Update: fixed linkage still small problem

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 05:45 AM

Alright guys,

first I want to say thank you SO much for the help you guys have already offered...I fixed the transaxle linkage today...the bolt wasn't even going in to the transaxle part of the linkage...it was just tightened down on to it....

So I fixed that and voilà car shifts perfectly with and without the clutch...

I lowered the car and found out that 2 of the tires won't hold air..:-/

the first time I started it it die within a few seconds...the second time it idled for a good minute or so, do I put it in reverse and backed it out of the garage ...success. The clutch and transaxle worked fine. So I turned the car off...and started it again. This time 3 starts In a row it idled about 1000 rpms and then dropped down to 900 and 800 all the way down around 5 or 6 where the car dies.

It seems random. Sometimes I'll start the car and it idles for two minutes and dies and sometimes it doesn't idle, it just starts then dies.

I was able to start it and pull back into the garage...where I let it run and after about two minutes I notced the smoking from the passenger side of the engine again.

I think I'm going to go get some new tires so i can at least drive it a few miles, but that smoking is really scaring me...

Nothing was smoking before I started the job...but at the same time it wasn't this cold so maybe it wasn't as visible...I don't really know. I'm going to post a video in a few secs so you guys can HEAR exactly what it's doing.

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 05:50 AM

YouTube - Porsche 944 no start

there's a link to the video...I tried to record the sound too so you can sort of listen to what it's doing.

John_AZ · 11-06-2009, 06:05 AM

Great to hear about the clutch!

Passenger side smoke. Look at the rear cam cork gasket and see if the 3 bolts have worked loose. Gently tighten and if it helps, order a new gasket.

Did you purchase new exhaust manifold flange gaskets? If you reused the old, they may be leaking.

3rd place to check is the cam housing gasket. Retorque the cam bolts to spec. If you got a tool kit with the car, there is a long 6mm allen wrench in the kit.
NOTE: The bolts may need to be "waked up. Tap the bolt head before you retorque.
NOTE 2: Do not improvise and try to use a small socket and allen wrench inside the cam housing. It will fall off and drop in the housing.

Engine.

Go over all vacuum lines on top of the engine. Check the injector connections for cracked wires and bent connections. Recheck the sensor connections for correct sensor to wire match.
Look at the throttle body, any damage? Go over everything. Check the resistance on each sensor per Clarks.

Nice job on the clutch.
John_AZ

John_AZ · 11-06-2009, 06:10 AM

It sounds like a fuel problem. Check the vacuum lines to the FPR and fuel damper. Injectors.
Does the car stay running with your foot on the petal?

SolReaver · 11-06-2009, 08:16 AM

X 2 on the vacuum lines, you might have missed something. Could you hook up a vac gage? can you rev the engine with the throttle?

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 08:45 AM

Alright Guys,

I think I have a fuel supply problem too. Here's an update. I went and bought new tires and took the thing for a test drive around the neighborhood.

Good thing is...no more smoke from the passenger side. Maybe something dripped down on the exhaust and that was just burning off causing the initial smoke.

The car started okay...It died the first time. Once I got in gear and moving it was okay...what I noticed however is that almost every time I NEAR or go Over 3000 RPMs the car starts sputtering and doesn't want to accelerate almost like theres no gas getting to the engine. I got up to 4th gear around 50 mph but I don't want to do more than that in the neighborhood, and I don't want to explode in the middle of an intersection...lol

In any gear it seems though, as soon as I hit 3000 rpm, the car sputters. Also, when I FIRST started driving it, it wouldn't die when I left off the gas...towards the end of the run, the car was fine between 1-3k rpms in any gear, but as soon as I let off the gas the car would die and I have to turn it off and restart it.

Anyone have a pic of the engine bay that can circle all of the vacuum lines and connections I should be checking...I pretty much have no idea when it comes to engines...lol.

Thanks for the help,

Matt

SolReaver · 11-06-2009, 10:26 AM

Well, if it is not getting enough fuel, it could be as simple as a fuel filter or as complex as the Pump Relay. clean the connections to the fuel pump and check to see that the hose coming from the gas tank is not kinked. Think about doing the Fuel filter if you don't know how old it is. Think about dumping the tank and cleaning the screen filter in the tank as well. I have seen some that are real ugly.

I might be able to get a pic later on. But for now stick with the simple stuff. You know what you touched, go over it again with a clear head and methodically trace the lines and hoses. there is a vac diagram sticker that will guide you. A common mistake is to not connect the little breather on the under side of the j boot. I have missed this one myself. Start at the Air cleaner and work your way back along the air flow. Take it apart again if you need to get in there. Make sure everything "sits in" nicely. Sometimes soapy water is used to slide the j boot on the throttle body. Take the opportunity to clean your TB while you have it all apart.

A vac gage would quickly confirm or rule out a vac problem. a Fuel pressure gage would quickly confirm or rule out Fuel problems.

Oh, and I am assuming your air filter is not totally clogged.

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 10:40 AM

Well here's exactly what happens.

Sometimes I start the car and it dies immediately...

If I start the car in gear and give it some gas I can get it to start and go every time.

If I SLOWLY decelerate I can keep the car from dying while sitting at a stop sign or red light.

If I have to suddenly let off the gas all the way, the battery light comes on then the oil light and the car dies,but if I'm lucky I can downshift and when I let off the clutch the car kicks back on....

If I mess with the throttle under the hood with the car running I can keep or going...

And last but not least if i'm accelerating I can't go past 3k rpms... I have to shift up.... It's really wierd because you hear the engine getting higher and higher as the car accelerates but as soon as the car hits 3k it either sputters or plateaus and no matter how far down you push the accelerator, there's no power.

