944 porsche

Hello all!

I've been a member here for about a year now and have learned a ton from this 944 community. I've been hunting for one of my own for a few months and finally stumbled on this red, one owner, 56,000 mile, 1985.5 944 while out canvassing with our church. Saw it sitting on a driveway with two flat tires and asked if it might be for sale. The original owner passed away and his wife was wanting to get it out of the driveway for the last few years but never put it up for sale so she was more than happy to make a deal. It has not run in at least 5 years and the interior has some water damage. Overall though, it seems to be a complete car with a lot less miles than many of the other examples i have seen.

I bought it yesterday and had it towed to a shop I have access to. Spent the day today giving her new shoes. Went with falken ziex 950 a/s 215/60r15. I think they look good on the car. Hopefully they will perform decent.

Plan for tomorrow is full front seal kit, new hoses, waterpump and timing belts that i got from zims. Once i know the belts are good I'll try to fire her up. Maybe ambitious for a first time, but going to try to do it all in one day.

I plan to pull plugs and soak rings with wd40 early in the day before cranking. Also all fluids, filters and drain gas tank. Any other advice for starting a 944 that has not turned over in five years?

culture

hey, that looks like the intersection of fairland and rt29.

hope your project goes well. sometimes these cars can be a labor of love.

Ray Singh

Looks like a great find. Low miles too.
Keep us updated with your progress. You are a lucky man.

944 porsche

Spent 7hrs on the project today... 1/2 done

-new hood supports
-new transaxle oil
-old fuel drained (discovered severe breakdown of the fuel line between the tank and the pump, will replace tomorrow)
-coolant drained
-all belts removed
-all rollers and sprockets off
-water pump off

Basically ready for reassembly tomorrow. Only major road block was striping the cam bolt. I wanted to get to the cam seal, but that one will have to wait. No time to drill it out this time around.

944 porsche

7 more hours spent today...

-new water pump installed
-new balance shaft and front main seals
-new timing belt and rollers
-new balance belt and rollers
-careful tensioning of belts with porsche tool (really glad i rented the belt tensioning kit from zims, would definitely have over tightened the belts)
-new battery

Once new belts were on I felt ready to turn it over. Went easy by hand. Tried the key and it turned over strong but didn't fire. Not really a surprise but at least I can move into diagnostics and away from necessary maintenance.

To do:
-replace the short segment of fuel line between tank and pump. I picked up some generic fuel line but when bent in the tight turn it kinks off. Will need to order the contoured piece.
-install new fuel filter
-install the 8 piece new coolant hose kit
-fill and bleed cooling system
-install new cap and rotor
-reinstall air box and new filter
-diagnose no start (will pick up a spark tester, but not sure where i can find a fuel pursue gauge with metric threads)

If anyone in the Washington DC area has a metric fuel pressure gauge that i could borrow let me know. Would like to use it wed 18th.

Will pick back up on Wednesday.

944 porsche

- small piece of fuel line between tank and pump on order (attempted to use a standard straight segment but when bent at the angle required it kinked off.)

- Received temporary tags and registration today, so all documentation/insurance is now in order. Now just have to wait for time to diagnose the no start. Currently leaning toward fuel problems as I couldn't hear the fuel pump kick on. Will look into it on Wednesday afternoon.

Alaska Cabrio

Good Find! Hope it turns out well.


Looking forward to your first driving report!


Mike

azbanks

Does the needle for the tach jump when you turn the key? If it does not, then you may have a bad DME relay. It is a fairly common issue with these cars.

944 porsche

Thanks for the tip azbanks. I barely had a chance to crank it on Saturday before I had to quit so I can't recall if I saw tach bounce. I did get a new DME relay with my first batch of parts so if that's it I should be good. I've heard it's always good to carry a new one of those in the glove box anyway.

944 porsche

- checked belt tension and timing one last time and replaced timing covers
- replaced hoses and filled/bled radiator
- reinstalled intake with new air filter
- new plugs and distributor
- jumped pin 30 and 87b of dme relay and got no fuel pump action. Checked fuel pump power plug and saw 12v there, so pump is dead. Called around and sounds like there is one available here in town that i will pick up and install tomorrow.

944 porsche

- new bosch fuel pump installed
- new fuel filter

Now I have fuel at the rail, but no spark. Per procedure on clarks garage my coil seems to be good, though possibly weak? Difficult to see spark at plug. I do get a blink on an inline spark test light, but only when manually grounding the coil. When i crank with the key i see no spark. The way I see it, the DME or sensor inputs are at fault for not triggering the coil.

mel_t_vin

Most likely one or both of the speed/reference sensors, their connectors, or a faulty DME relay.

944 porsche

I have a new dme relay that i switched in so leaning more toward faulty sensors. Called around this morning and found one locally that I'll pick up this afternoon. Hopefully both are not dead. Didn't have time to test them yesterday but will check by resistance method prior to installing my new one today.

Project560

Sounds like you are having fun. I had the same issue and replaced both sensors in my project car before it would run. Hopefully yours will come out easily. Mine were seized in the bracket and I had to break the sensor bracket. Make sure you cover the hole in the clutch housing so you don't drop anything down there.

You mentioned that you replaced all of your hoses. I am about to do that too and realized that the heater core hoses may require dismantling of the dashboard to get at them. Did you manage to change them easily? Thanks.

Andrew
Ottawa, Canada
1984 Porsche 944 Project

944 porsche

Andrew, I ordered all the hoses but also saw the work needed to get to the heater core lines and I put that off till another time. I replaced all the ones I could get to easily and I'm going to move on to getting it running. I'll keep the hoses around as a reminder that I need to get the job done eventually.

As for today's progress, I was able to pick up the reference sensor. When I check the resistance of the two old sensors one appeared good and one appeared bad. I replaced the bad one and was able to get it to fire. So the new sensor fixed my no spark problem. Many probably already know this but I'll mention it again since it saved me about $100. I used BMW part number 12141710668 instead of the porsche part number. All the Porsche sensors we're being sold for $130-250 and that was not always even a bosch part. The one i got was $49 and was an authentic bosch part. Perfect Plug and Play for the Porsche 944. Apparently though lead is just a little longer for the BMW application.

Ultimately, now that I have spark I see three new problems.
1) very rough running that I'm betting is clogged injectors. I've tapped on them which seem to help some I'm guessing one or two are still stuck.
2) no activity on the gauge cluster. I checked the fuse number 18 and Switched it with another. No change. Perhaps it is a poor ground or another relay that runs the gauge cluster that I'm not sure about yet.
3) clutch pedal is stuck. Perhaps a frozen master cylinder.

Unlikely to make any progress tomorrow as I will be graduating medical school.