Died. Cranks but no start

optimusprime · 04:15 PM

Oh boy.

I was backed down my driveway this afternoon, stopped in the road, went to put it in gear and... dead. So, I was temporarily in the middle of the road with a stalled engine. I hastily cranked... and cranked... and cranked... but no dice.

With the help of some kind bystanders, I pushed her back into the drive. An hour later, I tried again... still cranks but no starting. Could I have flooded it in my haste?

Really, I'm hoping so, because there's nothing else good. I did swap out the fuel pump fuse (upper fuse 2) because it was looking a little worn.

EDIT: Possibly a loose battery cable? I'll check on that in a little while.

jmd_forest · 02-28-2008, 05:01 PM

944s have a number of common causes for the symptom you describe: bad DME Relay, bad DME, bad fuel pump or fuse, bad speed/reference sensor or their connection to wiring harness and probably a couple of others I've missed.

Despite the above common issues, cars needs 4 things to start: compression, fuel, spark, and timing. Since you were running, you must have recently had compression, so you can skip that for now. Timing: check through the view port at the front of your cam shaft gear while someone turns over the engine to make sure the timing belt is still intact and the camshaft is turning. Fuel: crack the nut at the front of the fuel rail after turning over the engine a few times. Fuel should spurt out under high pressure. Spark: Pull each spark plug and ground it against the engine block while turning over the engine. Verify spark is present.

Post back with the results and myself of someone will help further.

Loose battery cable?... From your post the car turns over just fine. Failure to turn over would be a better symptom of a loose battery cable.

hermesbooking · 02-28-2008, 06:11 PM

Look at everything real good. I was having the same problems a few weeks ago. It would crank over just fine, had good fuel pressure, had spark. Had to jump the car to get it started. Come to find out after a few times of this happening to me. I was going to replace the battery, figured I would check the alternator at the parts store, just incase. Come to find out the Alternator was BAD! Installed a new one last week and have not had any issues. From this problem I found out from another Pelican that if you dont have the correct power to your injectors, they will not kick off. So you can crank all day, have everything to the rail, spark etc, but won't do any good without the injectors firing. Be sure to check everything real good. Hope this helps, Mike

optimusprime · 02-28-2008, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermesbooking

Look at everything real good. I was having the same problems a few weeks ago. It would crank over just fine, had good fuel pressure, had spark. Had to jump the car to get it started. Come to find out after a few times of this happening to me. I was going to replace the battery, figured I would check the alternator at the parts store, just incase. Come to find out the Alternator was BAD! Installed a new one last week and have not had any issues. From this problem I found out from another Pelican that if you dont have the correct power to your injectors, they will not kick off. So you can crank all day, have everything to the rail, spark etc, but won't do any good without the injectors firing. Be sure to check everything real good. Hope this helps, Mike

Once you jumped it, did it run well? I ask because, if this is my problem, I have about 20 miles to get to my shop of choice, or 100 miles to my brother's garage where we can do the work ourselves.

Razorback1980 · Razorback1980's Garage

Check the fire and fuel as jmd described...that will tell the answer.

martin944 · 02-29-2008, 05:38 AM

that happened to me a couple weeks ago. But, mine was because i ran out of gas. my fuel gauge ia a bit off. so I usually go by the mileage before I fill up, which is about 350 miles/tank full with a mix of fun/city/a bit of highway driving. I guess I was pushing it a bit, my mileage was about 340ish when it stalled out. The worst part was that the gas station only had gallon size containers, which they were selling for $10. I wanted to get at least 2 gallons in there to make sure the fuel gets to the injectors. So 2 gallons of gas cost me about $26 bucks.

Razorback1980 · Razorback1980's Garage

Ouch...Expensive lesson!

martin944 · 07:16 PM

live and learn, .... when mine stalled, i felt that timing belt/broken cam tensioner chill up my spine.

nynor · 02-29-2008, 06:44 PM

this happened to me. it was the timing belt.

mattdavis11 · 02-29-2008, 07:19 PM

Does it sound like a sewing machine? Check the wires at the terminals, but if you have tach, that's most likely not the problem.

new driver · 03-01-2008, 07:14 PM

most likely the dme fuel pump relay , 2nd one of the crank sensors , the dme relay can be crossed if you know just short out the relay , the cover can be removed and the realy can be bypassed with small wi re , or borrow one from friend crank sensor is expensive see if you canfind used one or borrow one 95 times out of 100it is one of these two , according to my long time porsche shop and my own experience hint keep dme fuel relay spare in glove box or learn how to cross wires to bypass thisrelay if it goes bad if either or both of these goes out you will sit fover until they are replaced btw do notexpect your shopor a porsche dealer to know this my friend spent 1200 bucks at porsche dea;ership and car still would not start it wasthe dme fuel pump relay fixed for less than 60 bucks after 3 weeks a ride home from the rdu airort and 1200 at local porsche dealers for hi goodto see you but we cannot start your car!