Hi Experts,

Yesterday my 1978 merc 280se (w116) would not start for an hour before finally turning over.

The car has been recently restored after sitting still for 15 years.

I know all the spark plugs and the HT leads were all replaced and are new. When testing with an earthed screwdriver on one of the leads there were loads of healthy sparks.

When the car is cold she will eventually start after about 5 seconds, but does sputter a bit. If I turn it off and on again say 10 seconds later she starts up in under a second dead.

It seems to be when I do short journeys of say half a mile, that the sluggish start becomes apparent. When it died yesterday, and got cooler over the hour, she started after the same 5 seconds but sluggish.

It has no issues once running.

I am thinking that the very old ignition coil and the LT lead on top of the coil might be the culprit? It sounds like something is overheating or electrical related?

Would you all agree with my idea?

Thanks
Leigh