I have a 1992 240 wagon, a Canadian model. Lately, it's occasionally given me some grief that is difficult for me to describe to the mechanic, and of course it doesn't misbehave for them. They've had one pass at it and fixed a couple of things they thought would contribute to it, but it is intermittent and I accept it's hard to nail down.
I'm hoping I can get some help defining the problem so it can be revealed and fixed.
The car often runs very well, but sometimes will start to hestitate, as though it is perhaps not getting fuel. If I let my foot off the gas, the car begins to decelerate - not a gentle coasting, but more of a definite braking under compression feeling. This is usually accompanied (or preceded) by the smell of gasoline. Idle will drop to a few hundred RPM and will be uneven, but it doesn't seem to stall out.
The car may have run for a half-hour or more on various roads, or for only a few minutes.
Simply pulling over (harder to do from the passing lane of the DVP), shutting off the car, waiting a few seconds and restarting it usually fixes the problem and I can continue. Then it will be fine for days.
The 2nd last time it did this, when I was on the DVP, the Check Engine light came on. Does this indicate that there is an error code stored that will help reveal the problem? Are those codes overwritten as the car is used?
Thanks for any help! Patrick Keenan