Gentlemen,

Thank you for your posts. Please excuse the slow post-back.

Current state: The car is running after several days of being stuck- no-start - in the driveway because, while I could get a start on the cold engine, I could not keep the engine from dying almost immediately thereafter, and after the resultant such start-and-stall, the engine was hard to start without long cranking and then the battery got weak etc. A buddy from the industry and I checked the throttle position sensor this morning per Chilton. I had slow charged the battery off the car overnight. I also cleaned up the battery and battery bed for what it is worth. I reinstalled the battery. We listened for the fuel pump in the gas tank when turning the engine over. Yes, the in-tank pre-pump fuel pump was running. But the engine was not firing up - same behavior as over the last week or so. We then probed the TPS wires with the ignition turned on but the car not running yet and repeatedly saw 11 volts at wide-open throttle where Chilton says to expect "slightly less than 4.8 volt at wide-open throttle". Other than this abnormality, the TPS seemed OK with the multi tester. We put the throttle position sensor back onto the throttle switch.

We pulled a spark plug and smelled it for gas. Yes, gasoline was getting to the spark plug when cranking the engine. We figured, with that and also with that 11-volt reading at wide-open throttle on the TPS, that we should check the system for spark. We laid the spark plug across the engine with the sparkplug wire connected and turned on the ignition to check for spark. The car started right up and started running with the spark plug out of the sparkplug hole.

We turned off the motor and reinstalled the sparkplug. Then we started up the ignition again and the engine started right up and, what is more, did not idle down to zero any more - it has been doing this now for about a week and a half , i.e. starting up and stalling after that - but, instead, now ran at its normal 700 - 800 or so rpm idle when I let my foot off the gas.

I am continuing to examine the engine and will be driving around town with a bicycle in the back just in case. But apparently the car improved a lot this morning basically just from our having taken the TPS off of the throttle switch and then putting it back on.

I read all your posts and also studied what seemed to be relevant sections the Maintenance FAQ . There is also a brand-new new air filter in the car. Please allow me to write again with next developments. In the meantime, I am also pursuing improved maintenance per the - Basic Diagnostic and Preventive Maintenance Checklist from Paul Grimshaw - on the Swedish Bricks FAQ page.

Does anyone also know what the high 11-volt reading at wide-open throttle from wire no. 3 means ?

Will740turbo, is your Check valve still available? I do think there is likely more going on with my car then the check valve alone, but several people suggested check valve and prudence suggests to me that I obtain that and have it ready to put in in light of the ongong investigative work on the car.

Thank you all again.
Paul S.