Hello all,

About a year ago I purchased my first Volvo, a 1978 244DL. Although it takes quite a long time to warm up and be ready to drive, it has run beautifully uuntil about a week ago when it broke down for the first time. I'm not an extremely knowledgable mechanic but would like to describe the situation as best as possible. When the car is finally warmed up, it runs fine, until you switch gears from park to forward or reverse, at which point the idle speed drops (normal?) and the engine seems to act as if it is not getting enough gasoline, and sometimes begins to backfire and act as if it will stall. Sometimes this doesn't occur unless I drive it 10 or more miles on one trip (I don't drive it farther than that, but would if I could). I have changed the fuel filter, which may have helped a little, I'm not quite sure. The car has 120000 miles on it, and I would like to continue driving it for a while. Does anyone have any idea what I am talking about and wouldn't mind offering a few suggestions.

Thank You.