Hello there. I have a 1985 245 with automatic transmission and very roughly 200K miles. I just got the car and don't know a lot of its history. It's been running and driving great, though.

That streak was broken today when, while in traffic and starting off from a stoplight, it almost died as if the main intake tube was removed. I was able to pull over into a parking lot where I found the engine running fine. Revved great as usual in park or neutral. Since it would move slowly, I started limping home, sometimes shifting down into 2nd but with no change. A couple of slow miles down the road, however, it started driving normally again.

Here are a few of my thoughts and if anybody can recognize any of these symptoms, I'd be most grateful for the help. I was thinking that, since the engine ran fine in park and neutral, that it must be a transmission problem. I was wondering if it was possible for the transmission to somehow engage top gear or overdrive and cause the motor to bog as if launching a manual transmission car in 5th gear?

If this could be the case, might the overdrive relay be suspect? I don't know if that relay is normally open or closed to keep the overdrive engaged or disengaged. What would happen if I removed the relay? How might it behave differently? I plan on changing out the transmission fluid thoroughly as soon as possible, but was hoping for something less involved as the weather sucks here these days. I'll do what I gotta do, though.

Any and all consipiracy theories will be greatly appreciated. You guys have helped me in the past so I knew y'all were an experienced lot.

Thank you very much for your time,

Charles