DME control unit replacement
 

Just had my local Porsche shop replace my DME control unit. Picked up my 85 3.2 at closing time and was told all was well as the car was test driven. On my way home the car drove very lethargic, had no power, no zip, had to press the gas pedal to the floor to get it to move, and the car could not go over 60 miles an hour on the freeway ride home. This was not the way the car drove prior, it was quick, fast, responsive, and could do well over 60 on the highway. I'm taking the car back tomorrow but I was disappointed that the shop sent the car home in that condition. I'm on the fence with this shop in Las Vegas. Can any fellow pelicans tell me if the aforementioned symptoms are a product of a defective DME unit? I do most of my maintenance but don't have the tools and expertise to do major work, though I can at least learn and get a lot of information from the forum. Need some advice as I don't want to get hit or scammed for additional work and parts.

Take the dme back and get another, it is defective, what was wrong with yours?

You know, it would have been cheaper to send It In to 911chips, Steve Wong.

Jim

Short answer, no, DME issues generally do not have those symptoms.

Car is an 85. Original problem was that the car would not start, just would turn over, no spark or gas. I checked all electrical components and wires to make sure they were in order. Unfortunately I was getting some work done in the garage and the car had to be moved, thus I had it towed to the local porsche shop. The symptoms would led me to believe the the DME unit was bad.

Find a fellow 3.2 in your area and put your dme into the buddy's 3.2. This will eliminate the dme as the culprit.

Do not put buddy's dme into your car, it may damage the buddy's dme, if there is an issue with your car

What else did they do to your baby, just dme and did they put your chip back into the new dme?

Damn, could have been the ref and speed sensor, did they check those first?

It sounds to me like while they were looking for the problem they disconnected or disturbed something else and that's causing your problem.

On the DME, a couple things to check:

Check that the DME fuel quality switch on the DME is fully counter clockwise.
Is your car stock with a stock chip? If not have them swap the chip from your old DME.
Where did they get the replacement DME? It's not like these things are at Autozone.
What did they do with the old DME, turn it in for a core?

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 360k miles