hawk911

Well, spent some time on the non-starting car issue yesterday. What I can report is that I swapped out coils with a set I had from before. The old ones were not bad when I swapped them; call it preventative maintenance. I get a whiteish spark when I pull a plug and ground it. I grounded it to the engine lid hinge- should be okay, right?

So- white spark according to previous posts says I have an ignition issue, possibly bad coils. The battery is new. Plugs have less than 5k miles on them, but they are a dark chocolate color, probably from all the attempts to start the car. I did also verify fuel at the fuel rail by removing the cap on the left side bank. Got a nice puddle of fuel in the bay.

So... I'm out of ideas. I've got 3 DMEs, and the same results with all 3. Car will crank, but never catch. Starts with starting fluid, but from other accounts that's not worth much as the ignition point is lower for starting fluid than it is for gas.

I'm ready to turn it over to the pros.

oh yeah- happy Monday!!!

napaul

Is there a possibility your alarm control module is hindering start....last year everytime I would wash my car for a day or so it would intermittantly crank but not start...so I removed my alarm module from passenger fender to find it full of water and corroded. It would appear you have the three basic elements compression,fuel,and spark! So maybe some where else is where the issue exists.

hawk911

where is that module? up by the horns? I'm certainly open to any other ideas.

Rocket Rob

Hawk - Sorry to hear you are still having your starting issue. Hope you can isolated it soon and get back to driving it.

I recently turned 50. My girlfriend's gift to me was a 9 day trip to California. I had lived there for 23 years. We had a wonderful time. We flew into San Francisco. We visited Alcatraz, the redwood forest and a winery in SF bay area. We then drove down the coast to Los Angeles. We visited Carmel, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, Hearst Castle. We then headed to Vandenberg AFB where I worked on the Space Shuttle. Next was my old condo in Redondo Beach and Death Valley. I had forgotten how big Death Valley was. We read that its the size of New Hampshire. On the way back north, we stopped at Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. It was a fantastic trip. The highlight for me was seeing my friends. The only negative was an unseasonable rain storm which lasted 4 days. While it wasn't ideal weather we still had a wonderful time.

jimq

I got nothing but happy Monday anyways

tbennett017

Rob, I probably drove right by you while you were near Mono lake, as I was doing a photo shoot out that way recently. California, much maligned, but its so beautiful...

I am planning a driving trip with my wife soon to Northern CA from OR, and I'd love to hear about some of your favorite places...

--tcb

napaul

hi hawk the module is back behind the frunk hinge on the passenger side clipped upside down which was a bad design cause all porche had to do was mount it right side up so water did not run into the module and collect over the circuit board from water travelling along the wiring harness. My only tip to you is i hope you have small hands cause in my case i needed my wife to reach in there and unclip it....don't know if it will be the issue but can't hurt to check

Rocket Rob

Yes, very pretty part of the country. I wish we had had more time. 9 days was not enough. California has a lot of places to see and do. What time of year are you thinking of and what are your interests? The Sierra gold country is interesting for its history, Yosemite is beautiful. Then there are the redwood forests are well worth the time.

Rob

hawk911

is it tucked under the plastic valence that covers the whole server bank, or is it inside the frunk area? sorry for being dense

napaul

not tucked in under the valence! if you take a flash light and shine it in the back of the frunk hinge on passenger side you will see a little plastic box maybe 2"x4" almost against the fire wall with a connector going into it with i think 8 wires. here is a pic of what mine looked like when i removed it and was causing my no start issue as the alarm was preventing it.I believe when the alarm is activated it cuts the engine so it will turn over but not fire up.

christallon

Wow, what a mess! Were you able to clean that up, or did you replace it? Thanks for the idea BTW.

hawk911

just tried the DME relay trick, and still nothing so it's not the DME. Something else. Going to go find this immobilizer! are we talking passenger side on the US version, or the ROW cars?

napaul

passenger side us version. I was able to clean mine up with electrical contact cleaner and soft toothbrush. When i assembled it again i ran a small bead of silcone to seal the case and circuit board and put dielectric grease in the wiring connector to try and prevent water from entering again.

mb911

do all 964's have the imobilizers?
Hawk I find it odd you have spark but no start when you have 2 plugs per cylinder firing it would be hard for it not to start but if it fires on either then you know you are not getting flame out . it sounds like you may have water in your fuel or bad fuel pressure. Being in Wisconsin as well I am not new to bad fuel . Infact I believe you and I have talked before??

Now does it not pop at all?

hawk911

Hi Ben, you and I have talked. We chatted about an exhaust when you were first making them for the 964.

Bad fuel is one thing, but I figure it would at least spit and sputter. To make things more confusing, the last time I had trouble, the car left me in Kohler. Tried for almost 30 mins to get it started, and nothing. Went home, got a trailer to haul it home, and with no changes to ANYTHING, got in and turned the key. It started right up, and drove fine all the way home. It has not started since.

Napaul, I just didn't see anything close to what you had in your pictures on the passenger side of the car frunk.

edit: going to look again with help from this thread:

Immobilizer location thread