944 Down For Years - Help

[911nut]

Hello all,
I frequent the 930 board most of the time so I'm new in these parts

I have a co-worker who owns a 1983 944. He has owned the car since 1991 and it has around 40k miles on it; a garage queen.
Unfortunately, it hasn't run in a few years.
It cranks but won't fire up.
He is saying that there is no current going to the DME relay so the fuel pumps won't energize and the ignition will not energize.
Here are the things he's done to resolve the issue:
*bypassed the alarm and tried to start
*replaced both flywheel sensors
*installed a reman ECU
*DME relay replaced multiple times

He did say that if he manually engages the DME relay, the fuel pumps will run.

What would be a logical next step in the troubleshooting?

Thanks.

[kdjones2000]

Check the ignition switch.

[Hoosier Mike]

I have an 1984 944 (no alarm) that sat for 8 yrs.

Last fall, replaced the Reference Mark Sensor from Pelican - #79208-INT (cheapo one $32). Started right up.

[sausagehacker]

The DME relay will still get power from the ignition switch to power up the DME. When the speed sensor sees RPM, the DME will go back to the DME relay and switch on the fuel pump.

So if there's no power going to the DME relay whatsoever (check between pin 86 and pin 85) you have a bad ignition switch. If there IS power there, but not 12v between 85b and 30 during cranking, it could be a bad DME, speed sensor, or DME. I had a reman ECU that would start my car but it would die after 3 seconds - trust, but verify.

[944 Ecology]

Troubleshooting - Engine

[TibetanT]

If the car sat for a long, long time...check the gasoline in the tank as well as the fuel injectors.
It could be varnish in the fuel lines.

Also check to see if the distributor cap and rotor are good. If rotor is not turning when cranking...this could be why no spark.
Also, test fuel pressure at the rail.

Just my .02 cents.
Good luck

[911nut]

Thanks everyone for the responses.
My coworker will be busy in the next few days troubleshooting using all the advice listed here.
I told him that he'd get lots of good advice very quickly and you guys didn't disappoint
I will follow up with findings.
Thanks again.

[dgcantrell]

Like mentioned above, the FIRST thing I'd do is drain the gas. Gas is not made to sit for more than a few months especially with that crappy ethanol in it. Change the fuel filter too as it can accumulate a bit of water inside too. Draining the tank is a snap on these cars since the pickup is right there next to the pump under the cover assembly on the bottom of the tank. Just jack the car up enough to get a 5 gallon bucket under it. Loosen the clamps on the rubber hose that connects the tank to the pump and carefully remove it letting the gas flow into the bucket. Keep another bucket handy just in case there is more fuel in the tank than anticipated. Remove the fuel filter and leave the hose disconnected. Disconnect the two fuel lines on the fuel rail and blow some air back through them to push out any fuel and crap. Drain the fuel out of the fuel rail too. Put everything back together with a new filter and fresh gas (no ethanol gas is preferred if you're not putting the car back on the road anytime soon). Jump the fuel pump section of the DME relay socket to run a few gallons of fuel through the system and push and remaining crap in the lines back to the fuel tank to be filtered out later.

Once you get the ignition issues sorted out, she should be ready to run.

Oh, and one other thing. Remove the timing belt covers and observe the water pump pulley when you're turning the engine over. Make sure it's turning with the belt. The 944S I picked last year had a seized waterpump and fortunately I had the timing belt covers off when I fired it up. The timing belt started smoking after a few seconds and I shut it down to avert disaster..

[Rasta Monsta]

+1 on the ignition switch. . .weak point on the early cars.