'84 944 No Spark, running out of ideas
 

Helllo all, I am new here. I recently bought an 84 944 and an 87 944S, the 84 is my son's daily driver, and the 87 is the back up/wifes toy. the 84-Car was parked and then wouldn't start. We towed it home and I've gone over and over Clark's trouble shooting. The DME relay seems to be dead, fuel pump only runs with a jumper in it's place. But still no start, I've tested for spark starting at the plugs, then the coil output, I tested the coil per Clark's by un hooking the neg (green lead) and using a jumper to momentarilly ground that side of the coil but still no spark coming from it. Thought that indicated a bad coil, so took the coil off the 87, still no run, still no spark even doing the direct ground of the coil neg terminal. I must be missing something, how can I have no spark from the know good coil with 12 V to the hot side, and giving it a direct signal to the other post?

Check the black wire. It should be 12V. If it is not, then your ignition switch is probably bad. You can also jumper the black wire directly to the + side of the battery. Then try the coil test as per Clark's Garage. If it works, then the problem is the 12V supply.

Check the wiring to the speed and reference sensors. I had a no spark condition due to faulty/cracked wiring on the sensor harness.

I had a similar experience - a bad reference sensor, even though they typically don't fail often. It took me a long time and lots of replacing working parts to find this out. A credit card is a very expensive diagnostic tool....

Welcome and Good Luck - I hope you find your issue out sooner and cheaper than I did....
___________________
-Robert
'94 968 - Aventurine Green
'86 944 NA - Alpine White, parting out (slow death)
'86 951 - Alpine White (sold)