so we got it better, but still stalling and stumbling. before it would start and shut off inside a 20 second period. checking for air leaks everytime we work on it. cleaned the maf,aic,throttle body, new air filter, and alternator was not working cause of broken wire and we fixed it and it is charging fine now. started it and it is cold here, shut off once, then started right back up, idle came up and it ran for bout a minute then stalled out like normal. did that four more times, then it would chug to almost stalling but would catch itself and come back up only to stall right after that. next time i feathered the gas when it tried to stall and kept it running. did that for a minute or two and then it will idle but stumbly. and when you go to move it, it falls on its face and then picks up and spins tire? got it out of a field and took gas out of tank and put new fuel filter on it. Could it be clogged already because of a little old gas/dirt that we couldn't get out? we put 5 fresh gallons in it. is there anything else i can meter/check like injectors, wires, grounds, etc.? also can't tell if my in tank pump is running? does it always run when the car is on or just the main one? sorry for all the questions at once but i'm limiting it. new to these and want to get it going good for my boy (his first car) and he really wants to drive it to school

 

When was the last time the plugs, wires, cap and rotor were changed? My son's 940 had a bad rotor that caused similar symptoms. We had replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, wires only a few weeks before. His mechanic finally checked the resistance on the rotor and it was way off. Another new rotor and it runs like a champ again. Are you getting good spark at the plugs? How about fuel pressure?
-David

 

i will check the spark but dont have a way to test fuel pressure, may have to get a gauge from the local autozone. thanx for the reply

 

My 1989 240 would start and run rough & would drive really ruff, bogging down, and having to keep feeding the gas pedal. It would always start but run crappy.
Turned out the MAF was no good. The very fine wires in center of MAF were gone, missing, burned up by the pre heater hose coming off the exhaust. I had just reinstalled the pre heater hose for air intake. I finally replaced the MAF with one from the junkyard. And then it ran great. I know have extra MAFs on hand.

To check the MAF Take the screen of the MAF off &, look for the fine wires in center of MAF.