88 190E has been sitting for over a year, wont start. Have cleaned out the fuel, still wont start. An amituir mechanic said it needed a fuel pump and or a fuel relay. (Very costly) Any advice? The car ran and started fine when parked. It will turn over.

Clean any terminals to shiny clean as the green gunk will cause a high resistance to current flow, Remove the spark plugs and put a quantity of diesel in the pots ( say 50mls). Allow to sit for about 1/2 hour and this will allow any rust on the cylinder walls to soften and helps initially lubricate the bores and rings. Crank it over for a few times and refit the plugs.. This allows the oil pump to pick up oil before there is load placed on the bearings... Replace any fuel filters. Have you replaced the water pump . If not why waste you time trying to start it until you do .

Drain the fuel tank, replace the fuel pump is defective from sitting and flush the fuel lines and clean or replace the fuel injectors or rebuild the carburetor.

if ur cars is on petrol than go for the injector cleaning spark plug leaning and chk the fuel pump module.if it is diesel than only chk the fuel pump

depends how long its been sitting if starts with easy start then its a fuel pump problem like the fuel has gone bad or the pump has gummed itself up ,so take it out and check that the pump still works as i suspect that its gummed up and good clean will cure it for you

if the car has been sitting up for a while like months or a year or so , its possible that the fuel pump stuck, the gas now a days is very bad about turning into lacqure like substance an that could be the problem? you need to check fuel preasure, autozone will loan you the tool to check it with, just leave deposite, at least you can rule out that much, also check the fuel pump relay could be sticking good luk

The fuel pump relay may be sticking,from not being used,or it's contacts are burnt from being 25 years old and a lot of use

the gas goes bad in one year (this comes from the American institute of petroleum), the fuel injectors are most likely damaged and the electric fuel pump and filter will most likely need to be replaced before it will start. so drain all the fuel put in at least 5 gallons of clean fuel, add one can of BERRYMANS CHEMTOOL and hope for the fuel pump to work and the injectors clean themselves out

if its carberated, u need to clean that out. if its fuel injected, replace the fuel filter. if it stil dont work. then u have a fuel injector problem

what is the fuel pressure reading, bet it's zero. replace the fuel pump and the fuel filter. when fuel gets old it gums up the pump and it won't spin and produce pressure, very common complaint on stored cars, i.e. no fuel pressure.

Thats not very costly the relay is cheap. The tune up you probably need is what will be costly. Coil, Cap, Rotor, Wires and plugs also maybe the OVP relay. Can you hear the fuel pumps when you try and start it? It doesnt have to turn over they should come on for a few seconds when the ignition is in the on position.