ALong those lines- it may be important in diagnosing this car, to make sure that it IS in fact a 1988 model. Check the door tag to get the date of manufacture- a 1988 will be a car built between August 1987 and July 1988- a 1989 model would be August 1988 to July 1989. This sometimes causes confusion when sourcing parts or trobuleshooting.
The car could say Sept. 1988, but it's a 1989 model with a crank sensor, for instance. This info is important for this model year split due to the major changes in the fuel and ignition systems.
The 1988's are triggered by a hall sensor in the distributor; the 89 uses a crank sensor on top of the bell housing which seems a bit less reliable in the long term. By which I mean, the 89 needs a new sensor at 150K, the 88 rarely experiences a hall sensor failure.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 225K, 88 744GLE- 209K, 91 244 183K. Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 229K, 88 244GL, 146K, 87 244DL, 235K, 88 245DL, 236K