75' 911S won't Start: Help!

Hi Everyone,
Yep, my 911S won't start at all. Yesterday it needed a push start when cold, today a tow start wouldn't work. Getting a spark from the coil to dist. cap and to the spark plug - not done any fuel checks yet but can smell fuel. I've not checked the points, but as getting a spark assuming it's OK. Got a 2 month old battery and the points are about 1 month old. Anyone any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Anthony

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

I'm going to give in and take the car to a garage tomorrow, but, if anyone does have any ideas I'd be grateful to hear them....
Thanks,
Anthony

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

Saffs

It sounds to me like you have a flooded engine. Remove your plugs and see if they are wet. You didn't say if you had CIS. But on that system there are a number of things that will have to be checked. Cold start valve could be a possibility

If its a CIS system, turn the ignition on and listen for the fuel pump. It should run for a couple seconds and then stop.

If it continues to run then it could be your fuel distrbutor needs to be adjusted via the sensor plate. Or it could be the pressure regulator or pressure relief on the fuel distributor causing the problem.

Anyway, if it's fuel related, you need a pressure gauge to trouble shoot otherwise it's a shot in the dark. But do check your plugs for wetness.

Steve

Need your help this time guys!
The tune-up/ fuel injection place I took my car to (not a Porsche specialist) said the checked the ignition and fuel and can't see anything wrong. They tow started it and got it going but said it smoked a lot and idled badly and wouldn't start on it's own. They thought it has massive compression loss and therefore can't start. It ran fine beforehand and had just completed a 200 mile journey fine, no smoke or anything worrying at all.
So I am perplexed. If even one cylinder was down surely it would still start? They haven't done a compression test BTW.
Any ideas? I'm going to take it to a Porsche specialist tomorrow who on the phone said he thought it impossible to lose all compression - and informed me that one of his ex-collegues and rebuilt the engine on my car, which I didn't know!
The car is a '75 911S 2.7 with CIS, and has done 60,000 miles.
Thanks,
Anthony


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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

[This message has been edited by Saffs (edited 02-06-2001).]

Anthony,

That place was afraid of your car and did not want to work on it! Otherwise, they would have done a compression check ... it doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes! They would not have had to guess what is wrong if they were even close to being competent!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Thanks Warren,
Just a thought. I had 1 bad spark plug wire (which caused bad running when warm). I borrowed a friends one from his 911 resto. project (checked resistance and was OK) and have now got a complete new OEM set but not fitted yet: could another or 5 (!) bad wires/ Beru connectors cause the car not to start??
Thanks,
Anthony

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

Of course, five or six nonfunctioning spark plug cables will prevent a car from starting, but this is not your problem. compression is not your problem either. If the spark is blue and fat, then either the timing is bad, or it's a fuel problem. This next guy sounds like he might know what he's doing. the last guys do not.

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'83 SC

Of course, five or six nonfunctioning spark plug cables will prevent a car from starting, but this is not your problem. compression is not your problem either. If the spark is blue and fat, then either the timing is bad, or it's a fuel problem. This next guy sounds like he might know what he's doing. the last guys do not.

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'83 SC

The saga continues....
Got my car back from the garage who had got the car running. They had adjusted the mixture and points they said (I think yesterday they just flooded it when they couldn't get it running). Clearly, they do not know about Porsches - I guess they just think they can have a go and its just K-Jetronic like any other K-jet. car. However, what they did do was change the coil for not the correct Bosche one and put a condenser on the points! I know the coil must be the Bosche CD system one(?) and I didn't think it needed a condenser??
I'm new to 911s and am learning, so sorry for this, in a few months I'll be a lot more Porsche savvy! The car does run fine BTW. So, I need to change the coil back, but what about the condenser? The coil isn't faulty that they found, god knows why they changed it, just elimination I guess.
Thanks,
Anthony

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

Anthony,

Please, please don't even start the car one more time with the wrong coil on it!!! You are taking a chance of burning out the CDI-unit because of their incompetence! If they still have your old coil, make them bring it back to you, and tell them what they did (changing the coil to the wrong part) is endangering a 1200 Pound Sterling Bosch CDI-unit!!!

The condenser isn't needed because the points aren't switching a large amount of current through the coil, and the condenser is a spark suppression device to protect the points fom the inductive 'spike' that a point-coil set of points is subject to at every firing of the sparkplugs.

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Warren,
Thanks!
I got the old one back BTW. Will I need to take the condenser off right away too? Going to do the coil now, in semi-darkness! In case it spontaneously starts overnight!
Thanks Again....

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

Anthony,

I don't know if it is mandatory to remove the condenser immediately, or not. The condenser might affect the waveform risetime enough to alter timing slightly, but I don't know if you would be able to notice the difference or not.

I don't know what you had to pay for this 'servicing' that I would have to classify as MALPRACTICE, but if you can exchange the 'wrong' coil for a good 'correct' one for little or nothing, be sure to do so! They are very expensive on this side of the pond, around US$125!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

Thanks Again Warren,
Yep. The coils are expensive here in the UK too. Thankfully, I do have a spare and I got the original one back (they only charged $8 for the generic one, and it was used!). I changed the coil back to the Bosche one and it runs fine. I agree, it is malpractice. I've only used them for tuning on older BMWs ( K or L jet.) which are without the "sensitivities" of the 911 so incompetence can be un-noticeable, I guess. I won't be using them again and will call tomorrow to make them aware.
Thanks Again!
Still have no idea why it wouldn't start in the first place....it goes now though!
Anthony

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'75 911S Targa
http://member.aol.com/asaffery/my911s.html

[This message has been edited by Saffs (edited 02-07-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Saffs (edited 02-07-2001).]