1991 164 starting problems

[Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>]

a week or so back, a list member mentioned some starting issues with a 164.
they sounded similar to ones i was starting to have, so i've been listening
to hear what folks responded with (and not heard much if anything.)

now my problems have become more serious, and i'm looking for some serious
suggestions.

what it had been doing was starting poorly on cold mornings (it's starting
to get cold up here near Albany), running poorly until the temps came up,
and emitting clouds of grey smoke for the first 1/2 mile or so of driving
when stone cold.

i'd not really gone through this car after i bought it in august, but
assumed that it needed plugs, maybe plug wires, and maybe an O2 sensor.

yesterday, it ran in the expected manner in the morning when i took my
daughter to school. it then ran well when i drove from there to a client
site for a meeting. an hour and a half later, after the meeting, it didn't
want to start, but after a little cranking, it fired up and ran ok.

this morning, typical behavior, ran badly for first couple of minutes, then
ok.

i just went out intending to run by the post office and a couple of other
places, no start. this is some 5-6 hours after dropping my daughter off. i
popped the hood and went to pull the plugs; #4 and #6 were both _very_
stubborn. bosch platinums (WR7DB), looked like they'd been in there since
the stone age. the rubber fittments on the plug wires that cover the hole
in the cam cover look ratty, i think i'll definitely need new wires.

i fired up the "backup" W123 benz (a ratty 1985 turbo which is not long for
this world) and went to napa, picked up a set of NGKs quick, priced an O2
sensor (ouch) and came home and swapped plugs. still won't start.

battery is good, starter cranks well.

what should i try next?

richard
--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty@domain.elided
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
              Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security
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