calebPH

So, I made a good decision and bought a cheap 944. It ran pretty flawlessly from San Diego to Los Angeles. The next day, I take it for a drive to really test it and once I got deep into the canyons, noticed it was overheating pretty quickly. I tried making it to a gas station, but the engine started smoking and I pulled off the road and shut it down pretty immediately. Found a coolant leak from a hose that popped off the radiator, reattached it, and thought I was in the clear. Let the car cool down for like 15 minutes, jumped in to start it. The engine chugged for a few seconds, but didn’t start. I tried again, sounded a little bit stronger, but died. After that, I only got a single loud click out of it. Some immediate troubleshooting made me realize I was getting no spark at all. The spark plugs looked pretty new, so isn’t that. I tested the ignition coil and it wasn’t pulling the power it was supposed to, so dumped it and installed a new one. That didn’t work, unfortunately… so I’m looking for what it could be next. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

931guru

Sounds like a dead battery... of course, it could be that the engine is seized from overheating.

calebPH

God, I hope it's not seized. Haven't had a chance to turn it manually yet. Will probably do that after work. No spark makes me think it's gotta be electric though, right (although I admittedly am very new to car mechanics, come from motorcycles)? Also, forgot to mention that I'm not getting any tach bounce at all, I don't know if that's relevant, I know people say that's a symptom of bad DME relay. Battery was testing at 11.5 volts…

jeyjey

11.5V isn't great. Should be more like 12.6. (But even then if you don't have a carbon pile tester it might just be a surface charge.)

calebPH

I suppose jumping it should be the next step, then. It's my understanding a seized engine should have a metallic grinding sound with the click, and there's for sure nothing like that going on. Nothing is moving at all. Fingers crossed it's just the battery hahaha

calebPH

Jumping the battery didn't do anything. Bought a breaker bar to get in there and see if I can rotate the engine, so pray for me..

EDIT: The bolt I bought was the wrong size, of course. I could've sworn I read 28mm everywhere lol

jeyjey

With the spark plugs out and the car in gear it should be easy enough to turn it over by pushing it....

jeyjey

When you jumped it, did you try to start it immediately, or did you give it a bit?

If the battery is truly toast then starting it immediately won't always work because the dead battery will be soaking up a lot of the current. This is particularly true if you have modern cheap jumper cables which are undersized at best.

calebPH

I gave it roughly 5 minutes. Had that thought, but was pressed for time this morning. Will try again tonight by letting it go for 15-20.

calebPH

Okay PHEW... Had to rock it back and forth a few times, but once everything clicked, we got everything spinning. Sooooo glad it's not a seized engine. The next step would be retrying the battery charge for longer?

jeyjey

How old is the battery? If it's more than 4 years old I'd start by getting a new one. Even if it's not completely knackered it'll be on borrowed time after going flat.

If it's newer, then yeah, I'd try letting it charge for longer.

calebPH

The battery says “46/19”, so roughly 3 years old (give or take some months lol). It probably does need one. Trying to charge it now, then I’ll go get it tested/buy a new one. Also, going to try changing ignition switch, because the owner threw in a spare one, so might as well.

calebPH

I got the battery tested and they said it was totally fine, just at 70% charge. They’re charging it now, so I guess we’ll see in 20 minutes if that’s the issue.

calebPH

Battery was at 100%. Nothing. Same old click. Tachometer still not moving, but everything else is. Any ideas?

brooklyn944

Clark's Garage has a few very thorough no-start troubleshooting guides. I had a no-start last year and those guides led me to a cracked solder joint in the DME.

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/ts-01.htm