'87 90q: starting problems

[Tom Nas <tnas@euronet.nl>]

Hi all,

Yesterday, my car passed inspection. Now this may sound like a trivial bit
of info to you, but to me it's utterly outrageous (knowing that it's got a
busted rear strut and the dash lights're still dead). Our inspection is
usually very strict, I must've found the only lenient (or lazy) inspector
in Holland...
Anyway, this takes the stress out of my frantic working on the car lately.
More on my car's non-engine-related problems later.

When returning from the test yesterday, I took the bike and bike rack off
my car and left it in front of my apartment for an hour. When I restarted
it, it started first try (as always) but then stalled. After restarting it
was fine.
I drove it for a couple of miles to a friend's home, where it didn't want
to start again. The friend found a loose distributor cap, after which it
started OK- until the next time I tried. I've since checked every
connection in the engine bay for tightness, but everything seems fine.

Symptoms: engine hot or cold, turns over and nearly catches, will
eventually start after lots of trying. Runs very well when it does.

I'm digging into the Bentley, but I'm not sure if the info is 100% the same
for the US and European versions WRT fault codes. If anyone has any ideas
offhand, please let me know.

The car: 1987 90q type 89, NG engine.

TIA for your suggestions!

Tom