Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hello All

Since taking on the car last July I have not once had any problems starting - even over the worst of the cold winter.

Today I attempted to start the car, but, no joy - the last time I drove the car about five days ago it was fine.

When attempting to start the car it turns over fine with plenty of action from the starter motor. After trying the car about six times (a couple of times the car had almost shown signs of coming to life) I decided to leave it for today rather than completely drain the battery. I could also smell fuel, so I thought if I carried on it would just end up flooding the system.

I don't really know where to start to investigate the problem, although I'm guessing it could be something fairly simple that I might be able to sort out myself given some good advice.

Any ideas please?

Many thanks

Mark

Hi Mark, whip out one of the plugs and see if you are getting a spark. Also, check the connections to the crank sensors at the back of the engine. See if the tacho needle bounces as that will tell you if the speed sensors are working as well when you crank the engine over. Try changing the DME relay as that is always the first thing to check!
Alasdair

Thanks for your advice.

Whip one of the plugs out and turn the ignition switch and get a helper to see if I get a spark? Pulling out one of the plugs and trying to start the car won't do any harm to the engine will it?

Referring to the DME relay, do you mean the item which retails at about £25 from Porscheshop and fits in the fuse box area? How can I check if my existing one is faulty? Can the DME suddenly fail or would there have been tell-tale signs it was on the blink?

Thanks again

Mark

Dme would just fail, see if theres power going to the fuel pump first, if there isnt id say the relay would be the main suspect. When mine went i opened it up and it was clear it was burned out.

Had the crank sensors fail aswell, theres a guide on clarkes garge to test them by measuring the resistance. At £110 a sensor not something youd want to change hoping its the problem

Hi Mark,
Make a 3-way jumper wire all with male spades,Use the jumper wire in the fuse panel in place of the 3 large spades on the DME relay. If it startes I would say you need a new relay! If you find it to be your reference sensors we have aftermarket ones, see the link below!!

http://944online.com/cgi-bin/ASI_Store. ... rical-9441

Thanks Jamie

This evening I tried the paper clip trick around the three main prongs of the relay as referenced on Clarks Garage and then inserted the relay back in the fuse box area.

Upon turning the ignition the first step I got kind of humming noise, but, proceeded anyway. The car turned over, but, unfortunately the battery fizzled out just as it felt like something was going to happen.

Will try again in the morning with some jump lead assistance - using our other car. Before I do that though, is that humming noise I referred to normal when "jumping" the relay?

Thanks again

Mark

take plugs out & dry them off, give them a heat in the oven, disconnect the king lead from the dissi cap, spin engine over a few times replace plugs & king lead, don't touch the accelarator peadal & see if that works as 944's don't like pedal when starting from cold