Starter problems. Need Help!
 

Hello. This is my first time posting on this forum and I hope you guys can help me. I have an '83 Porsche 944. When I brought it out from storage a few weeks ago it wouldn't start, so I jumped it and finally got it to start after trying many times. I let it run for a bit to recharge the battery and then turned it off and tried to restart it. The battery was charged (it's actually a new battery) but I heard absolutely no sound from the starter motor; no clicking or anything. I did a little research and found that the problem was most likely my starter, so I ordered a new one and installed it. Now it is starting just fine when it is connected to my truck with jumper cables, but it won't start on it's own. The battery seems to be charged and I can now hear the starter motor winding, but for some reason it won't engage the engine unless the jumper cables are hooked up. This has me really baffled. Thanks for the help.

-Josh

Clean the grounds from the back of the engine to the chassis and the anchor point on the chassis for the ground from the battery.

Otherwise you may have a bad ignition switch.

Cool, I'll give that a try tomorrow. That makes a lot of sense as to why it would work with the jumper cables hooked up.

-Josh

What type of connector is on the positive cable at the battery?

If it's an after market one that clamps the cable under a metal plate with two bolts you need to replace it and the cable. The cable should be solderd into the connector and the smaller red wires should clamp onto and extension of the clamping bolt.

SoCal is spot on with this one, the starter motor need a certain amount of power to "spin up" the gear that engages the flywheel, sounds like you just don't have enough juice getting to the starter itself.

Resistance Is Futile!