Henry964

As you may know my car has a very hard case of the christmas tree effect, after spending 2 weeks in the official importer service they called me last wednesday and said to me: "come pick up your car, it runs perfect now".
Next morning I picked up my car (and a hefty bill) and I headed to a Gas Station to fill the tank because they tested my car a lot and drained it.
As you may guess after less than 3 blocks... yesss the full monthy!!! Christmas never ends and here I go back to the shop.
The mechanic said to me: "yesterday I tested it 3 times and it was perfect"
All this happens after the car spent the last 2 weeks of december in my usual mechanic trying to solve the same problem .
Neither shop finds anything wrong, the scanner says "no error" and the engine runs beautiful

Indycam

The loose wire on the alarm , tracker was not the problem after all ?

garrett376

What did they try to do to fix the problem? New spark plug wires per chance?

Indycam

"it was a bad wire connection from the tracking device that the car insurance company made me install."

"a new battery"

"(new starter, new rear discs, new plugs, valves adjustement and oil leaks solution)"

"it always happens after running 10-15 minutes but it goes away as soon as I stop and restart the engine"

"As I told before it all started after the starter and plugs were changed"

Henry964

Thanks Indycam, yes, they told me the tracker connection was the problem, but the damn tree appeared as soon as I took the car out.
I've already changed the battery but the problem is still there (did not appear for 3 days - after we put in the new battery - It started again on january the first and very quickly: half a block from my home )

I told both shops: check the coils, check the coils connections, check the sparks wires, check the sparks etc. they are not finding anything wrong....

I`m really tired of the whole thing

Henry964

thanks Garret376
No they haven`t tried new spark wires yet, I told them to do so
they were thinking more in a bad ground, loose wire problem, but haven't found any other than the tracker connection

Jim Howley

When I first got my old C2 I had a similar problem, Christmas tree effect every couple of days for no apparent reason. In the end the car just gave up and would not start at all. My mechanic had to change a combination of things to get it working, coils and something else. I have sent him a message to ask as I no longer have the service records to check myself so I will let you know if I hear anything.

newsboy

If you haven't changed the coils, I would try that. My coils also tested within limits, and after trying many things, I changed them, and cured it my Tree. At a little over $100.00 for two coils, it's worth a try.

Henry964

Thanks Jim and newsboy,
I told the mechanics to test the coils, maybe they should change them anyway, but what worries me is that I keep changing things (and spending money)

Jim Howley

Any rennlisters local to you who could swap them over with you to check?

Henry964

No other rennlisters here in Buenos Aires AFAIK, I think language is the issue

jneteler

There is a Porsche Club in Argentina, you can try contacting them. They may know of someone that can help you.

I face the same problem of limited local resources over here. Talk to as many people that service or own P-cars to build up your network.

Good luck,

JNEteler

garrett376

To test your coils and ignition system health you can do a simple test of unplugging one of the ignition circuits and seeing how your engine idles. If you have a bad coil, the engine will not be able to idle on one circuit - it will die. If you have a bad spark plug wire, your engine will stumble, and most often backfire. It costs you nothing to do this test, and just requires unplugging the ignition module at the coil packs while the engine is idling. Try that test and see what happens - it's very helpful to do that versus just swap parts blindly!!

Henry964

Thanks jneteler
I am in fact a member of the Porsche Club of Argentina, we have our meetings in the same building where my car is being fixed.
We are in holiday season and most members are at the beach

Indycam

Are you willing to do a few small tests on you car ?
They are very easy to do .