500SL engine dies on tick-over

[41kennylandsroad]

I have a '83 500SL with an intermittent problem that is driving me mad. When driving at tick-over in traffic, the revs rise slightly, and the engine stops. It won't restart immediately, but 10 minutes later it runs perfectly. These failures occur every week or so. I don't know if it's fuel or electrics, and Mercedes specialists are baffled. Help urgently needed please.

 

[Matt Crooke]

Not the same league at all, but in one of my previous cars (Ford Sierra) it used to do the very same thing. There are a couple of things that i did on the car the worked. disconnect the battery for 5-10 minutes so the various brains lose their memory. After that time, reconnect the battery, start the car and let it idle for 5 mins. After that it would be fine for about a month, then it would happen again. The actual problem was the Idle control valve not "Understanding" the signals that the brain was sending it. £50 later and a new valve and all was sorted. I would try the battery thing first.