help advice needed

[robwright]

Could it be the crank sensor? I think the S only has one like the S2 but they have another on the cam I think.

 

[bighead]

Hi Rob is it possible for the car to (1st) start, then just die 300 yards later because of the crank sensor ? [8|] And why would the garage not pick this up when they inspect the car !

 

[PSH]

Hi Mike Going by your symptoms I'd be checking the crank sensor but firstly the engine multiplug between rear of engine and firewall assuming its in the same position as a turbo. Disconnect the plug and check for water trapped in the plug half's and also to see if any sign of corrosion. Give it a good clean removing any corroded muck , check it's dry, refit and try again. For future breakdowns I'd never let the (insert company name) take your car to a regular garage, in fact I wouldn't let a breakdown company touch it. The trouble is they don't know the car and one of the first things they try is to turn the engine over which is a big no, no possibly resulting in more damage. I've had my car breakdown twice, ( head gasket) both times I insisted a relay is sent out and not a patrol vehicle so that the car could be returned home were it could be examined properly. They will try to argue but will give up when they realise you know what your talking about. No I'm not a fan of breakdown vans except to get my car home, never let them work on the car. Rant over.... I've known a 944 suffer serious damage due to these breakdown experts... Anyway check these parts and if no joy let us know. Pete

 

[bighead]

Hi Pete, thank for the info ....when you said multi plug , do you mean the cap where all for spark plug lead go into (mine's at the front of engine). I think the breakdown service do a good job.......never had any trouble with AA or RAC, but as you've mention they are not porsche specialist . have to say though the patrolman that attended the call on sunday morning "seems" to know what he was doing as he manage to get the car up and running . its may well be that when washing the car compartment some water might of enter the multi plug cap , but its seems strange that the car can start and drive as normal and then just die the next time it been driven ? anyway will see what the porsche specalist comes up with on tuesday ( I supect they might use Hartech as that is the nearest one to them , garage is in Redditch/Prestwich )

 

[PSH]

Hi Mike It was your reference to washing the engine bay that makes me suspect the multiplug as a possible candidate. No it's not where the spark plugs go (distributor cap) , behind the engine at the top near the cam tower there will be IIRC two multiplugs held to the head by a metal bracket ( if the same as turbo that is). Your engine will not run smoothly or at all if these are dirty, wet or disconnected. Pete

 

[bighead]

[]Hi guys, had some trouble with my 944s last sunday morning (raining...car sat overnite on driveway ) drove car of the drive , went about 12 feet and the it died on me !!

So rang the RAC, patrolman had a look under bonnet ....wd40 on coil, contact point, then the ignition ampliflier, car fires up everything fine , not taking ant risk drove it back up the drive (use my other car ).

Fire its up again around 5pm same day , everything fine ( thought just a bit of dampness in the contact point/coil/ampliflier thats why its did not start earlier ), anyway car was fine all week till this morning going to work (thought a nice day ,take the "S" for a spin, usually drive the M3 for work)turn on to the main road ( one laner )drove 300 hundreds yards ...car dies on me just before a small roundabout ! !

7:30am where I live is very heavy traffic ...(thought to myself Sh*t )on a narrow road with just one lane and heavy traffic , I can tell I was not the most popular person on that road , lucky a few guys give me a push on to the nearest side street .

Call RAC again..... another patrolman inspect the car (explain to him previouse problem on last sunday)he then try to get it going with no joy, so he reccommend that he try to fit a new ignition amplifier and coil to try and get its going , after fitting the new amplifier(£83 !!!), but no new coil (none in stock), car still will not start, just the starter motor cranking the engine but no spark from the coil
he then went to see if all fuses are ok (they were fine)
No choice but to call recovery truck .....cut story short , got a phone call from the garage that the patrolman reccommended saying they are baffled and will need to call a Porsche specialist to inspect it next tuesday .

Now the thing is i had wash the engine bay last nite (carefully) and just rince the mucks off the bay with low pressure lance , start engine up to warm/clear the water in engine compartment , everything was fine with the car , drove the car to get some Pizza , no probs at all .

Did anyone on here encounter this problem before with thier car after a engine clean ?

also why would the garage say they cannot find the faults ...I not that cue up on car electrics but i would of thought it would be the ignition system that at faults (?)


any thought/ help/advice on this matter .

thanks in advance []

Mike.

 

[bighead]

ah , my bad....know what you mean now re : multiplug, actually might ask them to transport it to hartech as I had their gold service done on the car when I had purchase it last year . hindsight is a wonderful thing .......should of ask them to go there in the first place ( the patrolman this morning was really helpful though, so took his advice ). thanks again pete

 

[PSH]

I can't really answer that Mike, I can only say that this is more than likely something you can fix yourself without enduring costs from a specialist. But there's always the possibility that it's something else that you may not be able to do yourself and then you have the grief of getting the car to where you need it. I guess it depends on how confident you are of fixing it yourself, if it's the crank sensor, although this is a simple thing to change it can be a real pig to do if the bolts are seized. Pete

 

[bighead]

that is exactly why i will pay hartech to do the work as The patrolman today spent best part of an hour just trying to free the 3 nuts and 2 screws on the ignition ampliflier that attach it to the bracket on the n/s inner wing !! end up tipping him £20 for his efforts(3 hrs on my callout !! ) side note :a red 911 SC drove by while I was stranded and give me a nood as if he knows what its like to run a 20years + old classic porsche

 

[robwright]

