TA-DAAAAAAAAAAAA .........



........ you are better off re-soldering the entire thing at this point........

was that an "i told ya so" ?

subtle, alex.. real subtle. :P;)

Good to hear that you possibly got it fixed. I am just South of you near Macalester but finished school a couple years back. I only drive the 944 a couple days a week, so if you see a guy in a black 944 or a new silver GTO wave its probably me.

I've been driving heavily for a few days now and now problems whatsoever. It also starts right off, where it would always chug for a few seconds before, even when it was starting properly. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm hoping this is it. I'm finally enjoying my 944 with little anxiety. Thanks, everybody.

So I got the car back from the mechanic a while ago, over a week, and he had soldered in a new pin in the DME or relay or whatever in that assembly has the pins, because the pin that controls power to the coil was burned and it was arcing. As soon as I got the car back I noticed that it fired much quicker when I started it, especially after it had run recently. Over the last couple of days, starting time has increased to a couple of seconds and now the damn thing has gone back to not starting periodically. Of course, it has yet to fail when I actually have my tools and gauges with me. I'm thinking I should bring it back to the mechanic and find out if that same pin is burned once again. Am I right in thinking that a problem with the DME may be causing the pin to burn? (If indeed it is burned again)

too much power draw at the coil or something?

If I weren't leaving out of town on Monday and Grand Ole Days wasn't tomorrow, I would gladly lend you a hand figuring it out as I fought this same battle about a year ago. Hopefully your mechanic can get to the root of it as it sounds like the pin may not have been the culprit after all.

I'll be at Grand Ole Days too! Well, if Metric can't solve it, maybe i'll send you a pm and we can work on it.

My track buddy had a similar problem: the harness had an ever-so-small bare spot that rubbed against the block in the rear of the engine, between it and the firewall. Cost him several thousands of dollars to find a 2 cent fix. His was cutting out whenever it touched.

Why wouldn't you buy a new DME to fit? Must have cost you more than that by now. I keep a spare one in the glove box of the 964 and the 968.
DK

Hasn't cost much more than my sanity so far. How much is a DME? I hear not cheap at all.

a dme wouldn't fit in our glove boxes. lol

Spend the time on following the harness. It's pretty small. If the pin is burned again, you have a problem internally or externally. Also mechanics are all thumbs with a soldering iron. Remove and take it to a electronic service shop. Have them go over it and resolder any suspicous solder joint. There use a large magnifying glass. Just tell them it's from somthing otherm than your Porsche or the price doubles?

O' take the schmatic in with it. There's lots of copies around.

Sounds like you're on the right track if it worked flawless for a while.

Are your saying the mechanic soldered the DME or the DME Relay? If you're not sure you better find out. You can do the DME soldering yourself but if it was the DME Relay it's just better and cost effective to just get a new relay.

Here is a web tutorial that will point anyone that wants to solder the DME in the right direction. You can thank me later ;^)
http://www.rennspeedracing.com/DME_tutorial.html

Really???

UPDATE: Mechanic pulled the DME out and checked the pin he re-soldered. It's still good, not burned like we thought it might be. So the problem persists. He has suggested replacing the DME. This, I can do myself. I'm picking the car up tomorrow and it's back to the drawing board. Does anyone have a corner on a re-manufactured DME? Thankfully I have a new motorcycle, so I can get around without the car, but the only way for me to solve it is to drive it regularly, which I can't do when i need to work. So...I'm leaning towards just replacing the DME. I've heard this isn't cheap, so let me know if you know where I can find a re-manufactured one. Thanks.

i'd try borrowing one, first, to see if it is the problem.

