BLUE C2

I’ve been checking all the connectors to do with the engine management in an attempt to cure my intermittent misfire / poor starting on my ’89 C2. One of the pins in the 3 way connector to the distributor (Hall effect sensor) looked a bit dodgy so I started to remove the rubber boot to investigate further. However the whole connector, pins and all, came away leaving just the wires. All three look to have been very badly crimped at some point in the past and show signs of corrosion. Hopefully this may be related to my misfire / poor starting. I’m going to replace all the pins but I do not know which one goes where. The male side of the connector on the distributor is marked up – 0 +. The wires to the plug are white, brown and the screen cable. There are also numbers 1 2 and 3 on the female side of the plug where the boot locates.
Please could some kind sole have a look at their car and tell me which wire goes where.
Thanks in advance.
Blue C2

91C2wrencher

Blue, not ignoring you! I had look down at my car and unfortunately( or fortunately, for me) that plug is still intact with strain relief and all, so I couldn't get the wire info for you. you could try and contact Steve out at rennsport, I'd bet he knows.

robmug

BlueC2 - where in Derby are you? I am in Wirksworth most weekends...

Can't help re the wires - I'll see if I can take a look tonight at home...

Taj

Hi Blue C2,
According to the wiring diagram for a 90 C2, on the hall sender the number 3 pin is Brown, the number 2 pin is white, and the number 1 wire is the screen. I have attached the diagram for you.

Taj.

BLUE C2

Taj, thanks very much. I'm very grateful.
Rob, I'm based in South Derbyshire, and work in Repton.
Regards
Blue

Bill Verburg

You might want to contact Ingo(aka PCar SBA). He recently had an isssue w/ that connector and had it all apart to repair it.

See

this thread

BLUE C2

More on the Kangarooing C2.
OK I’ve sorted the Hall effect plug problem thanks to Taj but sadly it has not had any effect on my intermittent poor cold start / bad cold drivability. Problem as described before: Always fires up but takes 2 to 3 goes to “catch” and idle. Then idles fine but difficult to hold steady revs when manoeuvring and I get a severe judder when driving with just a little throttle. Occasionally (but only when the engine is cold) I get a complete flat spot when I go on the gas and the only way around it is to come back off the throttle and go very slowly back on. Sometimes it fires up and drives perfectly from cold and it does not appear to be weather conditions related. (The car lives outdoors at night here in the UK.) The car has no catalyst and is coded to run as such and has the altitude / air pressure sensor under the passenger seat fitted.
My local Bosch agent has had a go at the problem and eventually got an error code off the Air Flow Meter (out of range low). No other errors found and the temp sensor readings are OK. A new flow meter and re setting the CO at idle later, and I still have the problem but no error codes are being logged suggesting to me that whatever is going out of range is not going out far enough to record an error. Their next step is to have the DME unit checked off the car. I’ve already tried another supposedly OK DME unit and had exactly the same problem so I’m not confident.
Idle control valve has also been substituted to no effect.
My next step is to monitor the injector pulse width and temp sensor readings over a period of time on a Fluke scope meter to see if I can find any pattern to the problem. Please can anyone send / direct me to a wiring diagram for the DME system for an ’89 C2 Targa (ie the rest of the drawing so kindly posted above). Is there anywhere I can buy the DME manual for the C2?
I love my car but this problem is starting to make me want my ultra reliable but slightly obvious Subaru back.
Thanks in anticipation:
Blue C2

johnfm

Blue

if I remember rightly, you are the chap that checked alot of the sensors etc etc etc.

So, you've replace the air flow meter - no effect. You've tried another DME in your car - no effect. You have already done caps and rotors I think, so its not those.

Have the injectors been checked/cleaned? Plug wires been checked for arcing etc? New battery? Checked as many earths as you can??

DO you have a workshop manual on CD?? They are VERY useful.

BLUE C2

Hi John.
Yes it’s me and still with the same problem. I’ve a bit more time to spend on sorting the problem now which is just as well as it is getting quite annoying as I use the car every day.

Injectors are on the list but as it all works so well warm and the problem seems to affect all cylinders equally, I’ve not got round to removing, testing, ultrasonically cleaning, retesting and refitting them yet.

Plug wires OK and the battery has been tested OK. All the earths I can find have been stripped, rubbed back to clean and refitted.

I’ve got access to the general manual on the 964 via a friend who used to work in an OPC. Unfortunately his DME manual for the 964 was borrowed just before he left the dealership and never returned. The DME manual on CD would indeed be very useful. How can I get one?

Blue C2

johnfm

Sorry, don't have a DME manual - just the workshop manual.

So, it runs bad when warm. This suggest that there could be an electrical prob somewhere which sorts itself out with temp (ie a contact somewhere expands enough to make a better contact) or its a enginemanagement thing.

You say the O2 sensor is off and the DME is jumpered. Have you checked the jumper situation and tried reverting to a cat bypass with O2 sensor?

If you get ABSOLUTELY stuck I'm in Leeds. It takes less than 20 minutes to remove the cat bypass (mine now has nice new bolts, so it should be 10 minutes!) and if you have no options you are welcome to come & try my cat bypass.

However, I know nothing about the DME, jumpers etc.

BLUE C2

Sorry John, no it runs bad until warm. Then fine.
Thanks for the kind offer.
I’m pretty sure my car has either never had a catalyst or has been by-passed for a very long time. The pipe looks stock with heat shielding etc and has no lambda sensor.
The pressure sensor and coding plug are all factory spec’. The code plug is in the loom behind the DME unit under the passenger seat and is mentioned in the workshop manual I have. It still has the original Porsche part number label on it.
I believe the options are:
Closed loop lambda control
Open loop
Japan and California
Depends which two of the three pins in the plug are connected or indeed if a code plug is fitted at all. I have not got the book with me at the moment but I will check.
My car (RH drive) was a personal import to the UK when new (November 1989) and looks to be a slightly unusual specification. Also there is nothing in the service history to say the cat was ever removed, hence my suspicion that it never had a catalyst. Of course, I am assuming that it has cold started and driven correctly at some point in its life as I can’t believe what was originally a £40k car ran as badly as this when cold all its life.
There are hundreds of possible causes for my problem, I guess I ‘m just going to have to work through them all systematically. Hence the need for a wiring diagram. Oh for a 964 Haynes manual!
Adrian, will you impending book have such a wiring diagram?

johnfm

Where was it imported from??

BLUE C2

The factory in Germany according to the PDI stamp in the log book.

johnfm

How old is the battery that you have checked? (Yes, I know its a longshot!)

OR, could there be an air leak somewhere in the intake system - which goes away when warm as something expands (another longshot).

Was it like this when you bought it, or did it happen recently after some work on the car?

BLUE C2

Battery just over 1 year old according to the receipt that came with the service history.

Air leak is a possibility and I was going to combine the injector removal with an intake system strip clean and rebuild.

Discovered the problem the morning after I bought it privately. Didn’t drive it completely cold before parting with the cash…. Argggh!