My 87 240 has some weird things going on with it. When driving uphill at pretty much any grade I have found that I can go about 70mph in fourth gear. This weekend I was going up skiing and for some reason I just had no power going up hills. Some of the steeper hill she would only do about 50 to 55 mph. I have never experienced this little power before. There was no wind or other factor that would slow me down. I don't know if it is related at all but I don't get as good of gas milage in the winter time. In the summer I get about 27 mpg or so and it drops down to about 22 or so in the winter. The car also has a problem when it is starting cold that I have done alot of work on and am still in the process of figuring out but I don't think that is realted because it has has that problem for a while and not affected the power in the hills. The only real difference that I can see is that I was at a much higher elevation that I usually am driving the car. Any Ideas on what this could be I would greatly appreciate!!

The Car seems to behave normal with intown driving.

-M

What altitude? 240's get real gutless over 5000 feet. The higher you go, the greater the power loss. I live at 5200 feet. At 10000 feet, throttle to floor, 3rd gear, can just maintain about 50-55.

Bob -

What model 240 do you have? I wonder if the newer (1986+) engine management system and AMM can compensate for the lesser oxygen content of the higher altitude air.

My old 1975 was a real dud for that. We were attempting a hill outside Cloudcroft, NM and the car just refused. Engine ran, but car wouldn't move!

When we took my 1960 Ford Galaxie 500 V8 up there to ski we used to pull off the road at about 5,500 feet and put in the smaller carb jets. Then getting on up to 11,000 feet was no problem.

Regards,

Bob (The Houston one)

:>)

As usual, Don is right on. The "uphill" symptom is likely due to a rolled-up ball of Cat innards, like I had on my '87. The "cat ball" would roll back on acceleration, partly plugging the exhaust. Guess uphill under power could produce the same effect.
--
Bruce Young,
'93 940-NA (current)
'80 GLE V8 (Now gone)
'83 Turbo 245
'73 142 (98K)
'71 144 (track modified--and still here)
New 144 from '67 to '78
Used '62 122 from '63 to '67

Sounds somewhat like the symptoms of my '86 245 as the cat was failing.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)