bnen911

Hello Again. My 86 911 has been running great lately, but after a 100k run this morning and a couple hours in the garage it would not even turn over this afternoon. Heard the wrrrr of the fuel pump but not even a click from the starter. Tried my spare DME relay and checked fuses but no go.

New starter?

Thanks.. Ian..

Reiver

Give the solenoid a tap...might start. If so then you've found the issue.

bnen911

Yes, tried that. Cleaned the connections too..

Reiver

Probably that as long as your key switch is operating properly....upgrade to a lighter high torque model.

oldskewel

I had an intermittent problem like that once that turned out to be a bad battery. It was an Optima, and I assumed it was good since it was new, so I spent about a year dealing with intermittent failure-to-start, replacing grounds, cleaning/testing everything, then finally narrowed it to the battery.

It was similar to your case - everything seemed fine before cranking - fuel pump, lights, gauges, etc. all were fine, then when trying to crank ... nothing. I found that hooking up to another car with jumper cables would make it start instantly and perfectly as if nothing at all was wrong.

Just a data point to consider. If you can easily swap in a different battery to see if the problem goes away, that's how I solved my problem.

oprevot

I Had the same problem with my 86 Carrera. I replaced the starter with a new lighter high torque one. It was just time.

theiceman

i know these optima batteries are smaller , lighter and wont leak acid in our precious cars, but they seem to have a dispraportionately high failure rate. i seem to hear of them failing more often than i would expect.

Reiver

I've used them for 13 years now with no issue. I'm a fan.

bnen911

Thanks for the info. I will try a jump and if that doesn't help it's a starter rebuild I guess. That bolt on top is a bitch to get at I gotta say. The socket I have is too fat so I need to get something narrow so it goes in strait, thats were I am at.

Cheers..

theiceman

Yeah that has come up before .. people talk about hugging the transmision and taking small bites, all sounds kinda kinky to me tho ..

bnen911

Ha Ha, just borrowed a more narrow socket, johnson bar, 45 minutes of wrestling and yeah! Out it came. Off the the rebuilder!!

bnen911

Oh Crap, I was getting cocky.. Rebuilder said there is nothing wrong with the starter. Now what?

theiceman

well if it is an intermitent solenoid problem your rebuilder is not going to see it .. but that said ..

did you verify you have 12v on the yellow wire from the ignition when you put the key in "start" mode ?

that is what fires the solenoid, this could mean flaky ignition switch or wiring. The problem is if its intermitent all this is going to be tough .
Also i had an issue once where the bolt was real tight for the battery terminal but the wire still lifted off the terminal with ease, i had to create more " squish", by playing with the lead.

bnen911

Thanks for the help iceman but I learned something today, very embarrassed to say but, when I put the stater back in I REALLY cleaned all the wiring terminals and the (ground strap), didn't do the ground strap till now, fired right up, five times. I hope that's it. Touch wood, I will keep you posted.



Thanks Again!!