cheetah chrome

ok heres the deal.... when driving my car and making somewhat spirited right turns my car cuts out and dies....i pull over to the side...stop for a minute and car starts up fine. i thought maybe i was starving the motor of gas but the fuel rail gauge after each time this happened was a solid 45 psi. i repeatedly felt the passenger side floor to see if the dme/klr were getting hot but the floor was always cool. i went down some back roads fairly close to home to test it and left turns fine, rights the car dies. im certain its electrical...but what??? i've heard of the dme relay going bad but i thought the car just dies. any suggestions.....i've also developed a slight coolant leak somewhere up front <img border="0" alt="[oops]" title="" src="graemlins/oops.gif" /> this really isnt what i need two weeks before hershey, especially when i have to drop the car off at the body shop this weekend to get the fenders ground and some other minor work. what do you guys think???

edit....now im outside looking at the car and trying to hunt down this coolant leak...while im searching (cars cooling down at the time) and i hear a very loud crack....i know thermal expansion is some pretty unpredictable stuff...but what the hell made that noise?? it was loud

Jeff928S4

Is there coolant around the waterpump? Not saying that it is leaking, but that lil' hose that returns hot coolant from the back of the engine sometimes leaks and drips down below the waterpump.

My car tends to drop idle when taking right hand turns - pisses me off!!! Have no clue what it is - maybe dirt in the gastank or something.

944S Boyeee

mideastmafia

is the car low on oil?

SHAUN

83na944

Check the ignition switch. It's easy to overlook as a source of strange problems.

I struggled with my car cutting out (though not just turning) for two years until it finally stopped one day and I couldn't start it. The dealer replaced the electrical portion, everything was fine.

Jay W

Had the ignition switch on a car (67 firebird) and it would just die intermittently and then after coasting to the side of the road it would just start right back up. Very hard to diagnose when it 'fixes itself' every time. Maybe you could put a test light on the positive side of the coil and watch it while you drive. Put a fuse in there so you dont burn the car down if you use the test light. Also the 924S did a similar thing and when it would die all I had to do was bang on the DME (its right under the steering wheel on a 924S) and the engine would kick back on.

Jay W

PS a catalytic converter cooling down can make quite a cracking noise, my 928 makes all kinds of noise after I leave the car.

cheetah chrome

as for the coolant leak...im gonna chase down the source tomorrow. i've done (and have had) alot of work done on the car in the last week like motor mounts, ps rack, ps hoses...hopefully its just a hose that didn't get fully tightened on reassembly.

its definatly an issue when car is turning right...which has me confused as hell. tomorrow i also plan on opening up the electrical connections in the engine bay and brass brushing and electrolytic compounding the leads.

i don't think its dirt in the tank...fuel filter is brand new too. im certain its electrical, right as i am exiting the right turn the engine cuts out...dead...

oil starvation isnt an issue...oil pressure was good all day and levels are correct....less than 300 miles since i did LOF

i'm going to look into the ignition switch...does anyone have a electrical test procedure for the switch...i like the idea of testing the positive lead on the coil while im driving...i'll check all the leads tomorrow and see if i can rig up test light w/ an inline fuse tomorrow. anyone have part numbers for the electrical portion of the ignition switch for an 87 951?

i felt the floor multiple time to see if the DME was overheating (stayed cool the whole time) but didnt go banging away....i remember ribs saying he would keep a bar in his car just for the occasional on the fly fix...

thanks for the he

Micah

Also, check your battery cables. The "crack" may have been coolant escaping through your expansion tank cap.

Micah

cheetah chrome

battery cables...will do

i was snooping around for the coolant leak when i heard the crack...sounded like under car

Luis de Prat

Years ago I remember reading an article in Excellence about an early 944 that had a similar problem on turns and right-hand highway off ramps.

In that car, it was a fuel-starvation problem caused by a bad electrical connection. IIRC, in the early cars (not sure about your 87) there is a fuel-related electrical connection behind the carpeting near the hood release latch that can cease to make good contact and cause the fuel pump to cut out intermittently.

Apparently, the right-hand turns had something to do with the fuel pump having to work harder because of the way the fuel is delivered to the front of the car relative to the position of the tank.

I'm saying all this strictly from memory, but maybe it will help you out, given that you already think it's electrical. The Excellence guys had a heck of a time figuring this out, btw.

Best of luck to you, man.

GOBOGIE

I kinda agree with Luis. Sounds fuel related! Obviously just a hunch though!

cheetah chrome

i've been busier than i thought i would be today so i havent got a chance to play w/ it yet. the thing that makes me think its electrical is i always have 3 bar of fuel pressure (gauge is right on the rail). my fuel system is pretty much brand new....new filter, lines, fpr, damper, cleaned injectors. gives me more places to look ...thanks

M758

I had a similar problem on my race car.

It would die coming out of right hand corners on the track. It would then get better on the straight. If I went very slow it was ok.

I found that I had a round plastic "cap" like object in my fuel tank. It was just large enough to fill the hole to the lower bowl in the tank where the fuel is drawn from. My guess is that it would plug up that hole and then fuel pump would eventauly pump the bowl dry.

I foung the object by looking in the tank from the hole used for the fuel level sender. I then used a long finger stick and pulled it out.

Only about a year later when tracking down a fuel leakage issue out the filler cap did a realize where the "cap" had come from.

The filler neck includes a white plastic float that effectively closes off the filler neck when fluid hits it. This ineffect blocks the bulk of the gas from reaching the top of the filler neck.

Well you guessed it. The "cap" was really the bottom part of the float. It had cracked over time and had fallen in the bottom of the tank.