So here's the deal. I own a 92' 240 and for the last couple days it has occasionally refused to start (starting an then immediately stalling) unless I held down the gas and occasionally the speed-o-meter would randomly jump around. Then today I was driving and I noticed that when I stopped the car began to run rough, my radio speakers randomly stopped, and my gas gauge was reading that I had very little gas, despite that I filled up earlier that day. All of the sudden (even though I gave it gas) the car stalled and I had to coast into a parking lot. I tried starting it again and it wouldn't even turn over. I had someone come by and give me a jump and it started and ran fine, but then began to stutter violently and then stalled, once again despite giving it gas. I noticed when it would stutter earlier if I turned it off and then wiggled all my fuses it would run fine again. I thought that maybe I had some corroded fuses and that they were shorting, causing my battery to die, but I replaced all of my fuses (noting that the actual housing that they were in was also slightly corroded) and still it will not remain running. I can open up the throttle when I first start it and it revs up real well, but then it begins to stutter again. If I put it in park the stutter briefly goes away, but it then dies a little later. What could this be?

In short--

1. violent stutter-throttling up does not help
2. Corroded fuses and housing-fuses replaced
3. Dead battery
4. And a host of other little things described above.

 

You have some electrical problems... First try to clean all the rust in the fuse area, the housing being rusty could cause issues.... Sounds like the system is not charging (dead battery), so put a multimeter to the battery posts when running, should be around 13.8V. Is the CHARGE light on when you turn the key to position II? You may also have a bad MAF sensor going bad but that later, after eliminating the small things....

 

Well, I did a little experimenting tonight. I charged up the battery with my cycle charger and when it finished she started right up. I revved her up and she sounded good and then put her in gear pulled down my drive way and then backed right back up. I let it idle for a little longer. I noticed that the dome light was dim, so I flicked on my headlights and my engine immediately began to stall. I turned them off and the engine corrected. My feeling is that it is the alternator, regulator, or a short in the wire to the gas gauge (which explains the wonky gas readings). I'm getting enough juice to power the engine, but nothing else. I don't think it's the battery, cause it took a charge.

 

I had the battery checked today and I was told that it had a dead cell. It was only a year old and had a 3 year warranty, so they gave me a new one. I reconnected it and she started right up.

 

if the problem continues check the charger in the alternator