944jay

Hey everyone, I’m really hoping for some guidance here. I am aware of the great checklist for this issue, but I’m in a bit of pickle.

Some background: I’ve owned the car since 2014. It has only failed to start one time since and that was a simple DME failure. The car was recently stored in a garage for 4 years. I took it out of storage and have driven it about 500 miles over the past month or so.

The car ran fine 48 hours ago. At that time, I was trying to diagnose my A/C system, which has not worked since I bought the car. I didn’t see anything obviously wrong with the compressors or the clutch. So, I decided to order the 134a conversion kit and deal with that later.

While checking some fuses, I noticed my interior light fuse was blown. So, I swapped it, and everything worked, interior light, clock, etc. After that, I swapped the fuse for Cooling Fan 2, which was also blown. I drove the car around the block and then it was parked in the garage.

Today, the car wouldn’t start. There is tach bounce, but I thought maybe it’s the DME again? I didn’t have an extra, so I used the paper clip work around from Clark’s Garage. Still won’t start.

Then I thought, maybe that interior light switch is crap and drained the old battery, or the guy that parked my car (it’s in a Manhattan parking garage under my apartment building) left the door slightly ajar? My battery was from 2016. The gauge was reading a bit under 12v, so it seemed like as good a time as any to swap it. Still won’t start.

Now, I’m kind of stuck, literally. I have limited tools here (just a wratchet set and some assorted wrenches), and no multimeter. I’m gonna grab some starter fluid tomorrow morning and try that.

In the mean time, has anyone ever had a similar situation with their 944, or any words of wisdom? Let me know, thanks.

Here’s bonus photo of my car taken last month.

931guru

Your 35 year old fuel pump may have died. Your plan with the ether is a good diagnostic start.

944jay

Luckily, I do have a backup fuel pump. I bought it when I got the last DME relay. I just want to isolate the issue before I swap it.

931guru

Apply power to the pump directly. Listen for the pump humming. Check the fuel pressure at the fuel rail, using a fuel pressure gauge.

944jay

Unfortunately, I have no way to do this in a dark underground Manhattan parking garage.

I tried using starter fluid this morning, but still nothing. Seems like there’s no spark. Im gonna have to have it towed to the nearest military base with a hobby shop, and try to get it sorted there.

austin944

Walmart has cheapo tools you can use to help diagnose the problem like a meter and a spark tester. You can spend less than $50 and check to see if you're getting 12V to the fuel pump while cranking, and whether you have spark. It's helpful to have a meter that remembers/measures the max voltage its seen so you won't need a second person to look at the meter while you crank. I would not mess with starter fluid first thing.

Plum

I would suggest reading other no start posts. Lots of good information. Sounds like reference sensors to me.

Zirconocene

@944jay : One of the things that I think you can do in the parking garage is to jump the DME relay. Essentially, you bridge 2 of the contacts with the relay removed to activate the fuel pump. This is done in the engine bay so no need for any funny business under the car. You should be able to a) hear the fuel pump running and b) measure the fuel pressure (provided you have something hooked up for that). This may be what @931guru was suggesting. I don't want to steer you wrong on the contacts, but it's an easy thing to search for. I want to say it's the 30 and 87 posts but, like I said, please double check that if you want to go this route.

A couple of caveats: for jumping the relay contacts it's nice to have a momentary switch and fuse set up on that jumper line. Your fuel rail should have a port easily available to hook up a pressure gauge. There may be a little bit of fuel that comes out but it's not a crazy amount and it can be caught in a small cup or some rags/paper towels.

Good luck

jhowell371

My guess is you have bad speed or reference sensor. Obviously it's not the one that causes tach bounce. Use this home made slide hammer to yank it out.

walfreyydo

If it were the battery, it would just "click" and not turn over. When you did the DME jumper trick with the paper clip - did you hear the fuel pump running (it should run continuously when jumpered). Check to see that you performed the relay jumper correctly, and if youre sure you did and do not hear the fuel pump running, I would suspect an issue with the pump or wiring to the pump, perhaps a fuse.
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/fuel-05.htm

If you do hear the pump running, your best bet is to start diagnosing in a stepwise fashion. Any engine no start (meaning, the starter turns over, but engine doesnt fire) always starts with diagnosing lack of fuel or lack of spark:
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/ts-01.htm

See the section "Engine will rotate but not start". Verify whether you lack spark or fuel, report back.

944jay

Thanks for all of the advice. I replaced both speed and reference sensors and the car started right up 🍻