190E Help! Horrible Idle. Vacuum problem??

[lil_dz33]

Okay, Firstly, a thousand apologies that this is on a 500E board, but I know we have a bunch of smart cookies here.

I bought a 5 Speed 190E from fellow member captruff (Jeff) that ran like a champ! The only issue was an elusive, strong fuel smell.

After some investigating, my dad and I found the rubber vacuum line off of the Fuel Pressure regulator was torn off :O

Bought one from a local breaker and replaced it.

Okay, it SEEMS the strong smell of fuel is gone, I haven't really driven it much because.. It now has a MASSIVE flat spot under acceleration.

My dad, being the gung-ho DIYer he is, pried off the air cleaner box again, found the Thermo switch had a broken off nipple, and looped the vacuum lines... :B

It didn't help, still had the flat spot and slight "chug" when accelerating. But it wasn't bad.

Well, I dont know HOW. but Now the car is missing a cylinder! It's chugging really bad at idle.

We've pulled all the plug wires one at a time.. and it seems spark is there. Is there a possible fuel delivery problem?

Any help is MUCH appreciated!

 

[gerryvz]

I think you need to find a shop where you can put the car on a scope and see what is happening electrically in each cylinder. That will give you spark characteristics and intensity, to see if things are firing OK and if you have any shorts or wire/insulator issues.

Start there so you can eliminate ignition. I'd also give it a smoke test to check the vacuum characteristics on the intake.

Those two things should take well under an hour and will eliminate two major potential problem areas.

Then you can attack fuel.

 

[Glen]

Try taking the vacuum line off the FPR and see if it runs better. If so, replace the FPR.

 

[gerryvz]

Try taking the vacuum line off the FPR and see if it runs better. If so, replace the FPR.

If you run the vac line on the FPR for a while, and remove the rubber connector and it's wet and smells like gas, your FPR is definitely bad.

 

[Stevester 500E]

Go buy a used fpr at pyp. I saw a couple 190e's there today. Buy the guarantee in case it turns out to be a lemon.