Well...It's my turn.

Yesterday -

My '87 924S was running odd for a couple of weeks, but work deadlines were restrcting my wrenching time. Now, it's nearly dead. Last night on the way home, it started losing power and then left me dead by the roadside. Thankfully, I was close enough that the tow company knows my State Farm agent and will bill him directly...

Symptoms:

Has gotten harder to start, requiring more cranking time before it fires, then was rough for about30 seconds (like it was running on 2 or 3 cyl) then it would run all cyl but still had a rough idle.

When running warm, it seemed unwilling to go. It went OK, and even passing well on 2 lane roads. But it didn't feel right, maybe low spark or low fuel preasure.

Fuel usage rose. Can't say how much because I have yet to repair the odometer.

Finally, last night I had a 35mi trip home. It started as hard as before and ran a bit rougher, but we headed home. I was going slow (~40) just taking a lazy 2 miles to jump on the 4-lane. Suddenly we started slowing, with poor to no throttle response then 2 coughs and dead. I coasted down the grade to stop at a park. I was glad to be off that narrow road.

It turned over OK and after a while, it will fired a few times then died. It acted more like a empty tank than anything else, so I called my neice (nearby) to bring me some gas. It didn't help.

Called for a tow to my hone.

One other thing that may be related. For the last couple of months, sometimes the started doesn't respond wheh I turn the key, but has alwas turned over on the 2nd try.


Then...today -


After getting free of the office, I went to check for a tech bounce to check the ref sensors. It bounced (whew) then attempted to start...then started. I was tough to start and it idled rough, but it did start.

It smoothee somewhat after ~30 sec and then I slowly ran the tach up to around 4k. It didn't feel like it would carry a load very well, no data but it didn't feel right. I goosed it a couple of times and it was not reacting freely, there was a definite lag between the trottle movement and the engine's response.

Only ran it a couple of minutes...

Now What??

I need some understanding before digging in. Since the stroke I need to arrange helping hands to get things done, which means scheduling.

 

it "sounds" like your fuel regulator is bad. Pull the vac. hose off the regulator and see if there is fuel in the line, or maybe your vac. line is just bad. That basically floods the motor, makes it hard to start and then runs like crap but usually it would smooth out after awhile- not sure if that would kill the car though. I would also- just for the heck of it, pull the air filter and spray a shot of wd40 or something in the flapper door in the afm and work it back and forth a few times. Sometimes they get stuck and only run right when you hit that appropriate spot. We had this problem on the race car last year.

 

This usually also goes together with a sooty exhaust from unburnt fuel. Check for soot buildup on the rear bumper above the exhaust tailpipe.

 

Could that soot also build up in the cat? A couple suggestions included a plugged up cat.

 

I don't have a garage and it's been raining constantly. Couple that with the fact that I am recovering from a stroke (doing pretty well & shocking the Drs.) I have just now looked under the bumper.

Sure enough, the underside over the exhaust is caked with carbon.

Could this have been goning on quite a while? It has almost always had a "reluctance" to rev much more that 5k. Also, it smelled like it was running rich when I bought it. The muffler was quite heavy when I took it off, and the new one has a flat black dry coating, not at all oily.

That makes me wonder about the cat - could it become full of carbon and start restricting exhaust flow?

Thanks.

 

Any idea where to buy a pressure regulator?

Pelican Parts lists them only for 944 which is not always a good fit.