Ignition left on – No start

[rally911]

I closed the garage and locked it last spring on 1973 911 rally car and it is now time to tackle my no start issue. The history behind my no start is business prompted the necessity to take a sabbatical from rallying so after being parked for a couple of months my grandson’s birthday party was a race car theme and seeing as how rally cars are street legal race cars I took it to the birthday party. On the return trip home my daughter wanted to drive the 911 and I might say fell in love with the sound of the open exhaust. After her joy ride, she pulled the 911 into the garage with a huge smile and the day continued. Now is were the help is requested, six weeks later I decide to go for a ride and the battery is dead, the key was left on, shame on me for not opening the bonnet and turning off the master switch. Charge the battery, 3.4L transplant turns over no start, what could have failed with the key left in the on position?

Brief back ground. Car has 400 plus hours of freshening all wiring that was suspect was replaced and the gremlin fuel injector that was burning location 409 in the DME was finally diagnosis.

The car was successfully rallied after rebuild at Sandblast 2008. The 911 is truly a blast to drive on gravel and soft surfaces, it is very predictable and very civil. I did open the DME and could not see any damage.






I am looking for any ones experience with ignition left in the on position causing a no start.

[bkreigsr]

if you left the ignition on and the points were closed, you've probably burned a hole in the contacts. I don't know what else might be upstream in your case, but a battery charge and new points was all I needed to get back on the road.
(DME on a 73?)

Bill K

[ljowdy]

Adding to the above, if the points were replaced with a Pertronics eliminator, that could be bad and, your coil could be shot.

[safe]

He mentions DME and 3.4 so I'm guessing a big bore 3.2?
So no points or Pertronics.

Bob, it would be helpful if you specify what kind of engine you have, otherwise any advice is a shoot in the dark.

[ruf-porsche]

No Start check for spark and gas.

DME Relay?

[rick-l]

It might be time to go into troubleshooting mode.

I can't think of anything that would get stressed in a DME from just leaving it powered. The battery should have just run down.

[jpnovak]

Great Car! I loved seeing pictures of it during the past few years of rally.

A few questions...

Do you have spark? Verify with an inductive timing light. Might be the flywheel sensor.
Have you checked the DME Relay?
Do you have fuel? Crack a fuel line to see if its full.
Is the fuel pump running (quick prime, then only runs while cranking or running)

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

If it's the original engine, Id say your points and/or coil are fried.

If it's DME, maybe the main relay went out?

[3.2 CAB]

I have replaced many coils, when I had my shop, that have been fried from the key being left on. On some, the coil had gotten so hot, it had spewed out all of the crap inside. I believe that leaving the key in the run position, is one of the fastest ways to kill a coil. I don't know squat about a 3.4, other than it being 0.2 bigger than mine, or what type of ignition/spark control set-up you are running. I would certainly check the coil first. Good luck!! Tony.

[rally911]

big bore 3.2 which came in the car when I bought it

[rally911]

The pictures are from 2008 Sandblast