What the Internet does really, really well is what it's really good at.

[RKP5637]

14. I have a classic Mercedes sports car I keep running the same way, nope I did not buy it new. I had

a recent problem with the fuel pump too, a really weird one. Usually it will start and run perfectly, then occasionally it would just not start, damn, always away from home ... but if you pulled the air filter and depressed what was called in the old carbs a butterfly valve, which is a large circular diaphragm plate of sorts in this car it will start ... which some have said creates enough of a vacuum to pull some gas in from the injectors ... there is no accelerator pump to my knowledge. Anyway, long story short it works!

So, it has a buried under the dash a fuel pump relay that is really a lot more than a relay. When the ignition comes on to start it's supposed to turn on the fuel pump for 5 seconds to prime the engine which it was not always doing. Then, when the computer senses the engine has started and is running OK it turns the pump off. Apparently the relay is completely controlled by the computer on demand, then above a certain RPM it locks out the pump. Weird. Generally I think electric fuel pumps run and maintain a pressure and excess pressure is just bled off, but the pump keeps running.

Anyway, searching and searching on the internet I finally found others with this same weird problem. And learned these relays can develop this peculiar intermittent problem in the start cycle. I replace it from a supplier that sells good parts, not junk, and the car is now fine. So many suppliers do not sell quality parts anymore.

Much of the work I do on the car, but occasionally I take it to a good independent mechanic for things that really need a lift, etc. I wasn't very interested in taking it to anyone for this problem, it sounded like a rat hole to get into fixing.

The internet is such a valuable resource and a tremendous money saver.