During the week I removed the plug wires, cleaned and reseated, pulled the distributor cap and old rotor. PO bought new cap and rotor in November 2016 but the rotor was sitting in the drivers door bin? The rotor installed may have been original. Looks like one with a built in rev limiter but from a quick Google image search it looks like a 914 unit? Cleaned the corrosion off the shaft for the rotor, cleaned distributor contact points, reinstalled, made sure plug wires were in the right places. The green wire was replaced in 2002 and is still in good condition and flexible so I installed the Bosch connectors. Car started fine and seemed to be running better. Certainly was willing to rev above 3500rpm which is helpful! Drove to TAG agency to title the car and it died pulling away from a stoplight 1 mile from my house. It would not restart

Stood on the side of the road waiting for AAA to arrive. Told me 1 hour 20 minute wait. Crazy. Was thinking it was timing belt but then I did not hear the thwacking of the broken belt (awful noise). Went back to the car, popped the hood and wiggled the Bosch connector, hopped into the car and she started right up.

By now TAG agency has closed so canceled AAA pickup and drove home. The pin inserts into the Bosch connectors are not the easiest to click into place with the outer wire since it has no insulation to stiffen it so I am guessing the connection was a little loose. I may just remove the connector and use the old but joint connector as this is just a temporary fix until I replace the wiring loom. Just glad it was not the timing belt! BTDT on my '82.

 

Found a little notebook in the passenger door bin that some owner used to record mileage and maintenance so was able to piece together the following maintenance items:
2001 124xxxkm - new master cylinder
2002 130xxxkm - new relays, fixed headlamps, new distributor wire, new oil cooler lines, new oil hose, gasket and oil pump seal, new battery
2002 134xxxkm - new timing belt and vacuum hoses
2003 136xxxkm - transmission replaced, alternator rebuild
2016 150xxxkm - new distributor cap, rotor and clutch hose

So trying to plan for maintenance items that I will do later this year. Timing belt obviously. Likely do an engine out so as to clean up the oil spray etc and this would be my first 928 belt replacement. Thinking pan gasket, any leaking seals, gaskets on the engine. Engine mounts. Clutch master and slave. Fuel lines.

What other items would you recommend that are mission critical that are more easily done with the engine out?

 

Try another green wire...been there and it sounds very familiar...ended up being green wire after goose chase. That's where I would start.

 

John - you mentioned installing a new wire harness. Not sure if you want factory OEM or not. If aftermarket is acceptable for this build, Sean Ratts in Denton TX (SeanR here on RL) builds a very high quality replacement harness. He's serviced my car for the last 10 years and does top notch work.

 

Heck if I had known that I would have dropped the car off to him while driving through Dallas last weekend

Not sure it will make it back down again under its own power!

 

Sean did some great work for me before picking up the Chiffon car in Dallas - he (along with lots of parts and help making the trip work out from Roger @ 928rus) made my car safe and reliable for a wonderful 1500 mi trip home which included the Tail of the Dragon and Sharks in the Mountains with 77Tony, not to mention multiple long excursions since. He's one of the best.

 

Well those are two very impressive indorsements. I will drop him a note.

 

His schedule is booked well through April. He likely wouldn't have it stay there unless it was a quick look and fix on the fly.

For your deferred mx list, add the PS hoses when the engine is out. Also, several people have said the cam cover gaskets are much easier to repl with the engine out.

 

Can you be more specific? There are maybe 35 'Bosch' connectors on the car.

The green wire needs to be repl before going any further.

 

I'll see if we can do a lunch/dinner Fri or Sat for an upcoming month. Get the Tulsa guys, and some Austin, San Antone as well.

 

Earlier in the thread I included a photo of the green distributor wire that was spliced to the engine wiring loom by simply twisting the wires together and then using electrical tape to secure the bond. I bought and installed the two pin Bosch connector, both male and female, on the green wire as I am also missing the connection on the engine wiring loom. This was the connector that I jiggled since it was my own handiwork.

 

Thanks, I will add these to my list.

 

If that's your green wire that's your problem. Really no way to splice that thing effectively. I'm about 99% sure that's part or all of the issue you are currently having.

 

The other end of that green wire has a plastic connector that fits into the distributor that is most probably disintegrated into a hundred pieces.

 

Here is the view from the slippery slope! One intake runner bolt refused to budge even after several Kroil dousings and an impact gun. Anyone removing the 16V intake will find it much easier with a 13mm impact swivel socket and a 12" extension. 3/8" is probably ideal as my 1/2" set was a tight fit.