As I was driving home from work today, my 760 stalled. I pushed it to the side and attempted to start it without success. It turns for a second then stalls. After it cooled, I tried again and it started however it was missing very bad. Seems like the timing is way off, and only running on 2 of the 4 cylinders. If the timimg belt broke would the car start and stay running albeit, very poorly? Could the timimg belt have slipped, allowing it to run but out of time? It was running fine before all this.

Mike

Check your compression.

Timing belt could have slipped due to oil starvation to the cam... unlikely it would have stalled completely, then restarted at all later. Ruptured turbo hose? Blown-up intercooler? (yes, it's rare - but a 240 turbo I'm parting out has the bottom of one end tank blown partway off, the rubber spaghetti seal is hanging out) Chunk of the converter substrate broken off and plugging the outlet? - but normally it'd still idle okay for at least a few moments. I'd lean toward it being a turbo hose.
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Chris, Dartmouth NS Canada 70 M-B 280SE, 83 245DL, 84 244 turbo, 90 780 turbo, 92 VW Golf, 90 740 Rex/Regina

There is a bad spot in the intake turbo hose. The car started this morning and ran at idle fine for about 20 minutes, then stalled and would not restart. Could there be a bad fuel pump relay,could the fuel pump relay work intermitently or radio suppression relay? The mech that has been working on it said the timing is OK, there is spark and there is fuel pressure.

Mike

Either relay could be intermittant, that's certainly possible. Resolder the relays as per FAQs to rule them out. But since it seems clearly heat-related I'd side with those who have suggested a failing hall switch in the distributor. Ideally swap in a used, known-good one to test before shelling out for a replacement. The switch itself is available separately for a fraction of the cost of the whole unit, but tricky to install correctly without breaking it, as it is a fairly fragile plastic assembly secured with a pin that gets peened into the dist housing.
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Chris, Dartmouth NS Canada 70 M-B 280SE, 83 245DL, 84 244 turbo, 90 780 turbo, 92 VW Golf, 90 740 Rex/Regina

Could be bad fuel pump or clogged filter.

Check your cap and rotor.

You won't get anything out of a car with a broken belt. If the belt jumped a tooth or 3, yeah maybe. Won't really run but it could cough a bit.

Definitely see if the cam is turning. Look in the oil cap while someone else cranks it. If not turning, you know where to start.

If its not the belt, try the fuel pump relay. Replace or resolder inside.

If that doesn't do it, look for a problem with the distributor- the connector at the bottom of it specifically. Not the coil wire, the plug with the spring clip that comes from the intake manifold side.

Replace the dist, if it's this. Not cheap but it's the only real solution.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 87 244DL- 249K, B230F/M47, Turbo sways, Bilsteins, GT braces, Virgos, Turbo exhaust, Gislaveds for winter!

If it will start cold and stall when it is, change the distributer