My 87 240 with 174k has a peculiar problem.When accelerating it seems to lack power. The car is an automatic. The tranny does shift,no spinning or missing shifts.It just takes a while to develop momentum to go faster.Once I'm up to 50-plus all is ok.Though if I brake a little it may take a bit to get back up to speed.I have changed the timing belt and tensioner,all drive belts,cap.rotor and plugs.I really feel that it is not a tranny problem because I get all the shifts. Could it be a bad fuel pressure regulator?Not sure where else to check.If you have had the same or similar trouble what did you do to make it right?Don't want to buy a bunch parts and guess. TIA
Nelson

I would agree with the others... check your timing. If it is on with the light
check.. or have a shop check.. the timeing belt and make sure it is right.
Had the same problem on my daughter's 240.. timing was off.. reset it and
it had respectable accleration across the board.
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home page - http://www.geocities.com/vw_bus_74/index.html

My '88 had a very similar problem. Just seemed sluggish all the time. Turned out to be timing belt off a tooth or two. Major improvement when I got it lined up right.

I had a very similar problem recently. The timing belt was "off" by two teeth or notches. I couldn't tell the timing was off since my timing light showed timing to be correct, but my garage was able to detect that the timing was not correct. It is very easy to not get the cam and crank in the right position. Either try to reset the timing or have your garage do it.

I hope this works for you, I hate having to try and figure out what the problem is, instead of justing knowing what the problem is and fixing it.

Good luck.

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Mike in California '90 740ti Wagon- Hydrogeology Field Vehicle

Thanks for all the advice. I will recheck the timing and the belt.Note, when I installed the belt I tried a short cut. I set the cam mark to the top center position and marked the belt in 3 places. I then transfered the marks onto the new belt and replaced it. All of my marks line up with the old marks exactly.I will recheck and perhaps redo the belts the correct way,according to the book. I still think the way I did it should not affect the timing but maybe the old belt was stretched and now the timing is off a little.Thanks for the info and I will repost with my procress.
Nelson

For a quick check:

1) Make sure the crank and camshaft 0° TDC marks coincide. If the cam is not at 0° when the crank is, the camshaft is wrong.

2) If crank and cam do agree, Look at the distributor rotor. Assuming the ignition has been set to a nominal 12° advance, the centerline of the rotor should be about 1/4" to 5/16" past the 0° scored notch on the distributor body (CW rotation).

If #2 is off, the distributor rotational adjustment may have enough range to correct the timing without getting back into the belt. (BTDT)
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Good tip!I'll be working on this car this weekend.
Nelson