924S Startup Issue
 

My 88 924S, 70K miles won't start. This had happened a couple times over the past week and when I did some exploring under the hood I jiggled the cover of the ignition coil, which appeared to be the only thing out of place. (I know very little about fixing cars, by the way). Apparently that did the trick, though, because it started.

When it totally died I decided to get deeper into this area thinking maybe there was a loose connection. That doesn't seem to be the case and all other wires are fine.

So the car won't turn over and I've got a full battery. I get a click, click when I turn the key.

Could it be the starter? The ignition coil? The distributor? Anyone ever have this problem?

Thanks,
- Jim

The problem is most likely the wiring or the starter solenoid but most likely to be wiring. Check and clean all battery cable ends especially the ground. If that doesn't work then drop the starter and take it to the auto parts store for checking.

Thanks for the input. Had limited time and light after work, but I checked the battery and a couple grounds. Got under it and I think there's a good chance it's the starter.

It clicks once when I try to turn it over and it sounds like its coming from down there.

Are you sure the battery is fully charged? The "click,click" is your starter solenoid making the big cable connection to the starter. Check grounds and pos. cable to starter.
My money is on the battery. Check the simple stuff first.......

i bought a brand new battery..
once it just ran out and never again held a charge.. had to claim the warranty... these things happen.. and i hear the return rate on car batteries is pretty high...

If you wiggle the coil and it fires then have a look at the coil. Pull the center wire off and look for corrosion. Then clean the ground at the battery terminal, short cable to the firewall. Clean/repair the terminals on the battery cables.

I had this issue and the coil post was corroded and cracked and would sometimes start other times not.

Clean the starter posts and run a secondary neg cable from the starter to the bellhousing.

Dal

Thanks again everyone. We jumped the battery and tried starting off my daily driver and still nothing, so I don't think its the battery.

I'm going to look at the grounds, the coil (which is pretty clean) and the starter, which is not. I'm hoping its the starter. Looks fairly easy to replace (I hope!)

Bet you have an after market terminal on the positive side of the battery. These have the large cable clamped on rather than swedged and soldered into the terminal. The cable becomes corroded as well as the smaller red ten gauge wires. This reduces the current that the starter can draw. Note that the large cable is for the 200 plus amps the starter needs. The red ten gauge wires are what feed the rest of the car.

Hey Jim, If you have a volt meter, check your battery to make sure it's about 14Volts. Then put it on the bigger post on the starter solenoid. If you don't have 14Volts there, you need to look at all the positive wiring connections. Then change to ohms and put one lead on the starter housing and one lead on the negative side of the battery...if you don't read 0 on the meter, start cleaning grounds. If both those check good, then it's probably the starter. Take it off and have it checked at the FLAPS. FWIW ...when my battery was bad, it wouldn't jump start either.

A little direction for the mechanically challenged. As stated, clean all connections, power and ground. Measure DC at starter, both pos. and neg. Now, I've done a lot of cars and it's usually the started solinoid. It is a magnetic/ DC coil that pushes of pulls, depending on the car, a copper contact that conects the battery terminal to the started motor. A click is ussually a worn contact of bad solinoid. It's trying to make contact but is not. A tap on the side usually gets it working a couple times if your stuck somewere but needs immediat repair. In American cars the starter dis cheap and copper contact plates are $1. Never done a Porsche starter though. Take it out and take it to a local shop. Don't go to the local Autozone or such thing. They can test it hole but have no idea what causes the fault. Look up starter or generator in the yellow pages. They always test them for free for me. Most also carry Bosche parts.

Same starter design. Just a bit harder to get into. Think you have to unsolder a wire.

Most of the time it's the large cable at the battery, then the starter switch and finally the starter.

Got under the car today with a voltmeter. It looks like the starter is getting about 12V. The battery was putting out 12.7V. The grounds appear to be fine. The power and ground connection were dirty at the starter solenoid so we cleaned those up but still nothing. We didn't do anything as sophisticated as Razorback suggested, but I think we have a good idea that it's the starter.

I'm going to take out the starter and have it looked at. I really don't mind picking up another if that's the problem and it will be a reliable fix.


Thanks for everyone's advice.

Good decision, pull out the starter and have it tested. It can also be rebuilt, probably by the same guys that test it You may save a few bucks.


Jon