This is my Son's 85 that we have owned for about three years. It was towed in last week and I have replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, S hose, Fuel pump relay, Starter Relay,replaced ground strap.

With a fully charged battery I can get the fuel pump to energize with the typical noise from the back and a clicking from the front panel (relay). When turning to the start position I get nothing. No crank at all.

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated. I have limited 928 time and the more time I spend on the 85 (getting it ready for sale), the less time I have to spend on my own cars.

Thank you in advance

 

How old is the batt? Load test the batt. 14 volts doesn't mean it will start.

How many volts at the 14 pin? Volts at the starter relay?

Check all grounds.

 

Put a jumper cable from the battery ground to the ground wing nut that screws into the firewall

 

Thanks Steve. The car had been sitting for weeks prior to tow. I swapped in a known good battery prior to working on it.

I will check for power at starter later on the week.

Thanks

 

Brian: I found this post by Wally, years ago. I have edited slightly, but credit goes to him. I don't know what MY he refers to, so check relay number. Same for 14-pin and yellow wire location. I left in references to automatics for anyone following along.

No start – dash lights up, no sounds or cranking.

First: buy an electrical tester that looks like an old-fashioned ice pick with a lighted clear handle and an attached wire and alligator clip. This is required equipment for a 928 owner.

Some possibilities:
- The link between the ign switch lock section and the electrical section can wear so that the electrical section switch doesn’t get turned enough to make contact w/starter contacts.
- The starter relay is faulty.
- The neutral safety switch faulty or maladjusted. (automatic only)
- There is a bad connection on the yellow wire that triggers the starter solenoid (14-pin connector).
- The starter solenoid (on the starter) is faulty.

At the CEP, find Relay XIV (starter relay).
Remove the relay and examine the terminal connections marked on the socket and relay. These are DIN standards that are found on all relays, not just Porsche.

Connect the tester clip to a good ground. There should be a cluster of brown wires near the panel, these are all ground wires. Check for 12 v on terminal 30. Must always be live.

(CAUTION: 5-SPEED, shifter in neutral, parking brake set.) Check for 12 v on terminal 86 when you turn the ignition switch to the START position. If you have power here, ign switch is OK. Go to next step.

Change the tester clip to one of the red 12 v connections on the panel. Touch the ground point to make sure that you have 12 v on the tester. Check for ground on terminal 85 of the relay socket. If there is no ground (light is off), then the neutral safety switch (automatics) connection is not made or is faulty. The switch is on the transmission where the shift cable attaches.

If the starter operates, the relay is faulty. Swap it with the Defrost Relay until you can get a new one. If the starter doesn’t operate with the jumper, reinstall the relay and go to the next step.

Under hood, find the jump start terminal on the right fender panel. CAUTION: this is a direct connection the battery, and is always live! If the plastic box covering the connections is missing, you need to replace it. This cover keeps rain and wash water out of the connections, helping to prevent corrosion.

Near the jump terminal is a flat 14-pin rectangular-box connector. The yellow wire in Terminal 14 is the starter trigger wire. Carefully separate the connector housing. The wires can easily pop out of the connector housing, and getting them back into the correct position can be a problem!!! Clean the connections. Use the short insulated jumper wire to connect the yellow wire that runs down to the starter to the jump start terminal. CAUTION, 5-SPEEDSMUST BE IN NEUTRAL. If the starter operates, the starter solenoid and the starter are OK. Reconnect the 14-pin connector and try the starter.]

Additional note: Alarm circuitry disables the fuel pump, not the starter.

 

You can also confirm that the starter interlock on the transmission is not the problem by 1) maker sure the car is in Park, 2) pulling relay XIV and jumping 30 to 87.

 

Wow !!!! Thanks Neil and Steve. Tons of great info. I had not considered the neutral safety switch. The shifter cable was replaced a couple years back. New was not available at that time. Bought used from 928 intl. I have not verified that park is engaged properly. That might be my first step tomorrow when I get back since the rear still up in the air.

I am grateful for your help.

 

We have manually engaged park from under the car. The console indicated it was in park which it was not doing before. No start. We verified that the hot post had power. We pulled the 14 pin connector and jumped the pin number 14 to the hot post...........nothing. We are jacking up the front now to check for voltage on the starter and fully expect swapping it out with a known good starter we have.

Any other thoughts?

 

We have verified power to the starter. We have jumpered the two posts on the starter itself and it got some sound but it was not turning freely. It sounds like it is locked up. That made me nervous so we crawled out and tried to rotate the engine by hand with no love.

I had anticipated swapping out the starter, HOWEVER, I stripped the lower bolt with an impact wrench and went to plan B (listed above).

I have several questions:
Would a locked up starter prevent the engine from turning over by hand (hope so)

Is there any trick too removing a starter with stripped bolts. I have parted a couple 928's and removed the starter on several drivers and have never had any difficulty removing one.

What is the value of a non running 1985 S Auto?

Thanks in advance.

 

A locked-up starter will not prevent you from turning the engine by hand, clockwise looking from the front, with a socket and bar on the crank bolt in the nose.

Similarly, even if the engine is locked up, you should hear the starter solenoid trying to engage the starter drive pinion, and hear the starter motor trying to turn the engine.


Except for the engine not moving well with the wrench on the crank, I'd start looking at the battery to make sure it's charged well, and at the connections there. Similarly, I'd look at the battery ground strap and the connection to the body behind the tool panel. Attach a voltmeter to the jump post and ground, and see what it reads as you try the starter. A tired battery will show low voltage as you add load, so you can try the headlights (with key in run position) to see what's available there.


It takes a lot of pulling to turn the motor with plugs in, especially if it's been sitting a while.

 

what was the engine doing the last time it ran,
any funny noises?
did it overheat or run low on oil or was it being raced?

 

Those are great questions MR M. I am sure that I will never know the exact circumstances leading up to the issue at hand. It was/is owned and operated by my 20 yr old son. Preventative measures were never his strong point. While he is a responsible person overall, we have both figured out he is more of a Honda civic owner than a 928 owner.

I will check the condition of the oil tonight and might just drain the radiator and see what I can find. There was a very small puddle of brown radiator fluid under the car this morning when I was down there doing something else.

I hope to JB weld a star socket to the lower starter bolt and see if I can remove it. It is pretty well stripped out.

 

I checked the oil and it was dark brown with NO metallic flecks of any kind.

The 8" puddle of coolant was located on passenger side under the front sway bar and slightly forward by the rear of the A/C pump. Very brown and milky. There were no leaks by the radiator itself nor any evidence that either the upper or the lower hose had leaked whatsoever.

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...h-starter.html

 

With the battery charged up and a new ground strap and a freshly polished ground surface and a new washer,I get normal lights when the key is switched to the on position (50% of the time I hear the fuel pump in the back). When turning to the final position I get a small click that sounds as though it is coming from the fuse panel. When under the car, and my son turning the key I hear nothing from the starter. The only noise I heard from the starter was when I was under the car and jumpered the two posts on the starter itself, attempting to turn the car over that way. It tried hard to turn the first two times I tried it, but it was more of an electric sound than a mechanical one (If that makes sense). On the third and fourth try it just hummed. That is when we tried to turn over the car by hand. I have two other 928 (OB) in my garage that have much less in the way up front and I am able to turn them over by hand without a breaker bar. The 85 crank is much harder to get to with the 5 rib ALT belt and the fan being so close. It is a very tough angle to get leverage but my Son and I both tried with a 5" ratchet and a 3" extension and could not get it to budge.

Thank you for your input.