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Taking inspiration from another dad here, I decided to start a thread documenting the progress of a project my son and I are working on together. It is a 1986 944.
My son is 16 and recently got his first car, a 2017 Chevy Camaro. In doing some mods to that car, he became inspired and said he really enjoyed working on cars and asked if we could maybe try a 'project' together. We purchased a 2008 BMW 328i that was not running and needed a ton of work, and we managed to bring that car back to life. We are hoping to do the same with this project. I don't know the long term goal at this point - he is in love with the color and the fact that it is a manual. Will we fix it up and sell it for another, or will it be a keeper? Only time will tell.
I have owned several Porsche's and currently I have a 997.1 turbo that I love. That said, I broke every rule of buying a Porshce with this one! The guy we bought the car from did not know a lot about it. It came with exactly ZERO history - not a single receipt. No PPI. The seller was told by the guy he bought it from that the car had not been registered since 2013. Has it ran? Was it track only? Did it sit that entire time? We don't really know. When we went to see the car, the seller was able to get it running using starter fluid and it actually sounded pretty healthy.
As I have heard from friends about photos on dating sites - I promise this car does not look as good in person!
So I hope to share in the knowledge of this group and learn along the way. Thank you in advance for any and all help. We are going to take this one slow and do things right.
Last edited by joes c4 cab; 07-05-2024 at 06:46 PM.
". Excellent video that details many of the known issues with starting.
Working from this video, we discovered that the fuel pump was not running. Nothing at all when the key is turned. So I pulled the plug to the fuel pump and sure enough, there is no power to the fuel pump when the key it turned on to ignition. Next step was to create a jumper for the DME relay from terminals 30 to 86 and 86B and same thing, no sound from the fuel pump. But this time, there was power to the fuel pump plug! So we have a bad DME relay at least. Plugged the pump back in and still nothing. Removed the pump and did a 12v bench test and sure enough, the pump is dead.
So last night I drained the gas tank and ordered fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel tank screen, and 2x DME relay (I read you should always have a spare). I find it hard to believe the non-start condition could be this easy after so many years, but we have our fingers crossed.
Some other observations I would like to get your opinion on:
1. I don't understand a cone air filter taking in hot air from the engine bay. Are these preferred on this car? Better for track?
2. the air conditioning compressor has been removed completely, and one of the lines has been hacked off. You can see this in my photo next to the driver side strut tower. 2 lines go to the bracket, only one comes out
3. I'll post a pic but I don't see a belt connected to the power steering pump. The reservoir is there and I think the pump is there, but there is only one belt on the crank pulley (I'll verify tonight).
So are we thinking it was setup for track days? Something happened to the AC and the owner decided not to fix? Seems off to rip off that line.
I would love a list of items to do before cranking. I'm thinking we will remove the timing belt cover and check the marks, change the oil and filter, bleed the brakes and change fluid, and maybe change coolant.
As I said, all help will be appreciated. I'll even give you a pass if you want to reiterate how dumb it is to buy this car the way we did, but it has to come with some help or advice!
The boy and i spent some time working on the car tonight on the passenger side window motor and regulator. Per the shop book I tested the window switch and it tested good between the recommended tabs. Pulled the plug to the motor and the switch is only giving .04volts. That’s what I get when testing the power coming into the switch as well.
I have no info except that the previous owner said he blew a couple of fuses but nothing ever moved.
the regulator was pretty gummed up and we spent some time lubricating it to get it to move pretty freely. So much that when we hooked the motor directly to 12v, the motor worked properly and the regulator moved back and forth. Just on the ground. No window.
I’ll check the switches on the drivers side and see if they are good. I only worked on the passenger side but did not blow any fuses.
Did some more work on the car today. Changed the hood struts. For $22 from Amazon for the pair, I find it shocking someone would rather carry around a block of wood to prop open the hood. Same with the rears. Slightly more expensive at $44 per pair, but come on.
I spent some time today cleaning and detailing the interior while the boy slept in. The interior was really filthy.
When he got up we removed the coolant overflow tank and gave it a good cleaning and tried unsuccessfully to locate the radiator drain plug. It’s not on either side, so good chance I have an aftermarket radiator or one from the wrong model year. Not a big deal except it makes draining the system tougher.
Got my fuel system parts yesterday but I didn’t order crush washers for the fuel line and they weren’t included. Dumb.
over the weekend I came up with a list of things we need and ordered them so hopefully we will get them in early next week.
Thanks for the encouragement! We are gonna need it I think!
On Monday I left work early and we did some work to the car. We installed the new DME relay, changed the fuel pump (which previously we had never heard run and did bench test as bad), replaced the fuel filter, drained the fuel tank, ran a gallon clean gas through, and replaced the fuel tank strainer. All was going smoothly. We filled with 2 gallons of fresh gas.
After that we did an oil and filter change (no metal bits on the oil drain plug at all), then cleaned out the coolant overflow tank - I'm happy to report that what kind of looked like milkshake-type junk stuck to the edges the coolant tank did not turn out of be a mix of coolant and oil, and then we topped off the coolant reservoir. We are not sure the last time this car actually ran, so the plan was to give it clean fuel and fresh oil, and then do a full coolant flush and fill after we were able to get it running.
It was time for the big moment, but we were let down. We tried multiple times to get it started with no luck. It was kind of a bummer, but I told my son that if the fix was as easy as a new relay and a new fuel pump, someone probably would have got this thing running a lot sooner! Reminder, it has not been registered since 2013!
So we removed the DME relay and tried the jumper trick. We could hear the fuel pump running as soon as he turned the key, but she still wouldn't start. Bummer. We removed the bolt at the end of the fuel rail and there is definitely fuel getting there, so we are on to the next phases of testing.
