When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
IIRC, it is 12V positive output, but it may be negative. You'll need a ECU connector (Junior Timer) terminal to plug into the empty hole. Unplug the MAF and voila!
So here’s my latest vexing issue. I mentioned that I tried to jump the car via the courtesy battery pole up front with no luck. So I bought a battery charger and a bolt meter. I have a agm duralast battery with a date code of 11/17. I charged it up and the charger said it was ready but when I put the battery back in there was no juice. I just charged it again and the charger says it’s ready but the volt meter says 6 volts. See picture. Does this mean the battery is too old? These come with a three year warranty but I have no idea if it’s transferable.
My last 3 batteries all died almost to the exact day that they were due to expire, it cannot be a coincidence.
I’ve not seen a volt meter like the one that you have. I suppose I would put that on a known good battery just to verify that it works somewhat accurately.
Sounds like you are due for a new battery, but then again it is also possible that your charger is bad or set to the wrong voltage setting (check that for sure). But if all else checks out just take the battery to be tested (Walmart if possible).
Battery issue fixed. The green LED is in fact lit up assuming this is it
Is that the LED?
Yup. That’s it. If you have a timing light or some other straightforward way to check spark on all 8 then do it. If not...
Swap coils side-to-side and see if the red LED lights. If not, swap the plugs on the coil amps and check for red. (I’d actually do the latter first: it’s easier.)
Don’t swap the coils, that task sounds so much easier than it can often times be, especially on the right (passenger) side.
The amplifiers are under the rectangular black plastic cover to the right of the hood latch receiver, viewed while standing at the front of the car. However, this issue is not limited to a potentially bad coil. But if doing that swap did cause the red to illuminate then you have narrowed your search. I just question it because of your description of when the power loss kicks in, it seems to be way down the road, not within a few minutes after start up.
The “shut down” sensors are located on cylinders 4 and 8, IIRC. I would just remove those two spark plugs and inspect them to see which bank of cylinders is being affected. There is a cylinder diagram sticker on the car with the hood open.
They are under the black plastic cover shown in the lower right corner of the picture of your engine bay that you posted.
Green indicates that the IMS relay has shut-off fuel to Ignition Circuit II which is cylinders 2,3,5,8.
The purpose of the IMS relay is to prevent sending raw fuel into the exhaust system if you loose one of the ignition circuits.
So, the first thing to do is to make sure you have spark on 2,3,5,8. Hence use of the timing light. If you don't have one then you can probably get a loaner from a nearby Autozone or Advance Auto Parts.
There are other ways to check for spark but the timing light is easiest.
You should do this check-for-spark when the running conditions are such that the green LED is lit.
The common causes for losing one of the ignition circuits are: bad coil wire, bad coil amp, bad coil.
Some folks, and searching you might do on the subject of IMS, will try to convince you that the IMS system itself is the reason for all of your issues. However, in my experience 90% of the time when it trips, it is telling you something is wrong. So, before pointing fingers at the IMS you should first determine if, indeed, it is telling you something important.
I had an 89 that had this issue. I followed a Porsche sourced document (that I cannot find now) and the first thing that it had me do is check the DS coil and wire.
I cleaned the coil, reseated the coil with and the problem never came back
So when I finally sorted the battery issue (got a new one free because old one was still under warranty-thanks previous owner!) and started up the car the green light came on immediately and the car was super laggy right away. Not sure if that changes any of the diagnoses.
So when I finally sorted the battery issue (got a new one free because old one was still under warranty-thanks previous owner!) and started up the car the green light came on immediately and the car was super laggy right away. Not sure if that changes any of the diagnoses.
No. No change to diagnosis. See my previous post.
It's running on only 4 cylinders. You don't want to run it that way any more than you have to for diagnostic purposes.
If that was from a cold start, there should be a delay of about 18 seconds before the ignition protection relay is activated. This is to allow the cylinder heads and the temp sensors to warm up.
Please repeat the test. from cold.
Last edited by John Speake; 06-01-2020 at 06:03 AM.
Started it this morning and took a quick drive around the neighborhood. Ran rough from the get go and green light came on after about 3-5 minutes. On to the suggestions above.
05-29-2020, 12:54 PM
