Hey hey,

Anyone care to take a stab at this,please?
The 88 300e decided it would take a crap this morning I guess. I do the same thing every morning, I go out about 10 minute-15 minutes before I leave for work and start the car. Well this morning is the 1st cold morning we have had below 30 degrees. I start it as usual no problem. It idles fine in gear. If I rev it though it stumbles some. Come back out and hop in the car and it starts stumbling really bad even died. Started back up but had to crank it for 10 seconds before it fired up. I tried again and it stumbled, spit, and sputtered. If I let off the gas it would kind of go back to normal but if I gave it gas it started back stumbling. Did that around the block barely running, brought it home and drove the explorer to work. The temp when I got in the car was right at 80c. So it was warmed up it seems. Any clues on where to start when I get home??????? Never has done this before.

THANKS

My first guess would be fuel pump. My TE did the same thing twice. You guessed it, it has 2 fuel pumps and one went bad within a week of the first failure.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
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05 F150 Silver 44K

not what I wanted to hear. Is there a way to test the pump? I assume test to make sure it's getting power and then the fuel pressure?

Could also be a clogged fuel filter.
Also, prolonged idle periods (as you do....10 to 15 minutes of idling a cold engine) could promote spark plug fouling and cause/contribute to the problem you are describing.

Thanks for the replies. I replace the fuel filter as I have one at home new in the box. I wouldn't think it was bad as it was replaced about 25,000 miles ago. Although not sure how long they last? The car has 145,000 miles on it now and has never done anything like today.

You said it was below 30 degrees - could there be some frozen water in the system causing problems?

Maybe a can of dry gas could be the first step. I always try the cheap fixes before throwing parts at a problem.