Hello Pete,

I live in Bloomington, I don't know anything about the electrical system in these cars, or any car for that matter. Auto-Edge in Mahtomedi is the undisputed champ as far as expertise on these cars in this area. If you can't do it yourself, and your shop can't fix it, then let them help you. They aren't cheap but they are fair and honest and have an excellent reputation among PCA members who race/track their 944's. They have worked on my car briefly up at BIR and they do a nice job.

from my electronics expeirence,if that pin keeps burning out,that would indicate a short somewhere down the line,if you try another DME and it does the samething that would be the best bet.FYI

It's not an issue of the shop not being able to fix it. The issue is that the shop has trouble duplicating the problem, and I can't have my car in the shop for months at a time.

my 83 944 had the EXACT same problem and it was the ignition switch; forget you wiggle test, it only works when it is first going out. common knowledge: heavy keychains cause ignition switch to wear out early and weird on these cars, this is actually a common problem

UPDATE: A guy from rennlist was nice enough to lend me 2 DME's to test out. I drove my car for 30 minutes this morning, parking it at 10am in partial shade. I went out to start it at 7:15pm, over 9 hours later, and it would not start. This was with one of the borrowed DME's in place. I tried swapping in the other DME. Nothing. I put in my spare DME relay. Nothing. The inside of the car was pretty hot from sitting in the sun all day. I've begun to notice that my problems happen with greater frequency in heat, when the car is warm. The engine had certainly cooled off from the drive 9 hours earlier, but the interior of the car was hot and the exterior felt like it had been warmed a bit by the sun.

Another dead end.

Has the coil ever been changed on your car?

it has.

Did you replace it with an OEM coil? If not most coils do not come with a ballast resistor and the OEM coil for the 944 does. And from what I read if it does not have a resistor it can do damage to the coil or DME.

Here is a good thread that brings this to light.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/354156-944-turbo-msd-ballast-resitr.html

hmm...coil was replaced before I bought the car, but the PO included a spare coil with the car. I believe they are both OEM.

I've replaced or tested with new parts:

ignition wires
dist. cap, rotor
DME relay
DME
removed aftermarket alarm
fuel pressure regulator


I am at a loss. Everything that's been suggested to me has come up a dead end. I was sure this DME thing was going to be it, based on what I've read. I am so frustrated.

Pete, have you tested the speed and reference sensors? I am starting to think there is a very good chance this is your culprit. There is good documentation on Clark's Garage http://www.clarks-garage.com/ on how to do this (IGN-02 Speed and Reference Sensors - Checking, Replacement and Adjustment). If you need help doing this, shoot me a PM. It would not take us long at all to check out.
- Nate

Introduction
Bad ignition switches are becoming a more common cause of starting problems on 944s. So, take a look at your ignition switch and if it's cracked, it's likely the source of your problem This procedure is used for testing purposes to determine the condition of the cranking portion of the ignition switch and the wiring from the ignition switch to the starter.

Tools

Wire jumpers
Multimeter
Testing Procedure


Disconnect the battery positive lead.
Disconnect the electrical plug from the ignition switch.
Check the operation of the cranking contacts on the ignition switch as follows:
Connect an ohmmeter between Terminals 30 and 50 on the ignition switch. If you are unsure which terminals those are, look at the electrical connector for the wires that attach to the ignition switch. If the wires were still connected to the ignition switch, Terminal 30 would be connected to the large diameter Red Wire and Terminal 50 would be connected to the large diameter Red Wire with Black Stripe.
Turn the ignition switch to the start position as if cranking the engine and read the resistance.
The resistance should go from and infinite resistance to approximately 0 ohms when the switch is turned.
If the correct resistance is not obtained the ignition switch is bad and should be replaced.
If the ignition switch checks okay, check the ignition wiring as follows:
Disconnect the wire from the switch terminal on the starter solenoid (bendix).
Make up a jumper to reach from the starter to the ignition switch.
Attach the jumper from the switch lead at the starter solenoid (Red Wire/Black Stripe) to the Terminal on the ignition switch electrical connector with the Red Wire/Black Stripe.
Check the wire resistance with and ohmmeter. It should be approximately 0 ohms (less than 5 ohms). If not, the wire is broken and should be replaced.
Clark's Garage © 1998


i got this from clarks could be something as simple as this,it's worth a shot if nothing else has worked. good luck.