Hollywood D

I changed the stoopit dme relay just now and the car fired up after being down for the past 2 weeks. The original one was still in there. Haha, I got one over on you Porsche!! But my street is still covered in ice and snow from the past storm. Probably won't be able to drive it until next weekend.

Question...is there an easier way to remove the fuse panel down there without unhooking all the harnesses from the back of it? I had to use chinese fingers and cussing to pull out the original relay and put the new one in. It was no simple task. This is on an '83.

sweetskillsrk

Get a late 944. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Kerry Chadderton

Not that I have found. It's hard just to move that sucker a few millimeters in any direction. I took all the relays out, cleaned them and put a little dialectrical greese on each of the lugs. Now at least I can get them in and out without pulling any muscles!

Hollywood D

I loosened up the secondary fuse box and kind of pulled it out of the way but it didn't move very much, and created a little more room. Then wiggled the original relay out and pushed the new on in blind. I'll have to try the grease.

Is it normal for that relay to heat up? After I shut the car down I checked it again to make sure it haden't come loose and it was fairly warm to the touch.

944Ross

I wonder if your fuel pump is dying, or the fuel filter is plugged, it dramatically increases the power required by the pump?

I was tempted to glue a horseshoe loop on the top of that relay, for pulling it and for knowing which way it goes back in -- you can't see a thing up there.

AScholtes

Congrats... as for the higher amperage draw/heat. Normally if a pump has additional head pressure (clog post pump) the amperage draw will decrease (yes, I said decrease) due to fluid dynamics. A pump starting to go bad will draw more amperage (this is normally due to bearing issues with the motor side).

I would find someone with a nice ammeter setup that reads DC (Some of the fluke ammeters will, my kit at work does) and verify the amperage draw at the pump. Also, corroded connections and poor grounds (common) will cause a higher than normal amp draw. If it were my money, I would be betting on a connection issue or bad ground...

944Ross

That's true for centrifugal pumps; head increases but flow decreases, HP decreases. These are roller vane pumps, more or less positive displacement, therefore pressure thru pump increases, flow remains about the same, HP goes up. Right?

Hollywood D

The contacts on the fuse panel weren't shiny and brand new. The male connectors on the original DME relay are discolored brown and look burnt. I'm sure this thing could use a new fuel filter, I don't know when the last time was that it was changed.

ACScholstes, are you saying its probably a bad ground that is related to the fuse panel or for the fuel pump?

AScholtes

Bad ground causing the relay to heat up

Hollywood D

I'll have to crawl back under there tomorrow and look at it