944Time

Ok, so last night my 944 doesn't start. The engine spins, but no fire. Then, it doesn't spin anymore so I assume I drained the battery.

This morning, I put in the charged battery and the engine doesn't turn over.

I thought maybe a timing belt problem, so I pull the plastic cover and take a peek. Timing belt looks fine.

I stick the car in gear and push it back and forth from the front. This should make the engine turn over a little bit. But no movement. I pulled the distributor cap and the rotor is perfectly still, as is the engine.

At this point I can think of two problems:

1) there is something wacky going on with the starter where it got jammed in or jammed stuck and is preventing the engine from turning.

2) there is some kind of engine mechanical failure.

Now, it would be really nice if the problem was #1, but I don't think I am going to get that lucky.

As for problem #2, I can't imagine what went wrong when cranking the engine. I mean, if the engine was running and it came to a sudden halt, then I would understand some failure locking up the engine.

But the engine was just turning from the starter.

????

jharding

Take the spark plugs out, put the car in neutral (with the wheels chocked) and try to turn the motor over with a socket and breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley bolt. If the motor does not budge then you indeed have a problem.

If the starter drive was stuck against the flywheel it should still turn over and make some bad noises. If the starter drive was stuck in then you should hear the starter whirring. But usually that noise is a tell tale sign that the timing belt slipped or broke and you now have a number of bent valves.

Do you have a stock flywheel? A friend of mine thought he seized his 951 because the motor would not turn. It turned out that bolts on the outer edge of his aftermarket flywheel backed out and ground into the flywheel housing. Of course we found that only after pulling the engine out of the car.

944Ross

Could have water in the cylinders too, turning with plugs out will tell you.

944Time

That's what I tried first, but sticking a socket and breaker bar down there was too much of a hassle. You can just push the car to make the motor turn. It should turn a little bit.

> But usually that noise is a tell tale sign that the timing belt slipped or broke and you now have a number of bent valves.

The timing belt looks ok. Not too loose, no sheared teeth. Unless the teeth sheared off where I can't see it. I only looked at the top.

I do have a spare head, but before I go thru the ordeal of taking everything off that I need to get off before I can get to the head (fuel rail, cam tower, intake manifold, etc) I'd like to make sure it is some kind of valve/head problem.

It seems strange that a timing belt would fail when cranking the engine rather then when the car is running. I assume it would do less damage that way.

The engine is stock, with water-free cylinders.

xsboost90

Pull the starter loose then try turning the motor

944Time

Well, I headed under the car this morning. I can't figure out how it could be the starter but the timing belt looks fine.

Had my 8mm, 13mm and 17mm wrenches. But the starter bolts are 19mm! D'oh!
I should have know that. http://www.944time.com/porsche/944starter.php

Will try again later.

krystar

my starter bolts are actually 19mm and 18mm....so take both hehe

944Time

That's abby normal. They should be both the same size.

Lizard944

You probably did this, but don't forget to unhook the battery before playing with the starter. It's easy to short it out and have it bump over while you're under the vehicle. Not a good feeling.

FRporscheman

I did that once, and I got a little arc welding action, and the starter was spinning in my hand.... freaked me out.


Did you try taking out the plugs? And I don't know about pushing the car to turn the engine. When you turn it by hand, you can watch the cam to see if it is moving as well. Maybe the belt is THERE, but the teeth sheared off or something. Maybe the engine won't turn because it jammed on a valve. I hope not though!

944Time

Well, I really thought it was some kind of timing belt problem so before futzing with the starter I removed the ps and ac belts and took the top timing belt cover completely out.

Timing belt looked ok. Then I removed the starter although I didn't see how that could be the problem.

After I removed the starter, I can turn the engine! Didn't expect that.

I hooked up the starter to a battery and it sometimes turns and sometimes just clicks. I do have a spare starter somewhere.

mytrplseven

Sounds about right if your starter was on it's way out. the bearings in there are probably shot and jammed everything. glad your motor turns again. I'd lay awake at night worrying if it wasn't the starter. Good on ya.

FRporscheman

Nice! I'm glad it was just the starter.

944Time

I swapped in my good starter.

Of course, I still had the original no start problem. So I swapped in my spare DME Relay and it roared to life.

http://www.944time.com/porsche/944-dme-relay.php

The relay was less then 2 years old.

83Porsche46060

My 83 porsche was running fine and today she was cranking and all of a sudden she locks up!!! I have only had this car 2 weeks. My friend had me pour marvels mystery oil in the gas and oil to clean the lines. what have I done?