Well she died. My 87 240 with 175K on it will not start up. She was fine yesterday but today she wouldn't turn over. As usual the first thing I checked was the fuse by the firewall by the battery and replaced it. This will usually do the trick. If I crank it for a while and let go it sounds like it is going to go but barely, not much there. I have been waiting for the fuel pump to die now for a while. I believe it is the origional and at 175K it is probably dead. First question is there anything else I should consider? I checked fuses and such with all checking out okay. Second question assuming it is the fuel pump how much am I looking at for parts and to have it installed? I believe I read about a diagnostics test to check to see if the pump is bad, is there such a test? Thanks in advance for the help. It is my only transportation and I need her on the road asap for work. This is the first time she has let me down in the year and a half I have had her, and I still lover her anyway. :)

Well I pulled out the relay and can not find any connections that need to be soldered, they all look good. I went to my parts store to get a new one and they will have one in tomorrow for me, for about $60. The one in there is 6 years old exactly. Here is the thing after I put the old relay back in it started up! I did move the little switches around in the relay when I had it apart. So I would think the relay is going bad. I think I will get the new one and keep it for a spare just in case. I hope that will solve the problem.

Put a fuel pump relay in it before you declare the pump dead. They relay can be replaced in a few seconds or re-soldered in a half-hour for free. If you can solder, that's what I'd do. However if it got wet (like, water runs out of it when you remove it) you'll need a new one. That happened to my 87 from a water leak at the windshield wiper motor.
The relay is white, about 1 inch by 2 inch, and lives up in front of the glovebox, under the dash by the firewall. It may be clipped in or hanging loose on the wires. It has a date code on it- anything over 6 years old is suspect. I bet it'll fire right up with a new one. Mine did.
If it still won't go, you need to make sure the ignition parts are all ok again, then probably replace a main pump. A fuel pressure test would verify this. Fairly messy job- you tend to wind up covered in gasoline and dissolved undercoating tar.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 744GLE, 91 244: 808K total