1983 Porsche 944 Still no Spark

[onthesolidrock]

We recently acquired a beautiful 944 and are have real difficulty getting spark to the distributor. So far we have:

Replaced coil
New Cap and Rotor
Replaced both speed sensors
New ignition relay

We still can't get spark!

We are not sure what to do next?

Any ideas?

[fiily]

Ah, another beautiful I cannot start my 944 thread. Use the search tool, it works great to help you go down the path many have traveled.

1)DME Relay Bad
2)DME Bad
3)Coil Bad
4)Bad Ignition Switch @ column
5)Don't feel bad, it happens to all of us with these cars sooner or later, be patient and don't throw a ton of $$$ until you determined which part needs replacing.
6)Make sure you grounds are tight, clean and have a good clean ground ****This one is the fastest,easiest, and cheapest way to get a lot of those 30 year old gremlins out the 944(and a fully charged/load tested excellent health battery does it too!)
7)If the above fails, sell it now before you go down the rabbit hole "I just spent thousands of $$$ to replace all of these parts and it still won't start pos 944 rage"


Before you start throwing more $$$ at it, invest in a multimeter if you haven't so yet, it will pay you back in immeasurable ways with a 30+ year old car's brittle wiring and odd no start behaviors too.

Go toClark's Garage Home Page, click on Garage Shop manual, and check out your new #1 website. Read the Troubleshooting guide, and start cracking on those steps to widdle down your issue.

Let us know your findings when you can, and we want a full debriefing @ 0800 hrs.

[veleno]

Have you checked to see if you're getting spark from the cap to the plug? If not, invest in a spark plug tester that goes inline to your plug that will light up showing you have spark to the plugs.

Are you using Clarks Garage to help diagnose as well?

[onthesolidrock]

Thanks for the quick responses . . .

We do not have spark at the spark plugs (We do not have a spark plug tester) we pull the cap and use another spark plug to see if we are getting spark.

We have put in a new DME relay too and even after installing the two new speed / position sensors, we still do not get the much talked about tach bounce. We will go over the grounds and take a look at the ECU / DME unit and see what it looks like inside.

[fiily]

Good luck, bad cold solder joints & 30+ year old electronics brain = nightmare

Here's hoping for the best but preparing for the worst!

[fiily]

Originally Posted by fiily

Good luck, bad cold solder joints & 30+ year old electronics brain = nightmare

Here's hoping for the best but preparing for the worst!

You never mentioned it, but did you have a multimeter? Best $5-10 investment a 944 owner can make on a newly acquired 944.