My 88 244 lacks all power. It does not accelerate for anything, and my personal favorite is losing speed while I'm cruising down the freeway. I'm okay if its downhill but yje slightest hill kills me. I have had the car a couple months and read all the joys of the 240, or I thoughy. Have replaced cap, rotor, plugs, wires, flushed trans an filter new, change oil. All out of habit when buying a new car. I v printed test procedure from alldata, checks relays injectors, and the ground systems. I still love the car but need to know ill be reliable. Any help is appreciated.

 

Looks like you landed an Alpine Special. These were very special cars made to traverse down the mountains of Europe. Once down the mountain, the cars would be sold and a new one purchased.
OK...just kidding. My #1 suspicion would be the converter. Be able to eventually get up to speed rules out a lot of other things. Remember, your wagon only had 114 horses under the hood to begin with...but, I drove my 89 245 from Dallas to Minneapolis at speeds of 80-85 mph w/ the a/c on. The motors may not be race horses stock...but they sure are work horses!
#2 would be the motor is worn out and has quite low compression. It simply just doesn't have the power it used to. You 88 was the last year for LH2.2 injection in the 240's so the idle and timing is adjustable..
#3 Have you done any service to the car since purchase? Like, maybe, the air filter? It can act like a giant plug and keep air from entering the motor...making it sluggish.
I'd say take it to a reputable import shop. Pay the money and let a pro tell you where you stand w/ the car.

 

Sorry, its 89 lh2.4. Have change air filter and done full tune up. Transmission was swapped before I purchased it, now has 740 tranny I believe aw71? I was thinking in talk pump. Ive heard bad things about these. Was only after my wife ran it low on gas. Not out but very low. I'm sure its got a filter in there too. I am going to school for automotive and I can usually get the trouble shooting done. Just not familiar with these cars. I may find a mew tranny, the original one. Compression test says 180-185 no more than 5psi variation. Its only got 185k. Good test result. These cars get interesting gremlins thou, so I thought I'd ask around

 

I also changed the inline filter

 

Well, the intank pump does indeed have a filter sock so that's a possibility. The in-tank pump is a lift pump...the car will run w/o it but if the filter sock is clogged that's a different story.

 

BAD CAT or CLOGGED FUEL FILTER....POOR FUEL PRESSURE.

 

same problem with my 88 740 2.3 non-turbo. 160 psi compp on all 4 cylinders, did a fuel pressure test at the fuel rail with less than 1/4 tank of gas and it had 36psi of fuel pressure... just what my crap clymer manual says is good. Like the thing accelerates slower than anything I've ever seen from idle to 4k rpms. NO throttle response at low rpms. Same with good wires, cap, ign timing, vacuum hoses look good... maybe something with the Air Control Valve??