Hi all,
I've got a gremlin in my 86 240 DL. Let me first tell you that it occured this morning and I haven't really had the time to take a good look at connections or fuses because I had to get to work. Why don't these things ever happen on the weekend?

I went out to start the car this morning and there was barely enough power to turn over the engine. Yesterday it started right up. I pulled out a spare battery and jump started the car to get going. On the way to work I noticed the gas guage and speedo were not registering correctly. I know I had a full tank of gas and it only showed half full. I knew I was going about 70, but my indicated speed was 55-60. The upshift light never came on. Using the turn signals caused the speedo needle to waver. When it was safe enough to do so, I turned off the headlights and got higher readings on the gas and speedo and the upshift light started working. My temp gauge only works intermittently so I didn't watch it. All through this, the alternator idiot light never came on and it had worked in the past.

This doesn't look like an alternator or weak battery problem to me. About a week and a half ago, the ignition cut out on me at highway speed a couple of times and I think that was an indication of a short somewhere and today's situation looks to be the same. Any thoughts or advice as to where I should start to look for trouble would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bert