Good morning folks. So the car went through a car wash for the first time since I had it. Brooklyn doesn't lend itself to hand washing and I wanted to test the seals for leaks. The good news was no body gasket or hatch leaks. Bad news was that there was some debris I didn't spot in the battery area drain hole and the ENTIRE battery area filled with soapy water almost up the the terminals but didn't. I didnt realize this had occured before I left, so as I pulled out, buckets of said water were pouring through the dash and coming out under the glove box onto the floor of the passenger side. I immediately pulled over and figured out what had happened and was able to clear the clog and move on.
A short while later the car was pulling away from a stop light and she totally bogged down like she had no power or clogged injectors. It would last for a second and if I stepped on it, she would go back to normal and wouldn't happens again. Over the next few days this repeated but would go away. Then last night, she won't turn over. There is power and everything seems to be functioning but she just won't turn over and start.
I'm going to go out on a wet limb here and say something got wet that wasn't supposed to, but what is your best guess or course of replacing/checking. Is it the DME, the DME relay, something else?
Please help. Thank you
Break out the hair dryer and moisture removal (silica gel works great for this) and dry it all out.
Then poke around under the area of the dash that got wet and start checking the components that might have gotten wet.
Finally, remove any rubber drain caps, they are notorious for plugging things up and causing issues like this.
What year 944? Pre 85.5 the DME is mounted under the steering column. Post 85.5 it is on the floor on the passenger side under a wood panel. If it is the later of these I suspect you got the DME wet. And driving it wet could mean you shorted something in the DME. This is bad.. . . Very bad. Hopefully it just shorted something and drying it out will revive it.
If it is a post 85.5 car remove the DME and dry it out and see if it starts. If it is a pre 85.5 car let me know as your possible potions just got a whole lot more complicated. But for starters We will need to know if you are getting tach bounce and or if you are getting a spark.
It's a 1983. The only other thing that could've gotten wet in that area looks like some wiring/pieces of some ancient Ungo alarm system.
redhookfern wrote:
It's a 1983. The only other thing that could've gotten wet in that area looks like some wiring/pieces of some ancient Ungo alarm system.
Does said alarm system have an ignition cut out?
Might be time to exorcise the demon that is old alarm systems.
Start with the basics. It is either fuel or spark. Does the tachometer bounce a little bit when you crank it? If yes then there is a very good chance you have spark. If not let me know and we can go from there.
Ufff. No idea. I only know it has one by misc. unwelcome parts and a stupid Ungo alarm sticker in the windows.
Let me check the Tach when i get back to the house.
So the tach bounces a little yes. Any thoughts. I wouldn't even know where to start with these non-factory alarm pieces and wires if that's what is at fault.
Best I can say is get as much info on it and google it. I would see if you have spark. Tach bounce indicates taht teh DME is telling the ignishion to fire it also means your speed and refrence sensors are working proper. Best verify that you actaully have it. Also do you have fuel pressure. Do you here the pump when you first turn the ignishion? You can pull the rail with the fuel injectors attached and with a friends help see if the injectors are firing. If you ahve a noid light it is better / saver.
Just for S&G's disconect one injector and see if it fires. If it does (it will run rough) your FPR is bad.
Thought I would finally update this. Got the car running. The water that accumulated under the hood from the clogged drain got a bit of the connections wet. Took everything out, cleaned it up, and got it back running again. There was a nest of old alarm wiring that doesn't seen to do anything or go anywhere, and a hidden toggle switch in the glove box that I assume went to the alarm, though I have no idea. Maybe an ejection seat for all I know.
She is running like a champ again. I need to take the opportunity to go over all of the rains this week and make sure all is clear. I ordered up a few new seals as well for the roof and back hatch since the gas fumes occasionally make a surprise appearance when I fill up.
the gas fumes could be a broken drain tube that comes off the rubber thing at the filler. sounds weird I know but after you look at it you will see what I mean. I also found that if your rear tail lights are not sealed with the proper goop ( yes to a 944 owner goop is a technical term) it will pull in fumes there as well.
Funny you should say that. I think there is a leak either at the tail light, or those 2 seals above the light where the hatch latches into. I say this because I definitely see water in the right side tailight from time to time.
Also, a new development is that the wipers have decided to turn themselves on, and stay on. I'm thinking the conenctions on the stalk are starting to go bad. Seems to do it most often after driving on bumpy roads, like all of the cobble stone roads around my place.
My car did this and I ended up removing the intermittent wiper relay. This exercised the wiper demon from my car. The bad part is that I now have to turn the wipers off when they are at the base of the windshield. I purchased a new switch for the steering column.
On a side note the wiper motor and the relay are new so the switch is the last thing to replace. If that does not fix the wiper problem I am fearful that I will have to start digging in to the wiring harness.
