Hi, my 85 240 wagon (non-turbo) has an intermittent starting problem. I can drive it for a few days and then all of a sudden it will not start. The engine will crank and crank, but just not start up. The fuel pump relay is new and I can hear the fuel pump working. When I brought it to the mechanics that night, there was no spark. The next morning,the car started right up for the mechanics and has been for the past week. This is not the first time this has happened to me. The mechanics cannot replicate this problem, so they can't determine the cause. What can I do to get my car to not start for them like it doesn't for me?

-Nick

I just had this problem and here is one possibility:

Check the connections at the starter for cleanliness. I had my front undercarriage cover off for a while during other repairs and the rains came early out here in the Sacramento area. The connections at the starter got a little corroded and it would crank but apparently would not provide a consistent voltage to the FI system and the engine would just konk out for no apparent reason. Then I spotted the "white death" powder around the starter terminal. After I cleaned it up the problem did not reoccur.

Dean

Nick, I had a similar problem with my wife's 245 recently. It turned out to be a loose wire at the coil, one of the small ones, not the coil wire.Hope yours is that simple!

Bob

Nick

My 84 245 had the same problem a few years ago. I am beginning to wonder if it is not doing it again. The problem is the hall effect coil inside the distributer is getting hot and this little coil opens up and no spark.

I have looked into my notes and I am not finding much but what I am finding is you need to do some testing when it is dead. If my notes prove right you need 1.5 volts DC out of that coil on the side of the distributer when it is cranking. If you have nothing it is a back hall effects coil inside. The engine had to be warm or hot to do it.

I wish that I could give you more information but I don't have any more than that. It was about 1991 when this happened to me.

Thanks

Roy

Rhock68177@aol.com

Nick