Replacing 3.2 reference senders with engine in car?

[Chuck.H]

Check your DME for cold solder joints, this caused a no-start in my '89 a few hundred thousand miles ago, and with your similar mileage it sounds likely. Open the DME carefully and inspect the solder under the 'stand off the board' coil power transistors, looking for a telltale dark ring 'crack'. If you see any, reflow them with a small soldering iron. Be careful with static discharge around the DME, touch metal things often while working on it.

Hope this helps,
Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 332k miles

[gtc]

It looks like the solder joints on these blue things broke. Plus the inside of the DME smells like smoke. So they may be toast. I think they are the only things with bad joints.
Can I just re-flow the solder joints and put it back together, or do I need new blue things? Or is the whole DME shot?
And is there something that may have caused this that I should also fix?

[TibetanT]

You can try replacing those burnt resistors, but the real issue is "why did this happen?" Because you will just burn the next set of resistors as well if the 'real' problem is not found.

Good luck.

[gtc]

Looks like this guy had the same problem:
DME Repair

He was running two coils without a splitter.

[Tippy]

Wow! Those got hot.

Easy fix, but what caused it is TBD?

[Isaintmalo]

Anyone know where can I buy the ref and crankshaft sensor depth adjustment tool ?

[pmax]

Originally Posted by gtc

It looks like the solder joints on these blue things broke. Plus the inside of the DME smells like smoke. So they may be toast. I think they are the only things with bad joints.
Can I just re-flow the solder joints and put it back together, or do I need new blue things? Or is the whole DME shot?
And is there something that may have caused this that I should also fix?

After more than a decade, have you found the root cause ?

[mysocal911]

Originally Posted by pmax

After more than a decade, have you found the root cause ?

Those resistors are the coil current sense resistors to measure the coil current.
They were over-heated the result of a shorted coil primary or the use of the wrong coil - a CDI type.

[GH85Carrera]

It is a real challenge to find a good coil for out 3.2s. The dealer sold silver Bosch is a 50-50 chance of buoying junk. Best bet, find a old black coil from the 80s.

Many coils of today have the wrong voltage and can cause DME problems.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by pmax

After more than a decade, have you found the root cause ?

I'd have to dig up some old emails... I can't remember for certain if it was Ingo or Sal that went through and repaired my original DME. I did eventually get one of Sal's modified 944 DMEs.

For what it's worth, i have always used an original coil, and it has always tested fine when i have checked it.