Cleanliness got me in trouble...please help!
 

Hello savvy gang,

Hoping someone can shed some light on this...been restoring my car for a while now, started putting it back together and to get some of the body work and years of grime off the engine I was and degreased it ('83 928S 5speed). Then it wouldn't start.

After checking the components in the engine for water and blowing them off it still wouldn't start. Then I got the bright idea that my fuel pump maybe wasn't getting a signal and wasn't working so I jumped it as per is suggested on the WSM to see if it was the relay. When I put the jumper on and switched the ignition key to the "on" position the starter turned over on itself. I didn't go past the "on" position to the starter it just spun on its own!

So I took the jumper off and then tried the switch in the normal fashion - turning it up to starter and it doesn't do anything.

I'm worried I did some major damage. Is there a relay for the starter? How do I trace the problem?

Any help appreciated:confused

Do you have a fuse and relay chart? go to 928 SPECIALISTS ONLINE STORE - 30,000+ 928 Parts - 928 SUPERCHARGER KITS! to get one. Print out a copy to keep in your car.

Fuel pump relay show to be XVII (lower right just next to the big double relay at the far right)
When you jumper terminals 30 to 87, the fuel pump will pump until you remove the jumper. DO NOT LEAVE the jumper on for extended periods of time. If you have a leaky injector, you could hydrolock your engine with fuel. That would be bad.

When you turn the key, does the engine turn over and not start or not turn over at all?

I think you got your 14 pin connector wet. Don't do that again. :)Make sure its dry before you go back to trying to start the car. You may need to keep your foot hard on the accelerator pedal to as you are turning the engine over to un flood the engine.

You don't have CIS (k-jet) like me, but...

Water in the engine compartment is dangerous to wire health. Using the wiring charts referred to by Stepson and visuals of how gravity will flow water. Check your 14 pin connector for moisture; was there a black plastic cover over the 14 pin and Hot post? If not water could be in th 14 pin connector and the loom (wire bundle).

This connection has many wires including starter, ig switch to starter, alt. Also, some of these wires run downhill from the 14 pin down under to the starter, bat and alt in a loom covered in a seath...a nice tube for water to flow down. Add heating from the engine to the loom and you have conditions for corrosion if the cover is not in place...years of time will help exasperate the condition.

It may be some other cause; but look really good at the 14 pin and the loom.

first, check the ground wires to the engine from the underside of the chassis in the engine bay, on the passenger side. Remove it and thoroughly clean it. Then clean all of the other ground points in the engine bay as well. Use steel wool and get all mating surfaces nice and shiney. Degreasers, like simple green, will corrode these connection points and cause the exact problem that you are describing (I did it myself once - always rinse quickly and well when using a degreaser near ground wire connections). You can do a search here or on rennlist and find the diagram with the ground points; make sure you clean all of them. This is a zero cost first step process any time you have a situation like you described after an engine cleaning with a degreaser.

+1 Always a great suggestion