mein51

I finally finished with the engine rebuild and installation on my '86 944 turbo. I was able to drive the car for the first time in over a year this past weekend. After my morning drive on Sunday, I was listening to the engine with a stethoscope while slightly bumping the throttle by hand and then the engine just died as if I had turned off the key. The only thing out of place I notice is a bit of smoke coming from my battery terminal that faded rather fast. My voltmeter tested 1.5(ish) with the cables connected. I disconnect the battery and check again before I put it on the charger and watch my meter climb back to 12.7v. I reconnect the battery to the system with only the large wire (to starter and then alternator, I believe) and get no change. Do I have something hooked up backwards or a bad ground? Any help would be greatly appreciated since I don't have a strong electrical background.

BTW, the car felt great when I did get to drive it

cpt_koolbeenz

<<<a bit of smoke coming from my battery terminal that faded rather fast>>>
Something is drawing a lot of current... 2 guage cable doesn't smoke over a little short!

<<<My voltmeter tested 1.5(ish) with the cables connected>>>
1.5 Volts?

<<<I reconnect the battery to the system with only the large wire (to starter and then alternator, I believe) and get no change.>>>
Get no charge? What does that mean? You hooked the volt meter up to the battery and it read zero?
When you did this, did you get a spark?

I would suspect your positive cable has a bare spot either going to the starter or alternator (or both )... Don't connect your battery up anymore until you look at your positive cable very carefully!

cpt_koolbeenz

Any updates Jake?

mein51

I wish! I'm working in Houston for the summer and am almost 2 hours away from my car. I'll be putting it up on stands as soon as I get back Friday afternoon and start testing things out. I noticed my amp/voltage confusion after I had posted... sometimes working on computers all day gets you kind of fried! Thanks for the help btw, I'll keep this updated when I get a chance to find out more info.

mein51

I finally got a chance to work on the car this past weekend. Turns out the problem was the 4 ga. wire (cable, whatever) going from the starter to the alternator. It was resting against the crossover pipe just below the turbo and.. well, it got a little fried Four feet of new cable and a day's worth of work and keeping things tidy underneath the hood fixed that one. It still has a few small kinks and vibrations.. but it sure does feel good to have a running car again!

Thanks for the info, btw