Jim bailey - 928 International

I can not imagine owning a car and not owning a battery charger which means when someone says the car cranks very slowly I tend to assume that the battery is fully charged but You are correct Heinrich he could have a dead battery as well.

Jim_H

I agree, Jim.

Mr Bailey said
Assuming that the battery is fully charged this bit of information would have me wondering about the thrust bearing.

moon928

Gretch- Thank you for the offer. I may take you up on your offer soon but first I will see what the oil filter looks like first once I open it up. I hope it is free of metal shavings.

Jim B.- I guess I have been lucky that I haven’t needed a battery charger up to now. I have to get one tonight along with a multi-meter too.

Regarding the cranking issue, I guess I can sum it up by saying that the engine is moving but there is something missing to make it run. Gas? Spark? I am not sure. There is no doubt in my mind I am killing the battery with my repeated attempts to get is started again. So I agree the battery may be too weak to start the car.

I had the car started 2 days after I limped home. I originally thought I had a problem with my MAF so I unplugged the MAF and tried to start the car to see if it would run without it- it did not. I plugged the MAF back in and I did get it started again but I had to try it several times before it fired. I shut the car off immediately after I got it started because it was not running on all cylinders. It has not started since.

Moon

Jim bailey - 928 International

OK so it did start but was running rough like 4 cylinders. Disconnect the battery ground strap when you charge the battery . Sounds like you were not on the "limp home mode" of mass airflow sensor failure but were running on 4 cylinders two on each bank. That would be an ignition problem MOST of the time. If the battery gets too low the brains simply shut down. I am less concerned about any thrust bearing problem based on your new information so leave the oil and filter alone until you try cranking the engine on the starter with a fully charged battery.

Gretch

As my shop and ALL of my tools are at my home in NH, there is not a lot I can do if you don't have any tools, Moon.....We of the 'List should be able to walk you through the usual suspects.....99% of the time it is either:

Ignition (standard symptom checks)
or
fueling (pump, relay, filter)

What Jim said.......But if that doesn't do it.....

Eliminating TBF will be a huge relief to you and get your head on a logical non-emotional footing........The "List Doctors" have diagnosed many a sick shark before and they will do it again.......

Get Andrew to make an offering to the 928 gods......Before you cut that filter open......

worf928

I swapped Jim's MAS with a new one as a test of another symptom (fuel consumption and general sluggishness) a month or three ago with no effect. So, his MAS was not wAAy out of kilter. I wouldn't suspect the MAS immediately. I'm (obviously) in the Beantown area, but am in 80hr/week mode with the Real Life job for the next three weeks so I cannot make the trek to the South Shore.

Placing bets: Relay, Speed Sensor, LH death.

I sent Jim the 20MB LH diag guide earlier today. That and a multi-meter should allow Jim to get past the relay and LH-death potentials. The speed sensor is a toughy to diag even with a 'scope because of the location.

MBMB

Jim,

Any progress?

moon928

I havent done a thing. I would love to work on her, but I have been working 14 hrs a day this week. I walk by the car twice a day- it still sits there begging for my attention. I cant touch her until Saturday.

moon928

Finally, after several months of walking by my covered car I unwrapped her today and began my quest to sort out my no start issue. I didn’t take long. I figured out that I must have run my battery down to low by constantly trying to turn her over and it was too week to start the car.

I charged the battery and after I couple of cranks it turned over, but she is still running on 4 cylinders. I started trouble shooting the coils first -I checked the coil wires and they were snug-the grounds were connected and clean. Then I unplugged the right coil (facing the engine) and again started the car, and it ran the same. No change. So it must be a dead coil right? I borrowed a coil and swapped it out with my old one and again no change. I did unplug the left side coil and the car would not fire at all. How can I check to see if the coil is dead or not? Or could it be that I am not getting power to that side?

This is my first attempt at working on my car other than cleaning it so please be gentle.

Mrmerlin

Hi , the first thing i would do is install a new set of plugs make shure the battery is charged and all fluids are topped off, air cleaner is free of obstructions ,if it starts and runs, drive it, dont shut it off and let it sit or move it around the driveway, most often starting the car and letting it run for a few minutes does more harm than good, the battery never gets a chance to recover and the plugs will have a higher chance of fouling, if this doesnt work then you may have a bad EZK/LH computer problem, good luck, Stan

worf928

Mooney, are you sure the coil you borrowed was working? Have you swapped coils to see of if the problem swaps sides or stays the same? Have you removed and checked the condition of the distributor on the effected side? Have you looked carefully at the plug connectors for the coil wire on the effected side?

moon928

Dave- I am going to try to swap the coils this morning before I head off for the day. The coil I borrowed could very well be dead too. I have been reading old post- Niles no start along with others to see if there are any similarities and possible hints. I pulled the coil wires and cleaned them as best I could. They are on tight and the ground is clean. There is an unbelievable smell of raw fuel when the car is running.

edit- I pulled the distributor but I am not quiet sure what I am looking for. here are a few pics.

John Struthers

Check the Greg Nichols site for:
Crank sensor, temp sensor, fuel pump, fuel filter, failing ignition relay, alt, L/LH diagnostics,
Check the Renn. Archives for Limp mode diagnostics.
You can do the Crank Walk inspection now or later.
I'd eliminate the easy stuff first, like crank sensor... then on to the Brain/Mas and crank walk inspections .
Either way make the crank walk part of your annual inspections. You don't need a dial indicator-
when you are opened up for inspection you can see how to mark baseline and upon release of clamp
can measure the difference with a machinist's rule -6"- or piece of paper with tic marks.
Good luck, keep us posted.

John Speake

Don't forget the coils are fired by the ignition output stages on the same lege that holds your hood catch.

Check the connections (two 6 way conenctors) There is also a ground point close by that is worth checking

worf928

Mooney, check the distributors for hair-line cracks. Cracked distributors can (and have) caused 4-cylinder mode.

John Speake - can Mooney swap the connections to the output stages to test for a bad stage?