I am disappointed that no one makes a cheap adapter to hook the fuel rail to a standard pressure tester. I think for now we will try the trick several have used and just connect the fuel rail to the gauge with a length of hose and hose clamps. It's not as nice as quick connects, but I think it will get the job done. I borrowed the fuel pressure kit from Autozone and none of the 10 adapters provided will fit the fuel rail. Dumb.
Next observation is that we have a good amount of tach bounce when cranking. Also the speed and positioning sensors both test with a volt meter within acceptable range. I thought about ordering and replacing them just to make sure, since I read that if they are not working they will not allow the engine to fire, but Pelican was all out of stock. For now we are thinking those are good.
I ordered a spark tester that should arrive today. We will test for spark at the plug wires and at the coil. I suspect the spark is good because the car ran when the previous owner started it with starter fluid, but we will confirm with the spark tester.
I have to admit I am a little down right now. It was silly to hope for an easy fix, since the car has been sitting so long, but still I was hoping. I have read a TON of information about these cars online. I feel like I have read every page of Clark's Garage, but I will admit I am a little overwhelmed by all of the schematics and wiring diagrams. Are all of you guys electrical engineers, or is that kind of knowledge just necessary to keep a car like this on the road?
So our next testing procedures will be to test the fuel pressure, and leak down fuel pressure, spark testing, and the page "Troubleshooting Fuel Supply Problems" checklist from Clark's Garage. Hopefully that checklist will turn up something when testing the fuse box/DME relay that we have not previously thought of.
My gut is that something is telling the computer not to let the car run. It is trying SO HARD to run.
Have a nice weekend and we will report back. As always, any and all help is appreciated.
If you are bypassing the DME relay correctly, the pump will run regardless of key position. The easiest diagnostic at this point is a spray of starting fluid while cranking. If it runs, coughs, or shows any sign of life it is likely the fuel injectors are stuck, clogged or not being triggered. Leave the DME relay double bypassed while attempting to start, this will flush fresh fuel to the injectors. A little smack at each injector base (with the pump running) will help to wake them up. I use a hardwood stick for this. Easy to listen to the injectors with a screwdriver or stethoscope to determine if they are opening while cranking. Good luck.
Thank you for that advice! It is much appreciated.
As Gage suspected, we went through every step of the Clark's Garage "fuel troubleshooting" page, and everything checks out. All signs are pointing to stuck/clogged fuel injectors.
The last check on the list was to verify one pin on the DME computer was getting power. I got down there and went to remove the wood cover, and oh boy! We thought we had an A-ha moment when we discovered two very old alarm/pager units attached to the bottom of the glove box. I was hoping that it was somehow keeping the car from starting, but after investigation it was not - my old days of installing car stereos and amplifiers and alarms in the 80's and 90s was very useful. The unit is an Auto Page 4000 - there isn't much info online about it, I suspect because it is too old. From my testing, it looks like it was hooked up to a primary alarm (or maybe just to the dome light) and was used to page the owner if the alarm went off. It raises and lowers the antenna, and the pics online show an old school pager unit. I could not find any other alarm unit, and no siren, and the ignition key system was thankfully untouched. Now we have some cleaning up to do before we get back to the work at hand.
Some parts have arrived. The new power steering pump, and the hardware are waiting for install. The new window regulator wheels are in and we need to get those changed. I ordered a set of fuel injectors today, but I am holding off on the cap and rotor since I have no idea when they were changed and look fairly new. Spark plugs also look new.
Enjoy a photo. My son was very overwhelmed but I told him I'll figure it out!
a question - any idea where that light bulb that was under the ashtray goes? I cannot find a slot for it.
As of Monday, it's alive and running!! My son went to town "tapping" on the fuel injectors and the car came to life, 1 cylinder at a time! He was stoked to get to drive it!
Yesterday I spent some time working on the car. I removed the alarm systems and tracked down the alarm door sensors - they were little black rectangles in the door jambs with a sticky back. Not sure why they didn't go off of the dome light to trigger the alarm, but I don't remember much about tech in the 80's. I got that all done and cleaned up some of the wiring for the stereo. One hot wire was butt connected so badly it touched a ground and I heard the fuse blow. After that I reinstalled the center console and my son is a little less overwhelmed by all the wires hiding back there. Gotta figure out the power antenna wiring because my Kenwood puts out 12v to one "antenna power wire", and only 3v to the "trigger" wire that's used to wake up an amp or the power antenna. Connect them together to the one that's 12v and it never stopped running.
Still trying to track down the window problem. Both sides are dead. I installed a new window relay with no luck. I am not getting the relay to click AT ALL with the key on or off, and with the doors open or closed. I also am not getting any power to the switches on either side by jumping terminals 30 and 87 in the relay slot, sadly. I may have 2 issues going on here - a bad red/blue wire from the relay to the door window switch (possibly frayed or broken from the door connection), and/or the door contact(s) are not sending ground to the relay. Of course this is all predicated on my reading of the window wiring diagram from Clark's garage correctly. Once I get that sorted I will start a new thread, because I have read every thread and watched every youtube video on the window subject, and none of them seem to apply to my specific issue. I am suspect of a wiring issue because just about every switch and dial in the car works. All the lights, the blower, wipers, etc. All work correctly.
My son drove the car for a while yesterday, practicing his manual skills. This time he was able to get it back into the garage, which is progress!
As always, thanks for any help!
Last edited by joes c4 cab; Yesterday at 05:09 PM.
07-05-2024, 06:44 PM
Another Father & Son Project! 1986 944
