I just got my 1988 244 back from the dealership for a timing belt. Today after it had been sitting in the hot sun I drove away and it would stumble when I gave it gas. This continued for the rest of the day but would be intermittant. I was driving down the highway and had a huge loss of power, then all of a sudden it was fine. However it has been pretty consistent that from stop it stumbles when I give it gas. Sometimes it I ease the throttle real gently it helps. Usually when I am traveling at a good speed it is not an issue. What could it possibly be? A vac leak? The timing? Something else? Sometimes I smell a faint smell of gas. It idles fine.

 

I'd bring it back to the dealer and ask WTF?

this could be almost anything from a loose connection in the electronics to a failing sensor to who knows what?

 

Well after starting it up tonight when the air was cool, I didn't have much of a problem. I failed to mention that my preheat hose is missing, but it fell off over a year ago. It's not the timing, and I can't afford another repair. Any ideas? There's supposed to be a valve that adjusts the air flow depending on the temp, but I can't find it.

 

the preheat hose does nothing.

the only valve that adjusts airflow that I can think of is in the bottom of the airbox, below the air filter, where that preheat hose goes. I rig them so they are always shut with a bit of bailing wire.

anyways, if it was running fine before the timing belt replacement, and now its not running fine, that dealer likely broke something and should fix it, for no charge.

 

Are you sure? I read somewhere that not having the pre-heat hose could eventually damage the MAF sensor which might be causing the throttling issues. Unfortunately I don't have the cash to replace things on a whim.

 

no, having the preheat hose in place, and that flap jammed open is what can cook the MAF

 

Really? Why?

 

it sucks in air thats heated by the outside of the exhaust manifold.. the flap is only supposed to open in very cold weather, like sub zero, but the thermostat/spring thing that opens the flap gets tired. in hot weather, that hot air bakes the MAF

 

Turns out the connector for the MAF was corroded. It worked fine after cleaning it up.

 

awesome!

great stuff for electrical connectors is 'DeOxit'. comes in various flavors... the spray cans are D05, which is 5% deoxit oil and 95% solvents, whereas the pen I have is D100, 100% deoxit oil. each have their place... I use the pen when I can get at the contact surfaces to clean them with a rubber pencil eraser, and I'll use the spray when the contacts are innaccessible and all I can readily do is flood spray them. I had a mercedes electric window switch that was completely corroded inside... I disassembled it, cleaned the contacts with D100 and slivers of rubber eraser held in the tips of small needlenose pliers until the contacts were shiny clean. switch now works like new.

There's also a DeOxit Gold, now called G100, which is suited for high fidelity audio/video connections that are already reasonably clean but you want to maintain 100% good connectivity for a long long time. The D stuff is for cleaning and preserving, while the G stuff is for preserving.