My normally good running 240 stopped running today, my wife started it up and was letting it warm up on the choke, she ran inside for a minute and when got back the car was dead, tried to start it again and the battery was fried, got a new battery and it turn's over pretty strong but wont catch unless I use ether and even then will only hiccup the ether but wont burn the gas. there is spark and when I pulled the plug's they were wet but smelled of ether, so not sure if it is really flooded or if the timing slipped any advice?

 

Clean the plugs and check again.

Is this the 83 car?

 

Yeah it's an 83 240dl B21A. Pulled the plugs again, cleaned them, added top oil in case compression was low due to flooding. Anyways tried it again pulled the plugs and they were dry, so I pulled the fuel line at the pump on he engine and there was no gas when cranking it over, it will run on ether. tried to get some gas in the cylinder but as you probably know they are not very accessible. Could this be a clogged fuel filter(have not been able to find one on the car in the 2 yrs I've owned her) or a shot in tank pump. if the filter is not at the firewall or next to the tank where could it be?

 

Do you hear the pump under the car run?
If nothing comes out with the lines disconnected then both pumps might be bad.
I would check for power as well to make sure the relay isn't bad.
But you will have to hook up a testlight to the wiring and have someone crank the motor over to check for power.

Look under the hood on the drivers side for the fuel filter mounted to the firewall.

 

We solved the problem, it was actually a few things; first the mechanical fuel pump was shot so we were not getting fuel, and the points were toast, and the cap was burnt and the rotor need to be replaced we also swapped the coil. and replaced the belts and replaced the plugs. Funny thing is the mechanic went head to toe and could not find a fuel filter, and there are no lines other then the fuel lines that go into the tank, so no in tank pump either. The car does still squeal on start up and some times on accelaration, and I've topped up the p/s fluid hopeing it would go away, but not yet. I will say that the car does run alot smoother at starts a hell of a lot easier, she still misses everyonce and awhile when warm so I guess the next thing to do is have the carb rebuilt