Ever since I purchased the car (90 240 DL), 2 months ago, randomly upon acceleration from a stop the car hesitates and the quickly catches up. Last night I had the first ever serious problem in which the engine light came on and the car was missing and stumbling really bad. Let it sit for 5 mins and it fired right up and drove home no problem. This morning the car ran as it has in the past, no problem.

I noticed lately that the temp reading in the car is doing weird things. When I first purchased, the car would warm up and the needle would hag at about 9 o'clock on the little dot. More recently, the car warms and hits the 9 o'clock mark and then moves down and hangs between the 9 and 7 o'clock mark at about 8ish.

Any idea as to what may be going on with the temp reading?

I plan to work the hesitation issues per brick board recommendations (flame trap, TB cleaning, new air filter, fuel filter and possibly new in tank pump. The hesitation made me initially think fuel pump, but the more I read it could be many other little things.

I cleared the codes that were stored from times past this morning and will check the codes regularly until I get these issues worked out.

 

I added photos to help.

Photo 1 (templow) show the reading after 10 mins of driving, where the temp is reading real low after initial warm up.

Photo 2 (tempnormal) shows the reading just as the car warms up, it reads normal, continue to drive a few mins and the temp lowers.

Average outdoor temp in CA right now is 55degrees. Mostly city driving.