Stranded please help!!!

[74 clssc]

I got off the freeway and down shifted to 2nd gear and all of a sudden the car bogged and started to lose power and dies,now it won't start. can anybody pls help me. thanks

The car has been running good too and have no idea what went wrong! But today there is some hesitation and seems to be backfiring bit. The battery is good and cranking good as well but just wont start.

[araine901]

If it has fuel ( dumb question but is there gas in the tank) check all of the connections to your coil and distributor and spark box. I had a similar thing happen a while back. Turns out a splice connector had come loose.

[Paulporsche]

Check for spark, fuel, fuel pump relay, WUR, and try lifting the sensor plate while cranking (CIS car) which will probably get you started.

How old is your fuel filter? Check for debris in the fuel tank.

Check for vaccuum leaks, disconnected hoses, etc.

Check your points/dwell.

[74 clssc]

how do you check for point/dwell? sorry newbie and don't know much bout technical stuff, can you go thru this with me thanks

[74 clssc]

What about a defective ignition coil could it be the source?

[MotoSook]

Check all connections and relays...can you have someone crank it to check for spark with a screw driver as a ground with one of the plug wires?

With the ignition on, lift the air plate...does the pump come on and do the injectors scream?

[bigchillcar]

guessing that you have a '74 cis car with points style ignition. dirty, old or 'closing' points will definitely cause backfiring, bogging down and ultimately the car just won't run. fortunately, they are just about the cheapest thing you can buy for a porsche. on the other hand, you may be able to remove, clean and reset the points gap and be good to go..i've had to do this job on the street once or twice.
ryan

[Paulporsche]

You need to remove the cap from the distributor. Inside there are breaker points, which open and close in time w/ the firing of the cylinders. After a period of time, the rub block which contacts the shaft gets worn down. This decreases the gap between the points when open. This gap relationship is called the dwell. You can check the gap when fully open w/ a feeler gauge or, the best way, w/ a dwell meter which should give you a reading of between 35 and 41 degrees. If you are beyond 41 degrees then the relationship between the spark and firing is off and you get the problems you describe. You may be able to open up the gap" by eye" and get it running, although if you are inexperienced w/ this...

There are other possibilities, as some of us have mentioned. Make sure you do not have any vacuum hoses disconnected. That is another prime candidate. Make sure the rubber bellows on the top of the fuel distributor is firmly in place.

Since you are new to this, you may not be able to solve this now, and a tow to a qualified mechanic may be in order.

[Quicksilver]

We need to figure out if it is spark or fuel.

Do you have a spare spark plug in your emergency kit?

If you do then this will require a second person. Pull a plug wire and connect it to the loose plug. Put the plug on something where it will ground to the engine. (don't hold it or you will glow in the dark!)

Crank the engine and see if it sparks. If it sparks then the odds are that you have a fuel problem.

[bigchillcar]

ditto to what paul said..i hesitated to tell you how to set 'by eye' if you aren't familiar, but it's an easy way to get you running again and at least in the 'ballpark' of proper dwell. you'll need a long flathead screwdriver to access the adjustment screw..and you only want to barely open them more..hard to explain what we mean by 'barely' if you've never done it before, but it makes the diff between running and not running..
ryan

[bigchillcar]

another way to diagnose the problem as being points (which have a lifetime of only about 10,000 miles on average) is noticing erratic behavior in your tachometer. typically, as points wear out, the tach gets more and more 'jumpy', car begins losing power and begins to backfire as the situation becomes progressively worse.
ryan

[araine901]

does anyone really still use points in their 911?

[Paulporsche]

Got 'em, set 'em, use 'em, like 'em.

[araine901]

I put a pertronix ignitor in for $80 in 1995 and have not touched the timing or had to chase funky running issues since. I wonder how much I would have spent on points over the last 10 years?

[bigchillcar]

one of these days i may finally get around to trying them (pertronix)..everyone who has 'em seems to like 'em, but like paul, i know 'em, use 'em, like 'em (points) too..
ryan

[74 clssc]

Thanks guys for the input, but i forgot to tell you guys that i change the ignition coil last week and it was running fine till the other day. So out of desperation i thought of putting back the old ignition coil(Bosch silver) and for some reason it started right up. Could it be possible that my new coil is defective or maybe the wrong coil for my engine? Can somebody help me how to decipher my engine no? First my vin#is 9114102017 and engine # is 6143486, now is their anymore no's that i'm missing as far as the engine no is concern? thanks

[74 clssc]

So out of desperation i thought of putting back the old ignition coil(Bosch silver) and for some reason it started right


I'm sorry the old igniton coil is not bosch silver it some nameless coil thats chrome and have no way of finding out what part no is!

[bigchillcar]

technically, the thing that looks like a traditional 'coil' on a 911 is not a coil, but rather a transformer. i do know that if you have the wrong part here that the car will not run right..sounds like you do too now.

i can decode your vin and engine code:
9114102017 is a regular 1974 without 's' cams, 8:1 compression with 150 hp. engine number also matches a 1974 car without 's' cams, around the middle of the production run. to your knowledge is the motor that came with the car?
ryan

[fastpat]

Originally posted by araine901
does anyone really still use points in their 911?

(Laughing) I was going to ask the same question.

I've been into cars since they all had points, as soon as I found Pertronix I ditched the points on the last car I own that had them, the '72 CSi. There's no reason on earth to do points maintenance when there are so many other things to maintain, it's just a waste of time better spent elsewhere.

Then again, there are masochists that like them, pain is ice cream for them.

[bigchillcar]

pain is good..i'll take two scoops please..
ryan