So I washed the fine running car, getting ready to bring it to the body shop tomorrow morning to repair my right fender. Started the car no problem (as usual), got it outside the garage, washed it with my pressure washer, then tried to start it to put it back in the garage... No start

The starter is working, all gauges are jumping, I can smell fuel, but no start.

Help!

 

So, something got soaked?

 

Not good for single stage paint, or does the car have a metallic/ clear coat finish?

Did you power wash under the hood too?

Is there rust in the battery tray area… could leak water onto the DME in the PS foot well.

 

Yeah check the battery area, carefully. You can see the battery from the gap between the hood and windshield, so it's easy to get a lot of water in there. Usually isn't a problem, but...

 

No, I did not pressure washed the engine. One thing I did was that I pressure washed the side of the hood near the battery and windshield, trying to get rid of old white residues from an old glaze.

I've checked and cleaned the battery, everything is now dry.

I've checked the computer and foot well, everything is bone dry.

What a mistery?

 

Classic problem after washing with a pressure washer.

Unless you got the distributor cap wet accidentally, it's likely that water reached the bracket at the back of the block where the speed and reference sensors plug into the wiring harness.

Unplug those and check for moisture.

 

I did, thanks, but......

 

I don't know I what I did, but the car started.

I tried all sort of tests from http://www.benms.com/944nostart.html, didn't work.

Then I tried to see if my coil was good, did test from clarksgarage.

The coil was ok, I was getting sparks.

So then I told myself to stop, getting pissed off, put everything back together, close the hood, and decided I was gonna get the car towed to my mechanic.

Then I said, lets try one last time, turn the key on and ''vroooom''.

I'll be scratching my head for a long time on this one.

thanks all for your help

 

It isn't too much of a mystery- you got something wet, then it dried. BTDT. I tried "washing" my engine once, learned not to do that again. I also had it happen driving through a deep puddle in a surprise rain storm. Next time you'll know to kick your feet up for a few hours and all will be well. Glad it is running again, though.

 

Well I'm stuck with the car on the road, waiting for the tow truck, and while waiting, I found this, the ignition cable is screwed, maybe that could be it.
More info to come when I get home.

 

Fun fun

 

Told you, Told you, HE HE HE!!!!!!!

 

So the car is still not fixed.

I was able to start it yesterday after all the things I did above, I've let it ran for 10 minutes and then shut it down.

Then, 1 hour after, started the car again, this time, it was a rough start. So I thought that there might be a little humidity left somewhere and decided to take it for ride. It went fine for about 6 miles, going all the way up to 100 miles/per hour, but not full throttle. So then I decided to take the highway entrance, full throttle, and I could feel like fuel was not getting to the engine and the car was dying. I was in a hill, so I decided to try to start it on compression... nothing. The car just died. Try to start again, no start.

Again, the starter is working, all gauges are working.

Then I found that the ignition wire for the coil bad. I've replaced it with spare, replaced the coil with a good one, but still, no start.

Does anybody have an idea of what it could be?

 

So 3 hours later, the car finally starts, one small ''turn the key'' can of thing.

I didn't really do anything, other than checking resistance at dme relais, trying to jump the fuel, etc...

I've let ran for 20min. then when for small drive on my street. I've notice that in 2nd gear, if I press on the acceleration quickly, that the fuel cuts out.

 

DME Relay? I would check this out might have some weak solder joints. Another thing to check is the DME solder joints are good. They are known to be go bad on these cars.