Broken Record Sensors
 

Hey everyone - I know this topic has been asked discussed a thousand times but I'm at a loss.

Recently pulled an '85 Porsche 944 out of storage that's sat for the last 4 years. Prior to putting in storage, we threw on new reference/speed sensors and a new fuel pump as the previous one was seized and it ran for a bit but still seemed off. When replacing the oil, it almost looked like some coolant had mixed with the oil (yikes). Off to storage it went.

Fast forward to now. Finally getting some time back to work on it and dealing with a no start condition. I'm fairly certain it's speed/reference sensor based as I'm receiving no tach bounce when trying to start but it's apparent it's trying to run. I'm hoping it's just a gap situation in which case I'm having extreme trouble getting access to the bolt to loosen the bracket up. Any hints/tips? I didn't think my hands were that fat but this has me second guessing it.

In case I've missed anything else that should cause alarm of if you believe I should look into before moving forward.

Fuel pump is seized again - receiving appropriate voltage but absolutely no activity when power is going to it

Ignition coil voltage/resistance is good to go

DME pins for the reference/speed sensors have good readings

All cylinders reading relatively consistent compression with each other

New battery placed

DME itself doesn't have any apparent issues/rust when popping over and reviewing components

New spark plugs

No apparent issues with the distributor

Gas has been drained and new gas added

Help me out

Based on my research thus far, I think it's a gap issue in the sensors so any help in accessing those bolts to adjust without dropping the engine would be GREATLY appreciated.

Check/bypass your DME relay and see how it goes.

The frozen fuel pump may have killed it.

BTW, how is it going to start if the fuel pump is seized? I assume that you replaced it again?

Fuel pump was replaced - started this morning!

New problem. Cylinders 3 and 4 are misfiring hard. Fairly confident it's fuel injectors BUT while I was running through trying to run through the cause I started to hear an exhaust backfire - while taking a video of the backfire to listen back to, the engine started to idle horribly rough and I started to smell smoke and saw my cab filled with it.

The smoke was coming up through the shifter - any ideas?

Initial thought is a clogged catalytic converter smoking up through the cab and also causing the rough idle and exhaust bbackfire.

I've just finished this hell-hole job. I resorted to using a die grinder to remove the heads of the bolts (covered all holes first). Now that the fasteners are free of any pressure, I could turn them by hand. I had a replacement bracket (with the IR sleeve) in the event I destroyed the original.