73 911 dies..confused

tkrefeld · 05-26-2003, 01:50 PM

Car hasrun pretty good. Today I take it out and it runs fine for about 10 minutes then dies. It restarts, then dies after about 10 seconds....about 10 times..Can't keep it going...I get out and let it sit for abut 10 minutes. Then it starts up and runs fine until I get home ( 1 mile).
I get into the garage and didn't pull over far enough so I move out and get it in correctly. Everything seems OK. Temp, oil, ect...

About 2 minutes after that I decide to go for another little drive with it. I turn the key and NOTHING..ZIP..ZILCH

Parking lights come on along with dash lights. NO sound, no clicks, no headlights

oldE · 05-26-2003, 02:02 PM

Could be one problem, maybe two.
#1 Check the charging system. If the car was not charging, it will run off the battery until the available voltage was too low, then stop. A short wait would allow the battery to recover somewhat, allowing you to start & get home.
#2 Fuel filter could cause the first set of symptoms. Good luck.
Les

xlr8 · 05-26-2003, 03:31 PM

I had a starting problem once, soon after getting my '88 Carrera. I had dash lights, but no click or crank. It turned out to be the battery ground cable. Not the terminal connection, but the cable itself was corroded. It looked like a piece of green rope. After cleaning it thoroughly it worked fine, no problems since.

Rob McKibbon · 05-26-2003, 04:00 PM

My car did something like this when the starter got too warm. The solenoid in the starter wouldn't engage, so when you turned the key, nothing. When it cooled, it would be fine again.

When it was not starting, I jacked it up and check the power to the starter. Turned the key and found 16V going to the starter in both the starter wire and the yellow solenoid wire, but no starter action. Be sure to have the car in neutral when turning the key and testing power.

Good Luck???

Let us know what you find out?

Paul Thomas · 05-26-2003, 05:28 PM

I would guess that your alternator is shot.

Paul

724doorE · 05:46 PM

free things to check are the big plug on back if your ignition switch and the little plugs on the bulkhead just in front of the ig sw. I have had to clean those to solve similar problems. check them they are FREE.

Good luck

Gee Paul, your no longer a MFIWDP supporter??? Whats up?

Paul Thomas · 05-26-2003, 07:33 PM

Ha-Ha, far from it Dennis. I would put MFI on my lawn mower if i could.

Paul

Rob McKibbon · 05-26-2003, 09:56 PM

No offence, but before you even touch your ignition switch you should test it with a voltmeter first. The wires in the back of the switch are very tricky and fall out of the switch easily. One minute you have a switch with about 14 wires in the back of it, and the next minute you have a handful of wires in one hand, out of the switch.

Your 14 wire connector in the engine compartment has a yellow wire near the quarter panel end. Put a voltmeter on the wire. Should be no power until the switch is in the starter engaged position. If power shows up on test, then your switch is OK, don't mess with it. Not positive, but you should have at least 12V of power showing or may be the cause. If you have 12V or more, likely not your alternator, but solenoid.

Then crawl under the car and test the starter the same way. If lots of power going to starter but it's not engaging, then starter problem; likely solenoid. This is an easy test to rule out switch and starter problems, takes only a few minutes. You can also "jump" the starter and test it.

Please be sure the car is in neutral when turning the key or jumping the starter. Always be prepared that the car may start.... no toes in the fan belt, etc.

There was some really good posts for trouble shooting this kind of stuff a while back ..... I'll see if I can find a link for you?

Rob McKibbon · 05-26-2003, 10:10 PM

911 Quitting and Not Starting for No Reason

Not the thread I had in mind, but a good one.
You can see from this thread (happy ending) that there's loads of things that can affect your starting problems.???

Good Luck once again, please let us know how you make out?

Rob McKibbon · 10:32 PM

Found it!!!!!!!
Same problem you're having and I had..... this is a good trouble shoot thread for you....

Starter problem

edit: After all that, I just re-read your post and see you have "No headlites"??? Throws off my theory? Oh well, the thread links have some good trouble shooting ideas for you anyway??? Sorry if I wasted your time?

tkrefeld · 05-31-2003, 01:03 PM

Still nothing. When it was acting up before it would rev fine for about 10 seconds then die, repeat ten times. Then it statred and I made it home. AS I pulled in to the garage I turned on the headlights and that is when it quit. No nothing. I have parking lights and dask lights, and can blip the high beams but NOTHING at the starter. No a click, crank nothing. I charged the battery. Still nothing. It's as if there is no battery at all. No fuel pump whir. Is this a relay problem?

ruf-porsche · ruf-porsche's Garage

Try cleaning the battery terminals or the grounding strap. It seems that the additional load of the headlights was to much for a bad electrical connection you have somewhere on your car.

tkrefeld · 06-04-2003, 06:43 AM

Tried the battery connections and it didnt help. What am I missing here?? Seems there are only a few things that would make a car die in this way. Is there a relay, or ignition sawitch problem?? I am not a happy person with out the Porsche

ruf-porsche · ruf-porsche's Garage

Okay you clean the battery terminals, but did you clean the other end of the cables? The positive cable going to the starter sometime get corroded, it's a little bit more work to get underneath the car to remove.

As the robot will say in "Lost in Space" Caution Will Robertson, remove the ground terminal from the battery before working on the positive terminal at the starter. If you accidentally ground a wrench to the body or chassis you will have a BIG short.

porsche_virus · porsche_virus's Garage

Well, this might sound stupid, but on my '74, it would only start sometimes, and I thought it was temp. related. After much dismay, I found out that it was designed to not start if the driver was in the driver's seat and not buckled in. There was a coiled wire under the seat that had been torn up pretty bad, and two of the wires were touching each other. Once I severed that connection, it started everytime, wheather or not I was in the car or buckled up or anything. However, I'm not sure if the '73 models had this rediculously engineered waste of time.

ruf-porsche · ruf-porsche's Garage

I remember that feature on my 74, people who wanted to drive my car and didn't use the seat belt always came back to me and told me that the car wouldn't start.

tkrefeld · 06-18-2003, 09:08 PM

After last weeks electrical problems I seem to have sorted some things out. The brake light swirch is bad. By jumping it I have brake lights. Looking for a new switch. Still no turn signals but do have 4 ways. Cant figure this out.

As far as the car dying, it appears I have intermitent power to the fuse box. What would cause this? I jumped a wire to the proper fuse and the fuel pump whirred and the car fired right up.

The PO has a single battery on the starboard(passenger) side. The other battery cables are are hanging but the pos. is wrapped.

Is this proper for a single battery? I heard it should be on the port(driver) side and I should disconnect the cable running to the passenger side. The battery read 12.6 volts so alternator is doing it's job. BUT, if this is not the proper single hook-up I may ruin the alternator correct??

So, what is the PROPER way of going from dual to single. I do NOT use the battery boxes.
What kind of battery can I buy when/if this one fails?? Just any 880 DIehard that fits is OK??

Any ideas on the turn signals. Had them, but now nothing. Must be the fuse box. Why would I have inconsistent power at the fuse box?

Headlights are back on.