Hi all--

I am beginning my senior year of college, and getting to school involved driving 2100 miles from Seattle to the Chicago area. Since I've been here though, my 1991 240 wagon has had some troubles. It has no problem starting up, but unless I keep my foot on the gas, it tends to choke and die. Once I get it going, it's usually fine, but I'm starting to get annoyed with having to be ever-so-gentle just to keep it running at the beginning. Any ideas as to what might be the problem, before I spend $150 or more having a mechanic figure it out?

I should note that my "Check Engine" light has been on for about four months, and the diagnostic said that it had something to do with the oxygen/gasoline blend in the engine (a mechanic told me that), but unfortunately, the diagnostic is not overly helpful beyond offering a general diagnosis. My uncle, who is also a mechanic, had looked at it earlier and said that if my gas mileage wasn't suffering (it isn't--I get 25ish on the freeway), then I shouldn't worry about it. The problems may be entirely unrelated, but I thought I should mention this.

Sorry for the long post, but any help would be much appreciated.

If it feels like the idle is too low and it dies as a result of that, there are a few things that can cause it. The first is the the Idle air control valve is stuck. The second is that the throttle body has a lot of carbon buildup around the butterfly. I would recommend removing them both and giving them a good cleansing with carb cleaner. On the idle air control valve, once you have it clean, putting a little thin oil in it will help prevent it getting stuck.

jorrell