UncleMaz

I am sure I will need the collective wisdom of RL928 to help when I have a better idea of what is in front of me. In the meantime, are coils out of an 85 US usable in a Euro twin distributor car for diagnosing a bad coil? I don't want to fry anything.

I am visiting a friend in Tahoe who has a friend with a poor running Euro car. He says it has a bad coil as "it sounds like it is running on 4 cylinders." I am going up there for a visit. I want to bring up some tools and parts, including the WSM, for helping him figure out what might be wrong or how to move forward.

Any suggestions of what to look for and what to bring are greatly appreciated. In addition to the coil, I thought I'd bring a good MAF too.

Thank you.

Jadz928

Yes. I believe they are the same p/n.

dr bob

Twin-dizzy failure modes include the coil, the secondary wires, cap, rotor, and the driver modules, just twice the number you see on US cars. There's the added excitement of the drive belt too, the one between the two distributor sections. Otherwise, plgs and plug wires round out the list of things that might cause it to miss. Bring an inductive timing light, and you can see whether spark energy is making it into the wires anyway.

UncleMaz

Thanks Jim and Dr. Bob. I am heading up Monday or Tuesday and will report back.

Landseer

944 coil is also same in similar span of years.

UncleMaz

I went to see the 84, twin distributor Euro today. Unfortunately, "it's running rough" was more like two plus years ago. So, it was a no start too.

I plan on coming back up here in a couple of months to see if I can help him start it. The gas is old, and nothing from the fuel pump, which is getting power. When I come back up, I plan on draing the old fuel, changing the sludgy oil along with ground cleaning. Cranking was sluggish.

Could the noises he heard ("running on four cylinders") and the sluggish cranking be symptomatic
of something nonelectrical like flexplate migration? I will be checking that for sure.

Also, if the owner wanted to punt, what is the top end of the motor bits worth? I am pretty sure I know what the rest is worth.

Thanks. Some pics...

Mrmerlin

why is the fan shroud dropped down? might the MMs be bad and the fans hitting on the lower edge? as it is the intakes are sort of blocked.

first step is to put the engine at TDC and then remove the caps make sure both rotors are pointing to the hash marks , common for the belts to skip if they are old..
Swap in new gas,
Try a few sprays of Ether first to see if you have fire

UncleMaz

Thanks Mr Merlin.

soontobered84

AH!!! The infamous oak grun chalky paint! Alas, I knew it well

This car would probably be a DD beast if someone took the time to sort it a bit.

MJ, it's nice that you are taking pity on the beast. I'd plan to take a known working fuel pump (new or not) if I was going back.

UncleMaz

Chalky mossgrun metallic to be exact. It is all there for sure.

Yes, a fuel pump, filter, 53 relay and check the timing as Mr. Merlin suggests. I did have the distributor caps off to check the vaps, rotor and dizzy belt. Caps looked a little worn. I have never seen a distributor set up like that tiny belt between them.

Car is cool, but rough in so many ways. More to follow.

Avierra84

I have this 928 in the garage and I'm trying to decide if it's a fixer or not. The original owner wasn't great with information and I've got it to the point of running on four cylinders, but I would love to know what other parts have been swapped out.

soontobered84

It should be a fixer.

Start with MrMerlin"s post 7 above. Turn the engine over by hand with the caps off and make sure both distributors are turning.

Let us know what you have done to date to get it to this point and we can direct you as to further and next steps. There is not much sense telling you to do something that you've already done.

Waiting to hear more.

Wisconsin Joe

Well, if its running at all, you have a good fuel pump. CPS must be working, EZF & LH must be too.

So you have some positives.

As MrMerlin suggested, pull the dizzy caps & turn motor by hand. See if both rotors are turning. If not, dizzy belt (pretty easy). If so, maybe coils. Or dizzy rotors. Or caps. Or coils. Or something else.

You can use an inductive timing light to see if you are getting spark impulse from the coil to the cap, then from the cap out to the plugs (this would help decide if coil, rotor & cap are all good).

Hope some of this helps.
The twin dizzy Euros are pretty cool cars. And Mossgreen metallic is a pretty cool and unusual color.

What color is the interior? The pics above are too washed out to tell.

Avierra84

I plan on doing the step that Mrmerlin suggested. So far I changed the starter relay the fuel pump relay and the fuel pump and filter. While investigating the distributor system I found one cap was bad and fell apart the moment I took it off sadly I doubt it's the only problem. So I'll get those on order and continue with jumping between the body work and the motor till I get it sorted. The problem is the fuel pump only runs if I jump the relay and if not only runs briefly after an attempted start. I've always been attracted to 928s I'm a sucker for the sharp styling but when I came across a twin dizzy for the price I couldn't pass up taking a shot at a restoration of one. I would like to source a 84 5 speed and swap it while I have the car torn down. Also the car is triple green witch my upholsterer was not happy with, but he'll make it right. Thanks guy I'll keep you updated.

Mrmerlin

check the grounds on the engine either on the right cam tower or at the back of the V these run the injection you did not say anything about the twin dizzy is it lined up ?
if the coil wires are swapped then it will not run