1303RS

So I am having some trouble with my 89 N/A. Most of the time it starts no problem. Sometimes it will crank but not turn over. After some time, it will start. I have changed out the DME relay, doesnt fix it, checked fuel presure, its good. Tonight, I drove to dinner, afterwards it did not want to start. I removed the nut on the front of the fuel rail, fuel came out, put it back together and the car started. Drove to a store, and it started just fine. Drove to a gas station, then it did not want to start. removed the nut on the fuel rail, fuel came out, put the nut back on, no start. Installed an inline test light on a spark plug, no light. After some time it started up and as I was leaving the engine quit. It has never quite while running before. Towed it home, put it in the garage and tried it again, fired right up. What gives? Any suggestions?

Grandpa#3

Sounds as if you have a bad Ignition Switch Module located forward of the key. The contacts inside wear out and the car will start and then not start. You can turn the engine over until the battery dies and not start. The whole Ignition Assembly is held onto the Steering shaft by two halves that were bolted together with two torque bolts that the heads are sheared off from the bottom. I could not get a drill bit from the underside to go straight up into the bolt to use an easy out. Scrub that idea. My next idea was to use a cut off wheel in my drill to cut a slot across the top (end) of the bolts and turn them out with a stubby screw driver. I got the inspection mirror out and looked at the back side of the electrical switch module. There is a plug with all the wires that has to be pulled off the module, got that pulled (careful you don't pull out the wires) and there are two screws holding the module to the ignition assembly. Long story short. I broke off the handle on my shortest stubby screw driver, used a SHORT long nose vise grip and was able to turn out the screw next to the steering shaft. The other screw was a snap. I plugged in the new ignition module, used a cross point screw driver to turn to start and WOW the engine started. Installed the module to the ignition assembly. While the gage cluster was out I replaced all the light bulbs. The gage cluster trim has two hidden screws, one above and one below the trip reset button at the vent edge. I hope this helps if you have to use it. The link below gives the module wire lay out for the plug. The second link will show what the Ignition Assembly looks like.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...87-944-na.html

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-25.htm

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/body-24.htm

Cheers,
Larry

Rogue_Ant

Your speed and reference sensors / wiring is dying...

drift a 944

Next time the car just cranks but fires up, open the hood and wiggle the speed and reference sensor connectors (located right on the far back side of the intake manifold). There should be 2 square shaped connectors, and one round connector. The two square connectors are for your speed and reference sensors, and often times the electrical connection inside those connectors becomes weak and causes the car to have intermittent starting problems.

When the car is cranking but not fireing up, watch the tachometer to see if it bounces slightly while cranking. If you don't see any slight bouncing then I will almost guarantee its those speed and reference sensor connections.

1303RS

Thanks for the tips. I have wiggled the speed and reference connectors. That maybe the cause, I recently did a clutch job and had to disconnect them. It was the original clutch so they may not have ever been apart. Pricey parts I'm guessing? I did not have this issue before I did the clutch. I will watch the tach next time it happens. What if the tach does bounce?

T_Glass_27

If the tach does bounch then that is the issue. I would guess its most likely the reference sensor

1303RS

After re-reading my question, what if the tach does not bounce?

Rogue_Ant

See my previous reply.

Luis de Prat

In that case, there's a strong possibility that the wiring is fine but the sensors are incorrectly gapped. Both should be 0.8mm away from the flywheel. Especially the Speed sensor.

Do a search on properly gapping speed and reference sensors.

Bill Lucas

This +1000. I'm in the same boat.

kingston944

I had an intermittent no start and the car would dye as I was driving it .It was in the fuse box replaced the fuse box and all is good .I thought after words that maybe it was a dirty contact from the underside connections of the fuse box. I should of cleaned those first before replacing the box, but that solved my intermittent issue.

1303RS

I will check all of this out. Thanks