Bjbpe

It would appear that the last time that I sent out a note was almost two years ago. No, I have not passed on to my heavenly (or otherwise) reward; it's just that my car was not running and, until just recently, I didn't have much to say. It seems like an eternity since the last time I was able to drive it under it's own power and, after working with three incompetent shops, I thought there was no way, living out here in Wyoming, that I would ever get it going again. Then, I came in contact with two gentlemen in Colorado who have been my life savers. I will not give their names here because I am not sure that they would want the notoriety but gentleman #1 put me in touch with gentleman #2 who, on his own dime, drove all the way up here from Colorado Springs and, after some tinkering, was able to get the car going again. I am obviously indebted to them both and I just wanted to express my gratefulness to them. Wyoming is certainly not the place to own a 928S4 if you need service for an undisclosed ailment. My first attempt to get the car going was with a local mechanic who was honest enough to admit a lack of knowledge and did not charge me one dime. The second shop claimed to be specialists in automotive electronics. After holding the car for a couple of months they threw up their hands and we split their charge at $200. On to a "foreign car shop" that did nothing but mess up the interior of the car and $700 later (to get the car back) I still did not have a working vehicle. On to a sports car service shop in Fort Collins that assured me that they would get to the bottom of the problem. Two days later they told me that I needed all new wiring harnesses at the rate of $7000 plus labor. Needless to say, I got out of there with a $300 bill for nothing. Then, along came the two gentlemen who saved my sanity. To them, thank you, thank you, thank you.

ammonman

So what was the issue?

Mrmerlin

I will guess it was the wrong relay put into the wrong spot.
Glad the car is now working for you.

Jerry Feather

Hi Barney. It's good to see you posting again here on the Rennlist. I don't mind being identified as one that led you to a good solution on your Shark, since I did very little to help solve the problem. The other guy is Ken P. and he came to us through our participation in the Rocky Mountain Sharks Yahoo Email Forum. Ken did a great job in finding the solution and fixing it for you. The solution was not as simple as a misplaced relay, but almost, as I recall. Ken explained it to me in detail in an email, but now I can't find it and can't remember what it was he found and fixed.

Barney and I are the two oldest participants on this Forum, I am pretty sure, and I hope he will spend a few bucks to become an actual Member so I can stop thinking that I am the oldest Member here.

SteveG

Jerry: . We don't know that as fact. I did stay out of a recent thread that addressed age, (being in denial helps in this case) -- that thread was : 1) the sample was too small, yes, self-fulfilling; 2) chron is not a legitimate determinator, only a full gene sequencing would provide anything meaningful re "age." ) Still I'm glad you both are still here. Barney evidently still feels younger than his age, even if his joints do not provide the pain-free movement required to work on his car.

Having said that, it would be nice to know what the issue was, besides "won't start" (it is in another thread somewhere) hint, that is what the "title" line is for, and what Ken did to fix it.

Jerry Feather

I found Ken's response to my same question to him and, Stan, it turns out that you are almost exactly correct. What Ken surmises is that originally Barney's car must have been missing or cutting out occasionally, like over bumps, and he found that that was likely from the fuel pump fuse being loose, and likely getting hot. Then, as part of the trouble shooting that ensued, (before Ken) relays were swapped around and one ended up in the wrong spot = the auto trans kickdown relay spot. Barney's car is a manual. With that relay moved the car started right up. Then Ken needed to clean up the mess that three various professional shops had left including the fuel injector connector clips, the fuel rail hold down nuts, the CE panel hanging loose, and LH and EZK bracket out and loose and much more. Ken also fixed the fuse panel connectors for the fuel pump fuse. I wish I could remember the name of the shop in Ft Collins so I could defame them some about their $7000 misdiagnosis of the problem.