944 S2 wouldn't idle, now won't run

[AusShinDig]

Sorry, this is a bit of a long one.

So I let a mate of mine do some work on my S2 at the start of the year. He's relatively experienced and has done engine and gearbox rebuilding before, but he was rushing things, made a mistake and mucked up the timing, bending all the valves.

I finally got the money and parts together and rebuilt everything. I had the head redone by a specialist shop but everything else I did myself with only a little bit of help from a mechanic friend for the head torquing and timing, plus a lot of advice. I've never done anything like this before, but we took it slowly and did lots of reading.

My father and I started the car up the other night for the first time and sounded fine. It started up instantly, no problems at all. We wanted to let it run for a while to check everything was ok, so it sat idling for about 20 minutes. Oil pressure good, temperature good, no warning lights. Then we gave it some revs up to about 2500, all good. Revved it a bit up to 4500, all good.

It sat idling for another 5 minutes and then just stopped. No nasty noises, just turned off like someone had turned the key off. Started it back up ok, but it immediately dies. Start it back up and give it some light throttle. Seems ok. Give it some revs up to 2500, all good. But I then took my foot off the throttle, revs dropped quick, engine dies and there's a bit of a nasty metallic sound.

Disconnected the spark plug leads and tried turning it over. Silence for a few seconds. Then the starter motor started turning the engine over. Everything sounds ok. A few hours later we tried to start the car again, turns over ok but won't start.

The battery is a bit old, but we tested it at 12V, and all my electrics work including the windows, radio, etc. Bit confused that earlier the starter motor took a few seconds to respond though.

The car has also sat almost on empty for the past 8 months. I put 10L of fuel in just before we started it. Maybe some gunk got dislodged and caught in the filter. Seems strange that I could rev it before though, and it just died on idle. If it wasn't getting fuel surely it wouldn't have run at all.

This whole situation has been pretty stressful and now I'm at a loss as to what the issue is, any ideas?

[jhowell371]

Did you swap out your DME relay or try the jumper wire method? Are you getting tach needle bounce when you crank it over? Can you keep it running with starter fluid? If so check everything fuel related, if you have fuel than check all your electrical connections and grounds. Hall unit and reference sensor can wait till you try the simple stuff? Something else to check.
Ignition issue specific to the S/S2 - Rennlist Discussion Forums

[ramius665]

Try jumpering the DME relay (search is your friend here) to see if it helps. I bought a 944S which sat for a number of years without use. I went through three fuel pumps before I figured out there was some sort of debris in my tank which kept clogging the fuel pump. Might check and see if you can jumper the fuel pump and hear if it is whirring.

[v2rocket_aka944]

check your ignition switch.

[AusShinDig]

Checked the car out last night. Not good. I'm really confused as to what went wrong, but something has moved or slipped and the timing is totally messed up, which means bent valves... again. Back to square one!