SolReaver · 11-06-2009, 10:56 AM

Is the Battery fully charged? are you charging at 14.3 volts? (or thereabouts)

Ok, First rule out the vacu thing. Then Fuel, and check voltage. It could be more than one problem and we need to rule out few things.

jacketfan89 · 12:11 PM

So I posted my problem over at rennlist as well and I got an interesting response...

He told me to check where the negative battery grounds to the clutch housing....

I'm at work now, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't tighten that bolt all the way down because I didn't have a wrench handy... If the negative battery ( and something else that grounds on that same point) isn't making a tight connection, could that REALLY be causing my problem???

SolReaver · 11-06-2009, 12:31 PM

I think he is referring to what I call the PITA ground. Yes, this nasty little bugger can cause all sorts of problems. My apologies when earlier I just said "grounds?"

I SHOULD have said "check all the grounds, Especially that Pain in the Ass , hard to get to ground that runs to the dark, inacessable area. I give it a good cleaning and lock nut it in place AND THEN smear sealant all over it to seal it from the elements.

Yea, If that isn't connected, the car will not be a happy camper. Spend the time, aggrivation, and scraped knuckles to make sure it is clean and securely attached.

While there.. Check the vac stuff as mentioned before, Battery terminals (can't hurt) running voltage, fuel line at the gas tank for kinking...you know the drill. Let us know what you have done so we don't keep mentioning it and drone on and on..

Good luck..you are on track.

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 12:44 PM

I'm willing to bet that that damn ground cable is my problem...I didn't really mess with anything else on the engine and I'm absolutely sure that it's not making a good connection...I just put the bolt in enough where it would stay and I was going to go back later and tighten...

I just figured that a bad ground connection would cause electrical problems not dying engines and power problems!

SolReaver · 11-06-2009, 12:57 PM

Ya never know. A bad ground could cause voltage problems that would affect the FI system. In abundance of caution I run an extra ground just to be sure. 928 Folk are always concerned with grounding problems. A number of sensors transmit their voltage relative to ground, and so there could be a number of components unhappy with the situation (including the brain). The ignition system spark ground out to the block and with no where to go...well you catch my drift at this point.

It is what you don't do right that comes back to bite you on these cars. Let us know what happens. Even if it doesn't solve the problem...It needs to be done.

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 01:03 PM

Well let's cross our fingers that this fixes it...lol

John_AZ · 03:13 PM

Put a piece of tape over the TDC hole if you remove the negative ground. You do not want a bolt falling into the bell housing. I am crossing my fingers too.

EDIT: There is a 2nd smaller ground next to/near by the Neg Cable. Make sure that ground is also tight

GL
John_AZ

jacketfan89 · 11-06-2009, 03:15 PM

I'm willing to bet this is the problem...as the problems are intermittent...for example, at one point when I started the car it idled great and SOMETIMES I can get up to 4500 rpms where other times it won't pass 2800...probably because the movement of the car is causing a good connection everynow and then.

jacketfan89 · 05:58 AM

Well....that wasn't the problem.

I went home last night and I was going to pull the car into the garage and tighten up the grounding bolt. For some reason I could not get the car to even stay running. It would start, idle up to about 1k, and drop down to 0.

I got a flash light and for some magical reason the light under the hood worked. I tightened down all the grounding wires...I tried to tighten up the battery connections as the positive connection is a little loose, but every time I put the wrench on the bolt I got a lot of sparks from the battery...is this normal? I've never had a battery spark before from tightening the terminal connections...

Anyways, I was going to ask if a dying battery COULD even cause any of the problems I'm having.

As you know yesterday afternoon around 1 I drove the car around for about an hour with it cutting off just to see if maybe after it warmed up it would do better..well I parked the car in the driveway and let it sit while I went to work...

I got home about 10:15 and like I said when I tried to start it, I couldn't keep it running. It was doing something a little different when I was starting it though.

Earlier in the day I would turn the key, it would turn over, then it would make a little whining sound like the battery was going dead for a second or two and then it'd crank and idle...and if I gave it gas it'd stay running...

Last night it was different...at first it did pretty much the same thing but it made the dying battery sound for longer before it'd start....

I rolled thecar to the street so I wouldn't wake anyone uptrying to crank it...

The more I tried to crank it, the longer and longer it would make that raaaaw raaaaw raaaaw dying battery sound when I turned the key. It got to the point where the car almost wouldn't start...I got lucky on one of my 30 times trying to start the car and I was able to start it in reverse and hold the gas enough to BARELY keep it running enough to get it back up the driveway.

It sounds like my battery is dying to me. Towards the end when I was trying to start it he headlights and inside lights seemed really d and the warning buzzer for the open door sounded weak.

I'm going to take my battery up to autozone and let them test it but I wanted to make sure that a dying battery could even cause my no power at 3k rpm problem.

P.s how do I get the battery out with it sparking like that? Lol

SolReaver · 11-07-2009, 07:03 AM

Duuude...Automotive 101..T tighten the positive lead AFTER you disconnect the negative lead. AFTER the pos it tight connect the negative, otherwise you will be practicing your arc welding using your wrench.

Yea, test the battery, have it fully charged. While it is out go through the connections, grounds, and Vacuum stuff. (ALLL of it) Double check your Sensors.

jacketfan89 · 11-07-2009, 08:12 AM

I just don't understand...the car ran fine before the clutch went out...it has to be something
minor...it can't be anything that wears down as nothing couldve worn because the car was on jackstands
for almost 2 months. I really hope the battery is bad.

SolReaver · 11-07-2009, 09:26 AM

Yea batteries can go belly up just sitting there. Have it checked and load tested. With the car running you should see 14 v or so.