My 89 won't start when cold, the other day I just about ran the battery down when trying.

The trick seems to be to turn the key, then let off and it will try to run (it barely stumbles at first), then crank it again and let off as it stumbles a bit more. Repeat until it stumbles into running. Takes several tries, between 4 and 20, then it runs and idles okay.

After that, it stumbles briefly again when under load within the first mile or so (I live at the bottom of a steep hill, all roads lead up), then is trouble-free for the rest of my trip, including long stops. That stumble occurs just as the temp gauge indicates normal operating temperature.

After sitting overnight, we gotta go through the crank/stumble routine again.

I got a fault code (2-3-2?) that suggests that the system is compensating for extreme lean or rich mixture at idle, and replaced the year-old air filter (could still see through old one), which made no difference.

Air intake hose looks tight and solid, flame trap and hoses look okay.

I can hear the fuel pump running as it stumbles, then stop as the crank stops turning.

Any ideas?

I did replace the ECU a couple of years ago with a junkyard one, but when the first one went out that was IT, nothing but crank crank crank.
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