Help with Tune up on S2

[besserspat]

OK I have stored the car last year in a rush, I was leaving the country and when I got back the car was running rough, rough idle , uneven acceleration, huge dips in powerband. when I stored the car last year it was running perfectly it was half full of gas, and stayed in a very humid barn for the cold northeastern winter, I know "mea culpa" I did a bad thing to my s2 baby...

that was when I got back in june for two weeks, I had no time to play on the car , and had to leave the country for business again. This poor thing has been sitting in the barn for nearly a year now.

I tought that the rough idle and acceleration could be the bad gas left in the tank, dirty injectors, bad wires etc...

Now that I wil take my time to winterize and use a decent garage to store my S2, I would like to get your input on some stuff about tune up.

the car is a 1989 944 S2 82 000 miles original from a to z.

I planned to replace the DME chip, which one do you recommend?

Replacing the plugs, plug wires and cap , what is the best bang for the money considering my engine is stock , I thought about magnecor 8.5 but people are saying they dont last, dont fit well or simply unclip from the plugs, but this is mostly from people who use them on flat sixes.

what about fuel injector cleaner what you recommend?

I would like to flush the old fuel from the tank but is there a plug? what is the most effective way ?

I would like to change the cam tensionner also and check the valve clearance.

prefered oil filters? etc . just tell me your experiences with your s2s.

thank you.

[gtroth]

What I would do (what I have done) is run through the DME Diagnosis / Troubleshooting guide in the factory service manual and measure everything. So many things can be off and they all interact so you need ground-truth on each thing.

And clean every ground you see (look for them). And look for vacuum leaks. And get your injectors WitchHuntered.

I would also wait till your running well before chipping, of course.

Use Techron injector cleaner in the gas tank, and Mahle oil filters.

Best of luck.

[bleu951]

I would replace the spark plugs and drain the gas tank, put in fresh fuel and add stabilizer if it will sit for more than a few months. Run it for a few minutes and see if it clears up. You may have to have the injectors cleaned if it does not. The wires on the 16v can come apart when trying to remove them, so twist and pull gently.

Magnecor makes very good wires. I have had them on my 951 for 8 years without issues. They do not have the same spark plug boot, but fit just fine. Paragon sells some really nice wires for the 16v engines for a reasonable price.

I would not just start replacing parts until you can identify what is going on. Measure the plug wire resistance, and visually inspect the cap and rotor. Fresh plugs are always a good idea.

There are several things to do before storing it, like changing the oil, flush brake fluid, overinflate the tires, lube the locks/hinges, treat the rubber body seals, remove the battery and put in on a Battery Tender, etc.

[besserspat]

well thats was for sure I was going to get the car running perfect before changing the DME chip etc... I need to baseline the thing before hoping for any Hp increases, anyway i want to keep the car looking stock , this car is like a time capsule for me, so I want it authentic and original.

I will try the plugs and gas, is there a way to drain the tank? a drain plug somewhere? how you guys do it on 944s?

I think more than winterizing the thing asap, i will take my time to heat up the garage and go over the car from a to z, then changing what needs to be changed so it will run like a champ for the spring.

its always nice to get input form people too.

[jgp0rsche]

you have some good info here. I use magnecore's on my 944S. I have used others like the Clewett Eng. wires, which I will never use again. For a chip, I am partial to the 944MAX series. They will be available soon via maxhpkit.com

I was wondering when you were feeling the power "dips". Were you at WOT? The reason I ask is because I've reviewed a number of 944S and S2 dyno charts. Their are 2 power dips, 1 in the 3500rpm range, and one in the 4200rpm range. It just happens to be the nature of the engine. A performance chip can smooth it out some, but not completely.

[besserspat]

no well the thing use to drive very well, its just that after a year in storage with gas tank half full and stored in a very humid environment , the car didnt drive very well , very rough idle , a valvetrain clicking noise that slowly faded , erratic acceleration etc...

I think bad fuel, dirty injectors and plugs are the main reason since the thing ran extremely well before storage.

as for the chip I heard of many chips, even ebay chips are said to be good, i just want to get the best chip available for the s2 since no other mods will be done, I want to keep the car as stock as possible.

thank you.

[callmethewander]

i have an '89 S2 also, and love it. i just put it away for the new york winter, and unfortunately, storage always has some ill effects on any car, more so an almost 20 yr old example. There are definitely things you can and should do, but storage tends to dry out rubber parts; seals, bushings, o-rings, boots etc., so it might help to spray some of the accessible parts with a protectant-sealant. Everything recommended here by others sounds good, but probably more important is what you do when you take the vehicle out of storage. There is no drain plug for the gas tank but if you consider changing the filter, you may be able to remove it and let the pump push the gas out for you (i don't know for sure if this would work, i've never tried it) and then install the new one.
Here is a sure sign it's time to put your baby away for a long winter nap:

[bleu951]

It is fairly easy to drain the gas tank. You have to put the car on stands, and remove the cover from the fuel pump, This will expose the pump and the line from the tank. With a half tank of fuel, you will need several containers to catch ~ 8-9 gallons of fuel. Needless to say, but try to do this outside, and no sources of sparks anywhere close! Have a fire extinquisher close by, just in case.

Store the car with the tank full.

[besserspat]

danke shoen ...