I have a 240 GL Station wagon. I has been running great! I replaced an alternator not too long ago. Just tonight I drove home from work and in the last turn into my neighborhood it quit. My lights and music and everything was still on, however the engine had quit. It fired right backup. I had it running in the drive way and after about 5 minutes of running idle it quit again. It is running under 1000 rpm when idle. Any Ideas?

Thanks

 

I'll bet you do not have a volt gauge installed do you? I'd guess your alternator either isn't hooked up quite right or else one of the wires broke. Start the car up at night like usual and then turn the headlights on. Note the brightness of the lights. Now, rev the motor pretty good, to 2 or 2.5k if you have a tach. Let it return to idle. Are the lights brighter? If so, you have an issue with your excitor wire. If not then either the alternator is bunk or your wiring is.

 

So I started it up, got it up to almost 3,000 rpm. The lights stayed the same brightness the entire time. I am thinking it's the idler, but could that cause it to quit while rolling?

 

Well, I learned long ago that if new issues appeared after I had repaired something then it would save me time to first go back and re-check my original repairs if there was anyway the repairs could be related. A bad alternator will do what you describe and soon kill your battery as well. If you can not check the alternator output yourself, take it to the monkeys at AutoZone.The idle air control will not have an effect on the drivability of the car; what year is your wagon? Beginning in 89 they had a crank sensor that could go bad; before that it depends whether you have a 81-85 B21ft, b21f or B23/B230f setup. Before you go on a witch hunt, double check the alternator connections and that the output voltage is correct.

 

So as of tonight it quit while I was driving and It was not idle.
And when I went to start it back up the engine surged and knocked a little bit, then it died. It will start back up but only run for about 5-10 seconds before it surges and quits. It's getting power just fine. Any Ideas? Should I set the idle speed or anything? Is it a vacuum leak? I'm out of ideas...

Thanks
Ryan