nj924s87

Hi all,

Been a few years since I last posted here, doubt anyone remembers me but was using my car more for daily driving than autocrossing as I became a boring old man.

Anyway, about two months ago my clutch broke. I had it towed thinking it was just the cylinders but after replacing those the shop said that something has fused together and the whole clutch needs replacing, and then they said $2,000 for that. Unfortunately, not worth it. Had it towed home to sit until the weather warmed so I could see if I wanted to do it myself.

Today, I went to do it myself...but a new problem, it won't start. It started and ran fine before (actually got it back from the shop with a dead battery, don't know if I should look into that more as it was on it's way out). I got a new battery as the old one seemed to be dead, but before that I tried to jump start, and that didn't work. Put the new battery in and now it cranks really fast, but doesn't start.

I think this is faster than normal. Since I've had the car, it has always been a rather rythmic vroom pause vroom pause start. Now it's like a vrrr vrrr vrrr vrrr and no start. I'm pretty sure I have fuel and spark, but havn't done actual tests cause I forget how to do them without making a huge mess or electruciting myself. Fuel pump is working.

So any ideas, or shall I just get ready to part it out?

Thanks!

Scott

whalebird

look to see if the cam belt has broken. Should be a small access hole just above the distributor cap. Have a buddy turn the key and you look to see if the cam turns.

nj924s87

I'll be able to test with a buddy tomorrow, but I checked the belt (cam and timing belt are the same thing, right?) through the hole and gave it a gentle poke and it seems nice and tight. Will update tomorrow, but thanks for the idea. Any others, as I'd very much like it to be something other than a timing belt failure! :-)

nj924s87

Timing belt turns, yay!

Will be off doing more mundane spark and fuel tests as that's about all that is left. Would fuel sitting in the tank for two months go bad and f things up? I thought two to three months was ok, but that is the only other thing that makes sense right now.

Thanks.

Scott

tod84944

Is your tach bouncing when you crank the car??? When the shop looked at the clutch, what all did they take apart?? To take the bellhousing off, they would have to pull up the crank position sensors. they might not have put them back on. If all is good with the sensors, and the tach is not moving any when cranking, check the dme relay.

tod84944

And..... fuel that is 2 or 3 months old would be fine. No telling how old the stuff is that we buy at the mini mart. Where are you located???

nj924s87

Thanks for the ideas! I read some other posts and couldn't quite figure out the tach bouncing. It wiggles a bit, but hardly moves up the counter, but the wiggling is certainly cause by trying to start.

I don't know exactly what they took apart for the clutch, we had a bit of a falling out over this. I told them to make sure it's just the hydraulic stuff as if it needs an entire clutch replacement I don't want them to do it (I can buy another entire 924S for those labor charges!). They told me yeah, yeah, replaced the master and slave (the pedal is now up, but will not depress down) and that's when they called me back and said no good. They did tell me the car would start in gear and move, so something must be wrong with the plates/release bearing and thus needs a whole new clutch. So that's all I know there unfortunately. I don't think they took the bellhousing off.

I don't think it's the DME relay as I do get the movement (and I replaced it just a year ago, so am lacking the glove box spare for the moment!)

I'm located in NJ and get my fuel from a pretty highly trafficed (read low priced) place, so I would guess it's pretty fresh when it goes in my tank, which is why I didn't think that was the problem.

It's sparking at the one plug I tested and the fuel pump sounds like it's going at the begining (and it def has power), so I'm puzzled again/still.

nj924s87

Ah, one other bit I forgot to mention was that the cooling fan relay is probably defective. I think that's how my battery got busted, as sometimes the fan would not shut off after a long drive. That has been happening for quite some time but I guess was normally stuck in the 'on' position (I would physically unplug the battery when I parked for long periods of time, I'm sure I looked ridiculous on a biz trip to snowy Boston, parking on the street, climbing a mountain of plowed up slow, filling the meter, lifting the hood, pulling the cable, and walking away like all is right in the world). Would the switch being stuck in the 'off' position prevent it from actually starting? I wouldn't think so, but who knows....even twenty year old cars seem to be smarter than me.

nj924s87

Aaaaaand the reason I haven't fixed that yet (i know it's cheap) is because it's such a pain to get to! Anyone have any tricks for this one without pulling a bunch of stuff out?

nj924s87

Hmm...checked a few more things and it looks like the spark and such is in order. Does anyone know what the symptoms of a cooked DME computer would be? I was jumping my car quite a bit the past year (before I figured out my defective fan switch/relay) and tried to do that before I bought the new battery...maybe that's what happened? Any easy way to test for that?