My 86 240 is normally very reliable, however with the recent cold weather I'm having problems getting it started in the morning (-20 C). It's normally been parked in a garage where I've had no problems with it. Recently I've been parking it outside and in the morning, it starts like a charm, but then stalls seconds later. Re-attempts seem to fire on only 1 or 2 cylinders. If I keep cranking, after a couple of 30-second attempts it will typically start firing on more cylinders and then kick in and run fine. Throughout the rest of the day it starts fine, until the next morning. I replaced the ignition wires thinking it might be moisture related (from being outside of the garage) but this did not help. I was going to do the cap, rotor and plugs also, though I don't feel this is the problem. Any ideas?

My 86 240 had a simular problem. It would start run poorly die. This process repeated for 2 or 3 trys. Then I would get it to chug and with feathering of the throttle in 30 or 40 seconds it was ready to go. I replaced the coolant temperature sensor and it corrected the problem for about a month. Then the AMM started to fail and the problem returned. I then replaced the AMM and now the car starts and idles about 1700 RPM when very cold outside. The car now runs like a champion.

So to summarize check the AMM and the Coolant temp sensor. It may save you some frustration.

Brian
--
86 240GL, 86 740GLE & others

I think I understand why you don't feel cap, rotor and plugs are the problem at -20C. Just a hunch, but an easy check-out: Next cold morning open the hood and disconnect the AMM before putting the key in. Just see if it acts differently with regard to the way it runs for the first minute.

Reasoning is twofold. The rich limp-home mode will show if the mixture is way too lean during warmup (vacuum leak?), and it might give you some more time for the tuneup.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

You may have a little water (ice) in the fuel system. Try some gas treatment.

my 85 started to do it recently as well. same exact symptoms as yours. new plugs and some dry gas helped. i can't hear my in tank pump running, so that's next.

Had a similar problem not long back. My 1986 244 became a dry weather friend. Damp mornings - cranks and catches. Dies. Won't catch again, floods. Changed only the plugs, went to Bosch W7RDC gapped at .030", all OK.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)