing. If chain is still original, it and chain tensioner should be replaced, especially seeing mileage is not really known.

I don't know much about the M116, but I am sure there are others here and elsewhere that do. Finding shop that do these days can be a challenge! Other than the engine, the 380SL is an R107 and has similar body and chassis to other 107s in the 1971 to 1987 production run.

DIY Odometer repairs are possible, but tricky. There are shops that specialize in repairing these.

 

Thank you very much for that link! I’m off on a work trip, but I am excited to check the timing again, now that I have real data! Timing chain and tensioner seems like a good idea, and a good weekend project for me to get more familiar with this car. I’m ordering some parts to do a standard tune up and 4 wheel brakes/bearings so I can get a good look at everything.
im sure I’ll be back on here with many more questions!