Weird leak/ wouldn't start

944Nick · 09-06-2021, 07:14 AM

My 88 944S wouldn't start last night. It kept cranking and a cylinder or two would fire and the starter would disengage and then it would stall. I also noticed at first my tach would jump up and down from 0 to 2k. I looked under and there was a slow leak of something green in the middle, where my downpipe connects to the rest of my exhaust. Theres drops all down the road where I pushed it, but this morning she started right up, and the area of the leak is dry. Looking at the ground where it stayed over night is a noticeable stain but nothing that isn't dry

drew1 · 09-06-2021, 08:31 AM

hope its not antifreeze.

944Nick · 09-06-2021, 09:31 AM

That's what I thought so I put some water in (my reservoir is too yellow to see the level) but I haven't seen a drop all day

walfreyydo · walfreyydo's Garage

If you have a coolant leak by your downpipe area, I would check the metal pipe running over the top of your headers. There are two rubber hose connections which connect to each side. This pipe supplies coolant to your cabin air heater. Check those hose connections or the pipe itself. Mine tends to leak from the front rubber hose (near the distributor) when I have the front of the car jacked up, but no leaks while the car is level.

Also for good measure check all coolant hoses (like the main one coming off your water pump).

That said, the coolant leak is likely NOT related to your car not starting. This is probably a separate issue, like a bad reference sensor, vacuum leak or dme relay. I cant tell by your description if the car is actually starting or not. If it is but your idle surges between 0-2000 then I suspect a vaccuum leak. If it doesnt start but you get tach bounce, my first suggestion is DME relay.

Clarks garage has info on bypassing dme relay. Vacuum leak requires more sleuthing - checking all your hoses or pressurizing the intake

Race5103 · 09-14-2021, 10:39 AM

Walfreyydo is right on all accounts. The only green stuff in your engine is anti-freeze so you have a coolant leak which almost certainly has nothing to do with the starting problem. DME problem can be intermittent.