Washed car now no start

wilson234 · 01-26-2016, 08:10 PM

Backed the car out of the garage, gave her a normal wash, water probably got on engine through air vents on deck lid, did not spray water on engine directly. Tried to fire it up to dry in the garage, got a partial start then nothing. Let it dry for hours in the sun, followed by industrial fan on engine compartment thinking it has to be water causing an electrical issue. Checked all fuses, battery showing 12.7 v. I'm going to try the dme relay, but need to buy One first. Coils are new, distributor and rotors new. Ran perfectly for the last few days after about 1.5 months of garage storage as I was replacing the front control arm bushings. One thing that did happen, the battery was dead when I went to start after the hibernation, charged it and got it to fire up. Then ran fine for a few days of commuting. Battery is 5 years old, someone had suggested a weak battery that cranks could cause non start issue because the computer won't give a green light to run because the battery voltage is low. To be it appears to be not getting spark, cranks string, I get gas smell after a few cranks and it not firing. Help! Any suggestions appreciated.

Newsboy · Newsboy's Garage

Check with a tester to see if your getting spark, You can have the battery tested, but 12.7 is fully charged. Not starting after washing could be a coincidence. If no spark,then other things to investigate.
DME would be a guess.

TMc993 · 01-27-2016, 05:09 AM

If you're smelling fuel, then the DME relay is probably functioning normally, but if you want to check your DME relay immediately, just fabricate a 3-wire jumper, remove the DME relay, connect the three jumper ends to slots 30, 87, and 87B, then attempt to start the car. If the car starts, then your DME relay is bad. If it continues to give you the same non-start symptoms, then you can assume the relay is not your problem.

wilson234 · 01-27-2016, 08:45 PM

Update: got a new battery, figured my existing one was approaching the 6 yr mark anyways. No start. Then I pulled a DME relay from my brothers 993, no start. BTW I did do the 3 to 5, 5 to7 dme relay jump prior to swapping the relay (previous night) and it didn't start but I also noticed the wires I used the plastic started to melt. Was very concerned I shorted something, but appears after today's testimg everything is ok. So with no luck, I tested ignition, pulled plug wire off spark plug used old plug and ground to engine. Got spark. While I thought I smelled gas when I was cranking, the amount of cranking I was doing with the garage closed, I think I was just smelling engine vapors, probably would be a lot worst if I was getting fuel. Proceeded to take fuel pump panel off, placed hand on pump while bro cranked engine. Could feel clunk when first cranking and clunk when stop cranking. Seemed odd. So to quiet things down we jumped the fuel pump with the old battery, connecting power to the fuel pump directly. Got a clunk sound but no sounds of it running. I'm assuming this is my problem, I would guess jumping the fuel pump I should hear a constant humming sound and vibration?? Jumped negative to brown wire and positive to green pump wire. Are the 964 pumps rebuildable? Buy new or attempt to have professionally refurbished? Pump was covered with rubber sleeve but I think it's the original pump (from what I read blue pump would indicate original bosch pump).

Cemoto · Cemoto's Garage

I'm going to guess spark plug wires.

Just a guess.

TMc993 · 01-28-2016, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cemoto

I'm going to guess spark plug wires.

Just a guess.

So, all twelve spark plug wires would fail catastrophically at exactly the same time?

gduke2010 · gduke2010's Garage

what about the wiring harness? Mine ran rough after a wash, then ran good after drying. But, would miss and sputter intermittently, then run well for a while. it ended up being a bad wiring harness. the wires are small and brital. the water must have caused one to separate, leaving a bad connection.

wilson234 · 02-06-2016, 09:20 PM

Ended up being dead fuel pump, just random. Going to flush the tank and get a new screen filter for the tank.

I'm assuming the pump died due to sediment, the fuel sender was a bit rusty. What else can rust in the plastic gas tank?

Looked down into the tank from the sender hole, it did appear that the fuel filter for the tank, the mesh was broken down, allowing crap to make it to the fuel pump.