It is worth checking out the plug first mate. Just last year when I had just done the clutch on mine I went to pick up my friend Andy (Hairyarse) and his son. Upon giving his son a demo of the 944 power when I put my foot down I just got popping and farting and shite out of the back end which continued on and on all the way home. Would run fine without putting your foot down then miss and pop and fart and smoke when you did. I was thinking F**K F**K this is big!! Turns out that one of the sensors had just come loose but not totally adrift from its plug socket on the harness. Pushed it back together and job done []

 

[PSH]

Hope it gets sorted for you Mike, not sure where in the country you are but if ever in London and you get any problems just let me know and I'll see if I can help, mind you need to get my own car back on the road first... Pete

 

[PSH]

ORIGINAL: robwright It is worth checking out the plug first mate.  Just last year when I had just done the clutch on mine I went to pick up my friend Andy (Hairyarse) and his son.  Upon giving his son a demo of the 944 power when I put my foot down I just got popping and farting and shite out of the back end which continued on and on all the way home.   Would run fine without putting your foot down then miss and pop and fart and smoke when you did.  I was thinking F**K  F**K  this is big!!  Turns out that one of the sensors had just come loose but not totally adrift from its plug socket on the harness.  Pushed it back together and job done []

Ahhh, been there Rob, on the M25 of all places, same symptons and same fix.. Pete

 

[bighead]

I'm in manchester pete, I use to work in London in the early 90s that when i bought my first porsche ..a 944 turbo 220bhp , regret selling it ever since then ( blamed the wife for that as she wanted a house instead ).... hence i now have a 944S as a third toy . thanks for the offer though []....i do try to do most jobs on the car but anything major its goes to the specialist (i'm a man who knows his limitation [] ). Rob.......I doubt it is the plugs as they were checked , its seems there is no sparks from the coil to the plugs which is why the engine will not fire [] thanks again guys

 

[PSH]

I think that Rob is talking about the same multiplug as myself, it's easy for it to become loose after doing a clutch. Pete

 

[bighead]

[]ooops my bad again [8|]

 

[repsol]

ORIGINAL: PSH Hi Mike Going by your symptoms I'd be checking the crank sensor but firstly the engine multiplug between rear of engine and firewall assuming its in the same position as a turbo. Disconnect the plug and check for water trapped in the plug half's and also to see if any sign of corrosion. Give it a good clean removing any corroded muck , check it's dry, refit and try again. For future breakdowns I'd never let the (insert company name) take your car to a regular garage, in fact I wouldn't let a breakdown company touch it. The trouble is they don't know the car and one of the first things they try is to turn the engine over which is a big no, no possibly resulting in more damage. I've had my car breakdown twice, ( head gasket) both times I insisted a relay is sent out and not a patrol vehicle so that the car could be returned home were it could be examined properly. They will try to argue but will give up when they realise you know what your talking about. No I'm not a fan of breakdown vans except to get my car home, never let them work on the car. Rant over.... I've known a 944 suffer serious damage due to these breakdown experts... Anyway check these parts and if no joy let us know. Pete

pete you are of course entitled to your opinion but to bad mouth all patrolmen is wrong i for 1 worked as an rac patrol for 5 years after 13 in the garage and all they do is train train train you im not saying the guys are all the same but your opinion dont let them work on your car is stupid why pay the money my fix rate was over 80% over 5 years and always asked where the customer wanted to go if not a roadside fix as there are no incentives to go anywhere else and if any cars suffered any damage due to a patrol the company were always the ones who paid for the repair but it was rare as we were all para of the ball kicking also ask any mechanic you know to apply for a job and im pretty sure he will tell you it is a very hard motor trade position to get my rant over sorry but i hate when people generalise things

 

[PSH]

Hi repsol Perhaps your right and I was a little harsh as I certainly haven't met every patrolman out there so perhaps a little unjustified I grant you for which I apologise. As you say it's my opinion, like most it's an opinion formed by experience gained from events one experiences. I guess that's what life is all about and why we all have different views. You know my view and I now know yours so I wish you well and say keep up the good work. Regards Pete

 

[peanut]

if you have no spark at the coil and the ignition amplifier has been replaced then I would suspect the ECU (engine control unit) which is behind the carpet on the passenger side footwell on later cars The ECU grounds both the DME relay and the ignition system and provides the ignition pulse for the ignition amplifier. if you sprayed water around under the bonnet the chances are you may have got water into both the fuse/relay box and the ECU which is just beneath. I would check the ECU for signs of water and check its connecting strip also. If the DME relay is not getting energised by the ECU then you'll get no fuel or ignition and there could be lots of reasons why that could happen if parts of the electrical system has got wet. You could try replacing the DME relay with a 3x way bypass cable as explained in Clarkes garage website workshop manual (also search on here ). If the car then runs ok it would narrow down the likely cause of the problem.

 

[944 man]

John, my old grey 944 is currently lying dead in my garage, killed by an AA patrolman. Legal action is overdue...

 

[bighead]

a little update guys, garage rang me today, stating that the coil and ignition amplifier has gone , so i replied WTF the Rac patrolman only just fitted a NEW ampliflier before the car was towed!!, so the garage replied "he had fitted the wrong one !!"(£83 out of pocket and counting ), so i said ok whats the "damage" this time , he replied £300ish , I said again WTF, how much is the coil ??, a silent moment on the phone ......then he said £130ish for parts and 3 hrs labour to fit !!, I said again WTF 3 hrs to fit !!( the first patrolman only took less than an hour to dis-mantle and re install !! ) I think i am been taken for a ride here , as I can to the job in an hour !. But its in their place....... so i give them the go ahead ( to save me time and hassle ), lesson learned now PSH never listen to the Patrolman advice ever again [:'(].