optimistic 944 owner

[zcacogp]

Nick,

Once upon a time, you wouldn't have known how to test a fuse with a multimeter. I know there was such a time for me - and I can also clearly remember working out exactly how to do this, when faced with a domestic fuse and an old-fashioned dial-type multimeter. Under my father's watchful eye I connected it up correctly and then incorrectly interpreted the reading and thought that it was producing 10 volts, as a 10v battery would. In retrospect I was wrong, but I can understand the error I made!

My age at the time? Probably somewhere between 8 and 10.

By the sounds of it, your days of ignorance about how to test a fuse also probably ended when you were 8, but I contend that such days existed!


Oli.

P.S. Did you get more or less fun out of those downhill buggies than you do out of your 944? Genuine curiosity, 'cos I sometimes wonder why I bothered moving on from them ... []

 

[peanut]

Oli I think you are being a bit of a romantic. []

You need to take a step back and look at the big picture. I didn't buy a non working 944 that had been stood for 9 years when I didn't know how to check a fuse........[]

What do you think might be the outcome of cranking and possibly starting an engine that probably hasn't been run for 9 years ?

I shouldn't have posted this I see that now. I thought that it would just provide a chuckle or two but it seems you are determined to wring this out until someones feelings are hurt or someone is embarrassed.
Just leave it alone Oli please

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Must admit that most kids today don't get thst sort of a start, I did up to a point , and I've tried to start my girls in this way, 1 is intetested, 2 arent, but all are more aware than most of their friends.
Yes we all had to start somewhere but sometimes people try to take on what is sensiblely, too much in one go.

I can certainly see why Nick has given up and would agree that pointing in the direction of Rennlist is a good idea.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: peanut
Just leave it alone Oli please

OK, fair cop. Will do.

(Although I'll add - in my defence - that I thought the guy had promise, and offered to help if he was local to me!)

Hope the chap gets his car running.


Oli.

 

[peanut]

I suppose it must look like I've given up on this chap but as you say given the big picture it simply isn't practical or realistic to attempt to instruct a complete novice on how to troubleshoot and restore their car through emails. I'm not even sure that he isn't a teenager to be honest . he certainly hasn't got enough money to buy a new multimeter !

I have already spent over 20 hours this week often working into the early hours of the morning pouring over manuals and schematics trying to troubleshoot 4x owners non starting cars. nearly half of that was spent with this chap and after 12x emails we have only got as far as testing a fuse !

 

[zcacogp]

Nick,

Bravo to you for your patience and kindness in helping these folks out.

Another point of view would be that they are to be commended for even trying to do DIY. I am constantly amazed at how little interest people take in the working parts of their cars, and how much people get fleeced for very simple jobs by garages - jobs that they could have done in minutes had the owner bothered to try! (Indeed, it strikes me that the MINI economy - yes, I mean that - is entirely built upon the laziness, fecklessness and 'stylishness' of owners of the new MINI. Dealers have simply found a very efficient way of parting stupid people from their cash * ... )


Oli.

* - Apologies to any MINI owners on here, especially if you have ever changed anything more complex than the CD ...

 

[vitesse]

Have a look at my posts & replies at 924 points ignition! The car is 5 mins from & I'm starting from scratch with a car with no windscreen hasn't run for 9 yrs at least but the owner(a friend of mine) has paid for a full respray but is now faced with completing all the post respray work,ie trim,windscreen seats etc yet when I asked him to get a 16 amp flat ended fuse for for the jumper lead to check the fuel system,& showed him & left the existing 5 amp fuse with him from the fuse holder,still ended up with the too short pointed end type-I had too make up the length with a coil of thick copper wire
A lot of things like this come from a complete lack of practical aptitude coupled with a lot of current H&S cr*p kids today find written in manuals for everything fromTV's.mobile phones,boilers,cars
etc which actively discourages you from attempting to repair,adjust anything.

I made sure my son & daughter both helped with setting points in their cars,checked the oil etc butthe current culture dissuades many.

 

[CarreraRSR]

And this is why Halfords now offers to fit almost everything they sell as most average Joe's under 30 or so have no idea which wiper blade to buy let alone fit it.

The guy with the non starting 944 sounds just like my father in law. All the enthusiasm, lots of experience of cars of a bygone era, and now at 65 ish want to buy a 944 as a hobby. Thankfully he's now settled with Airfix kits []

 

[TTM]

Thanks for this thread Nick, now I know how test a fuse...I suppose...

 

[Frenchy]

At my place of work we see many degree educated engineers some with masters degrees one with a mechanical masters did not know how to drill and tap a hole, brilliant at maths though !
You cannot go for an engineering degree unless you have served an apprenticeship in Germany, hence they are generally brilliant engineers.
That said our apprenticeships in engineering are being diluted, my first year was spent machining, welding, sheet metal work and industrial electrical installation, not done in this neck of the wodds nowadays []

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: Frenchy

At my place of work we see many degree educated engineers some with masters degrees one with a mechanical masters did not know how to drill and tap a hole, brilliant at maths though !
You cannot go for an engineering degree unless you have served an apprenticeship in Germany, hence they are generally brilliant engineers.

That's VERY interesting - I didn't know that engineering undergraduates in Germany have to have served an apprenticeship. I failed a Mech Eng degree at Imperial many years ago, precisely because I thought it would all be hands-on welding and cutting and tapping and suchlike, whereas they actually stuck us all in a room and taught us heavyweight maths (which I am hopeless at).

(Subsequently I have fixed the cars of a number of 'engineer' friends who are very bright, but who struggle to tell a mole wrench from a furry animal that burrows underground!)


Oli.

 

[jdpef356]

Nick

I purchased a new (miss fired) EXOCET that the MOD assured me would work when the electrics were fixed.

Are you up for that?[]

Correspondence by e mail only - no site visits!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[peanut]

what is it with 944 owners that ask for help and advice then decide which bits of advice might be relevant and ignore the rest ?

They don't know what is wrong with their cars ,have no understanding of basic fuel injection and engine management systems and cannot test a fuse yet they think they know enough to know what advice is relevant or not.? grrrr[]

One of the first questions that I ask the owner of a non starting car is
'Is the engine cranking at at least 225rpm ?'?

I have never yet received an answer !. Is it that they are too stupid to be able to work it out ? or is it that they don't see the significance, so think they can ignore it?

If the ECU doesn't see 225rpm or thereabouts from the CPS it will not earth the DME relay which means no fuel pump no power to the ECU no power to the injectors or the ignition system Its that simple. This is why it is so critical that the CPS sensor works and the output is read by the ECU

So yesterday this university educated plonker (who thinks he can fault find the system with a 'sillyscope' ) states that the battery has always read 10.5 volts because there is a dead cell !..............[][][][][]

 

[zcacogp]

Don't grumble Nick, it sounds like you have successfully diagnosed the problem! Congratulations!


Oli.

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Don't grumble Nick, it sounds like you have successfully diagnosed the problem! Congratulations!


Oli.

I 'm allowed to grumble Oli I'm a registered member of Gumpy old gits .! [] besides I see that you are responsible for for everything I say lol.

I doubt that the flat battery is going to be the main problem on a car that hasn't run for 9 years .... more likely to be completely gummed up injector solenoids I should have thought .