ltoolio

Got the car up and running a few weeks ago, and everything's been roses. Car started well, car idled well, car ran well, it felt like all the work I had done was paying off.

Had the car out today....drove to my brother's house about 10 miles away, hung out a bit, hopped back in the car to drive home, turn at a stop sign, start to accelerate, car dies.

Try to start the car, won't start.

Jumper the FP, hear it running, won't start.

Fuel tank is close to full.

Battery is good.

Checked grounds as best I could, and all looked good. I had a problematic one last year that loosened itself and caused a non-start, but that one was solid.

Only odd thing that happened was that the car fish-tailed in the turn right before it died. I suppose the battery could have shifted and hit the lid, but I do have foam on-top of it to prevent shorting.

I'm away from the car ATM, and I'm going to search around a bit to see what's out there that might be similar to what I'm experiencing, but anything jump out to anyone as to what might be up?

Crumpler

Come on man, you blew my new avatar roll out by being stranded on the side of the road!

Ok this is what I remember: if Fp running and no start then usually injector system or ignition system.

Can you check LH relay and ignition relay?
Is starter spinning?
Injectors clicking?

Mrmerlin

I would go check the battery,
Question , do you have a proper hold down ?

why do you have a foam piece? is the battery too tall or short?

Make sure that you verify the battery terminals are both tight and also the ground strap .

Your car has that early 3 post fuel pump relay so is the jumper you made doing the 3 terminals?

ltoolio

It's brand new as of ~a month ago. I've had it on a battery maintainer when parked, but will check it again.

Negative, but it wasn't a matter of me taking one out....it just doesn't have one.

Just because I read in other posts that people have put it on the top, and IIRC the PET shows some sort of foam/rubber on the bottom of the battery lid. What I put in was my Polish attempt at replicating the PET and what others have done.

Checked and all is good.

The PO gave me the jumper he used, which is a 2-terminal one. I used it in some of my last-minute testing of my FP / Fuel System, and everything seemed to work fine with it.....fuel was pumping through the system (verified via checking for fuel coming in the return line) and the car would start & run successfully with the 2-terminal jumper in place.

Given the past experience, it *seems* like the 2 terminal is working as expected?

That is a damn fine avatar there. Nearly as attractive as mine.

Starter is definitely spinning....will check the other items when I can get back to it.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Mrmerlin

verify you have the correct fuel pump relay then post a picture of the bottom of it.
get a battery hold down, a loose battery can short out the entire electronic system and cause a fire.
and/ or blow fuses

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Hi Ryan,
Any chance this could be the alarm system accidentally preventing start? There is a way to jumper the Z-plug. I did it on mine, Z-4 to Z-6 on my 84.
Good luck,
Dave

ltoolio

Wife drove me back to the car. Put the key in, turned it, started right away. Drove the ~10 miles home and no issues at all.

I didn't do anything to the car before starting it, so not sure what has changed. Regardless, I think I've some investigation in my future....going to check all the major connections again, as maybe there's something loose somewhere.

Hey Dave - as far as I know, I don't have an alarm on my '82, or at least I've never come across one.

I'll take a pic a bit later, and will get a hold down for the battery. The battery was the one thing that I did check before I started the car, and everything seemed A-OK on it. Foam was still in place, no arcing signs and things looked as they should.

Crumpler

Keep us in the loop.

soontobered84

When my 89 was doing stuff like that, I went through everything. New TB/WP, intake refresh, rebuilt LH controller, rebuilt MAF. new O2 sensor.

What I finally figured out was it was the main engine ground. The bare naked ground under the car. It was connected but it did not ground the engine to the rest of the car intermittently. When it did connect the two, the LH computer would find a ground and the car would run great. When the computer did not find a ground, the engine would die, not start, and no amount of coaxing would make it start.

I removed the engine ground strap and tested it, cleaned both ends, cleaned both mounting points and reattached the ground. I have not had problems since.

Hopefully your issue will be as easy.Good Luck

dr bob

Hi Ryan --

I'm late to the party -- busy trying to avoid that darn 928 poverty thing by working a little.

Intermittent electrical problems are perhaps the biggest challenge. The car never seems to have a problem when you are sitting in the garage with time and tools and talent. Yet it fails you on what seems like a whim. Annoying, head-scratching, maybe even dangerous. (!!)

Everything was fine until... I went around a corner hard and the engine stopped.

--- Relay - Relay - Relay is the first thing to think about. If you haven't already replaced with new, the Fuel Pump, Ignition and Injection relays are the three critical to engine operation.

Pre-LH cars use a fuel pump relay that includes the engine-turning electronics inside. The intended operation is that the relay shuts off fuel flow when it can't see the engine turning via tachometer pulses. It's a safety issue to avoid feeding the fire in front after you've stuffed the car into something. The relay can is the same size as a "standard" relay, but the actual contactor inside may be smaller due to space needed for the RPM sense components. A couple aftermarket pieces shared by a fellow 'lister have contactors rated (on the box) for 40 Amp service but inside they may not be suitable for long-term duty at that load. If your relay is aged a bit but working, put a new name-brand replacement in now and keep the vintage one as spare.

The three critical relays each has a dedicated power feed wire directly from the battery positive post. These are smaller red conductors with eye terminals that piggyback on the positive battery terminal cable on my car. Later cars have a dedicated terminal bar that's part of the clamp bolt. Regardless, those connections must be clean and tight.

Tangent but Related: Probably a decade or so ago, a Sharktoberfest guest mentioned that he'd had some overheating problems driving his S4 through Los Angeles on way to the event. A group of us went to work to find the problem. I asked him about the battery connections early in the process, and he assured us they were great. He'd just had it all apart a week before to get everything concourse clean. After several hours of testing and parts swapping, the only thing left was those connections. Lo and behold, the smaller wire connections were loose. He'd removed and cleaned them, but the nut wasn't tight anymore. The fans on the S4+ cars connect there too. I guess he was lucky the car ran.

Since you had an pre-symptom event that almost undoubtedly shifted the batter around a little, there's the very real possibility that the minor cable connections were disturbed. They may or may not be loose, but the available movement of the battery may have weakened/broken wire strands over time. Recommendation: Disassemble the connections, inspect each wire individually for damage and possible broken conductors. Clean thoroughly, and make sure they are tight. Oh, and secure the battery before you close the lid.