Hello all,
My '91 244 has been misfiring when cranking. Spark is good, fuel relay good, ignition switch 6 months old, fuel pump old but runs when the relay is bypassed. It will crank, and fire on 2 or three cylinders, and keep almost catching. Sometimes it will start, and then it runs fine; but if you hit the brakes or a bump just right, it will stall after running briefly. Finally, after I got it started and moved (thankfully!), I let it idle for 5 mins to warm up, and I noticed a trickle of water-like fluid coming out of the tailpipe, with a damp spray occasionally coming out a few seconds after a misfire/stumble.

I'm running out of electrical things to check on the fuel system, so my question is, what are the symptoms of water in the fuel line, pump(s), or tank? What else could cause water out the tailpipe? (It idled long enough to warm up the tailpipe, so I know it wasn't just ambient condensation). I've though of (a) water in the fuel, (b) leaky head gasket (it might be coolant) or (c) an exhaust leak has allowed a pool of water to form in one of the mufflers, and my starting problems are unrelated to a wet tailpipe (it's been sitting in intermittent rain the last 2 days).

What else can I do to check? It does seem to start more often if I pull the plugs and air out the chambers; but if I'm relasing water vapor then where is it coming from, and how can I confirm its presence, test for coolant, etc?

Thanks for any advice!