Electrical issues...Help!

[hilljack207]

Hi All,
This is my 1st post. Thank you for an informative website! I have gleaned a ton of useful information so far and I'm impressed at how "kind" you've been to the new folk. It feels good to be a part of a cool community.

I've got a 85.5 944 project I've taken on. I have to say, I'm a motorcycle guy...I can take apart and put together a CBR 1000 transmission with my eyes closed and have a good 20 years of car/bike trouble-shooting and problem solving, but I feel like a high school kid working on his first car with this one. I mean, I feel like I'm all thumbs! But, I'm not giving up. I got the car not running, went thru Clark's Garage a few hundred times and bought a rebuilt DME, fuel pump, check valve, injector rebuild, coil, DME relay, fresh fuel, and vacuum lines and I got it running. It's a great feeling!

My problem is even with a new DME relay I can't get the fuel pump or car to start up without the DME "jumpers" in place. I did the ignition switch test, tested the DME relay socket, checked all the fuses, checked my grounds...I'm convinced it's wiring. I got the sunroof arms to go up and now they don't go up or down. Now the headlights won't go back down. Almost like my car has a mind of it's own. Am I on the right track thinking it's electrical related? Any other ideas? Please go easy on me, I'm doing my best...

HJ

[djnolan]

the first thing coming to mind is the ignition switch or related components? common to the sunroof, headlights, maybe even the fuel pump?

Does the ignition switch ever go bad?

There are full schematics available for these cars...

http://www.cannell.co.uk/944_workshop_Manual/Vol4-electrical.pdf

[DWPorsche944]

Does the car have an alarm? It may need to jumped out.

[hilljack207]

Thank you for the responses...

djnolan I checked the ignition switch and it was good, I will check it again-it makes sense...a lot of stuff gets power thru the ignition switch.

DWporsche944 Good call, it does have an alarm and I had to jump it to get the car to start.

I appreciate the help, It seems like it would be related, sunroof and headlight motor working and now not and fuel pump working when jumped and not with a new DME relay. I'll keep looking. I'm hoping someone will have had the same problem or similar.

[944 Ecology]

The fuel pump will not work if the DME relay is not receiving the proper signal from the DME. When that happens, it usually is a bad circuit in the DME (not the relay).

[Samuraiace]

I had a similar problem. Turned out to be my Alarm control module. It immobilizes your car. kills your fuel pump and a couple other things.

[hilljack207]

Back from my "work" weekend. I'm back digging into my electrical problems. I rechecked my DME relay socket and found I have 12v at 30 but no ground at 85 and 85b. Anyone know what color wires I need to follow and where they might pick up ground? I've looked at several schematics and it's not clear to me...

Thanks

PS I checked the DME connector and the grounds there work.

[hilljack207]

Well, I fixed my electrical problem. I tore the fuse box completely apart, all the layers and copper contacts, and completely cleaned and put it back together. Not a good time at all but now that everything's back together and working, the world is a great place once again. Thanks a ton for the direction, I was pretty much stumped. This is an awesome website!

HJ

[Gawernator]

I laughed when he said high school kid working on his first car, ha..ha

[djnolan]

I was going to suggest cleaning and tightening the 3 ground lugs (brown wires) at the rear of the engine. But I think you have done us one better. Way to go!

[Porsche_951]

My 944 wouldn't start with out the fuel fuse jumped it replaced everything. Turns out is was the DME itself. Runs great now. Have you ever manually adjusted the sunroof? That can mess up the circuit and it doesn't know where it is. A few times my headlights wouldn't go up or down so I just tapped the fuse panel and they worked. They can be some temperamental old cars some days!

[hilljack207]

Thanks. I am amazed at all the variables, but I'm still excited about the challenge. I hope someday it'll all make sense...and if not, I still have you guys!