I bought this particular specimen about a year ago, an '88 245, and slowly but surely it has been handing jobs to do. Luckily it has been spacing them out far enough that I don't grow so frustrated as to throw in the towel.

After work the other day I started the car to head home, and after a few moments it started to miss rather heavily at idle. I prodded the throttle a few times and it seemed to settle down a smidgen, after which I rolled out onto the roads, albeit with less than stellar throttle response. I made it home fine, but felt that a repair was looming on the horizon. Back into town, I added about 3 gallons of fuel, after which he, Sherman, was back to winning ways. Great throttle response, eager kickdown acceleration, and smooth running.

I started thinking about this change in behaviour and noted to myself that when the symptoms had started the fuel gauge was showing a little less than half and he was parked nose uphill. Not a steep grade, but noteworthy nonetheless. I came to the conclusion that the rubber tube linking the feed pump to the hard line on the sender had become perforated. I imagined the pictures I saw on cleanflametrap.com similar to what likely resides in my fuel tank.

Well, today the symptoms presented themselves again, but this time it was as I pulled away from a light and heading slightly uphill. The engine momentarily fell flat on it's face and lumbered along for a few moments afterward. Being a block from a fuel station, I pulled in and added fuel. Voila, problem gone.

Looks like I'll be keeping my tank full for a bit, until I can get parts and repair it.