Ok,

My father has a '87 420 SEL with a little over 7,000 miles on it. Yes, you heard right ... it's been sitting in the garage for over a decade. Anyways, since he never drove it, the car is completely dead now. He's been trying to get it to work, but to no avail. He's tried something with the fuel pump I believe, but I think he said that it didn't solve the problem. Anyways, as a father's day present, I kinda want to get this car working again. Anyone know what might be some potential problems with it? I'm not a Mercedes guy (see SN, I have a '05 GTO) so I'm not real savvy with Mercs. Someone on a GTO board said to get a Mercedes tech over some time and have him check out the car, do you think this idea would be lucrative? Also, if anyone is around Long Island that is willing to check it out, I'd be in your debt. I live in Huntington and we could set something up.

Thanks for looking folks.

 

Unfortunatly modern cars don't lend themselves to being checked out unless you have the factory hardware BUT! there are several things you can do to determine where the problem is:
pull a spark plug lead off and see if there are zaps when it's cranked by holding it close to something metal, If not, someone needs to look at the majjic box (ECM).
If you have spark, you can listen for the fuel pump emitting a short hum when you turn the ignition on. If you hear it, AND have spark, the fuel isn't getting through the injection system. It'd be a good idea to wiggle all the fuses to try and insure that they're making contact.
***BE SURE TO DRAIN OUT THE 10 YEAR OLD GAS, IT WILL GUM EVERYTHING UP AND CAUSE YOU SERIOUS PROBLEMS!!!**
BTW; you DO have the radiator filled up with fresh beck lager don't you? The engine won't runwith flat beer as opposed to the Brits that prefer it.
Have fun!