I hate my f-n car

[not_sure]

had one of those days, stalled 5 times on the way home today "in fricken traffic" would not start for about 5 min then would start up and run fine. it acts like its not getting gas, but I see gas in the glass filter by the carbs.One other thing is it revs up to 3 grand for no reason and sits there until I let out the clutch a litle then it drops back down and idles fine. Any input on this before it goes in the dumpster???

[twin plugged targa]

I had the 'same day' on Monday and Tuesday this week!
May 86 Carrera had mutiple problems. I assumed they were all water related due to the wet conditions here in NY. But it looks like either/all of the following:
Bad power to all main fuses
Bad power 2-9volts to coil
Coil not giving out pulsing volts
and possibly head temp sensor - changing out as it is and old one and the car would die after running perfect for 5-10 mins - warm up?

I have not cured her yet but am awaiting the parts.
It took a lot of fault diagnosis, patiently with a Bentleys and my engineer guiding me.
I am not there yet!
I can sympathise with you as I AM TRYING TO get rid of this car!
Mainly because it has been in the last 18 months the most unreliable car I have ever driven or owned in 17yrs!
It is also the car which has drained the most money in curing and preventative maintenance in 18 months and 9k miles.
I have spent $9k in 9k miles a dollar a mile to break down 4 times- not including 3 nails found in the tires in 2 months!.
And no I do not live near construction!.
If you add insurance and shipping my car north and south I have spent a total of $14,500 odd! give or take a few bucks!
Good bang for the buck?
Hope this makes you feel you are not alone!
rgds Ben

[ClayMcguill]

Both you guys-check the ground strap from the transaxle to the chassis, and the ground point in the engine compartment on the driver's side wall. Bad ground connections can cause the funkiest problems, and so many people never consider them-but they're just as important as power connections (they're called electrical CIRCUITS for a reason-the current has to flow back to the power source, not just away from it). Have the battery (or batteries) load tested, also-a weak or bad cell or entire battery can have even an experienced technician pulling his hair out diagnosing electrical gremlins. The fact that letting out the clutch pedal slightly cures the high idle problem makes me think the ground strap is not making a good connection all the time, and the engine is grounding itself through the clutch cable when it has to. If this turns out to be the problem, replace the ground strap AND the clutch cable, because the current going through the cable will heat it up, stretch it, and make it brittle-and it will eventually break.

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Clay McGuill '66 912, '97 Jeep Cherokee www.geocities.com/the912guy

[SeaDweller]

Well, I'm glad (not in a cruel way) to see I'm not alone. I just got my car back today after it sat in a shop for nearly 2 months!

To make a long story short, my airbox exploded, and after having had the car back only 2 days from getting this fixed, the entire wiring harness in the car spontaneously combusted. I'm quite excited to have the car back, but I've now got at least $22K in a car that I'd be lucky to sell for $13K, and I've blown every penny that I had intended on using to strip and paint the car!

At this point, I have a new airbox, injectors, seals, sensors, valves and just about everything else in the CIS system except the fuel distributor. I also have brand new factory wiring from the tail lights to the headlights.

At this point, it would be silly for me to sell the car as I'm so upside down at this point it's ridiculous. I must admit it's nice to have it back, because I really do love the car, but if one more thing happens, my wife will bury me in it, especially now that there's a late model, ultra low mileage Mercedes convertible for sale around the corner for $18K!!

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Michael
'78 911SC Euro

[83 sc euro cab]

bump

[paulhagedorn]

I will gladly take your car off your hands and you won't have to deal with the problem child any more.

[jlex]

Yikes... can't believe the bad luck you guy's have had. Hope the ground strap suggestion works for you. When I replaced the clutch cable on my '85 last weekend, I removed and cleaned up the ground strap just in case.
Why not swap the battery out... these beasts really rely on a good current... the family car's battery will probably do fine to test it out.
regards,
jlex.

[davis911s]

Keep your chins up! I have had problems with my 77 too, granted I haven't sunk a pile of money into it yey, but its not near finished. Just try to be patient and keep posting problems here, NEVER say you hate ANY PCAR please.

[not_sure]

Seems that my fuel pump is only putting out about 3 psi, I believe that would cause problems-correct me if Im wrong.

[paulhagedorn]

With carbs, it depends really on what kind they are, but 3 psi can be correct, although I think it is on the low side. 5 psi seems to be a good number for a euro 2.7 with solex cams and webber 40 ida's.
Paul

[not_sure]

6 pack of webers 40`s. my last pump was 5psi before it went out. I only started having probs when i put this new pump in.

[RoninLB]

Clay Meguill,
You're comments about the clutch cable becoming an electrical ground sounds interesting. Is this theory or does it actually happen? If this is true, I would be able to measure voltage at the cable if I was searching for an electrical problem. This sounds like a good preventive maintenance technique. It's refreashing to hear from an intellectual.

[not_sure]

Yes, I had a ground strap problem on my 82 SC, it took me forever to figure it out. Sure wish I had PP back then.

[ClayMcguill]

Aww, shucks-I'm no intellectual, just a car guy...with a degree in electronics.

That type of electrical problem happens all the time. Electrical current will always seek the path of least resistance-if there's too much in the normal ground path, it'll go through whatever's handy-accelarator cables, choke cables, clutch linkages, braided steel fluid lines-you name it. Sometimes the car will seem to run OK, but the clutch or accelarator action will seem heavier than usual, or "sticky"-it's because the cable has been acting as the engine ground strap and the current has been heating it up to the point that the insulation has started to melt and grab the cable. If a car shows symptoms like strange guage readings, intermittant power loss, rough idle, and off-and-on bulb failures, have the battery load tested, the alternator tested for overcharging, and remove and clean ALL ground connections. 90% of the time, one of those will be the problem.

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Clay McGuill '66 912, '97 Jeep Cherokee www.geocities.com/the912guy

[Doug Zielke]

A while ago I posted how, after cleaning all the main grounding points on my car, the lights were brighter, and the starter more vigorous. Then I did the same to the fuse holder contacts, improving power to things like the fans, electric windows, and the rear window defroster. Just take some time to banish corrosion in your cars electrical system, and a lot of potential trouble will be avoided.

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Doug
'81 SC Coupe (aka: "Blue Bomber")
Canada West Region PCA
members.home.net/zielke/911SC.htm