944S2 - engine misfire - long story but useful to owners
Discussion
Problem was an intermittent fault - car runs then misfires and stops, whether moving or not. Just before it misfires I can hear a noise like a loud relay chattering from the front of the car. See if you can guess what it was before you get to the end!
Thursday 19th April. Left Thornton Cleveleys at 2230 for the 70 mile drive home. After 2 miles the car starts misfiring really badly and stopped. After 10 minutes it started again - and after another couple of miles stopped again. I got a lift home off a nice man from the RAC. Next morning I got the RAC to take it to Stewart at Autotech Services in Ashton Under Lyne, 30 miles away. Because I had been doing the 'how far can I go on the V-power' lark for a few tanks, we thought I had sucked up all the crap out of the bottom of the tank and the fuel filter was blocked. Stewart changed the fuel filter and cleaned out the fuel pump. Picked the car up Tuesday 24th April. The car ran great until Wednesday 2nd May (turned out I'd just been lucky). Round the country lanes on my way home at 2100, through the dip / chicane on Cann lane, and it stopped again, much to the amusement of the farmer, stood there with his hedge trimmer. "It doesn't sound very good" was his helpful comment. Eventually got it going and it worked alright for a few days (with occaisional misfires)until Wednesday 9th May when I turned a corner down a hill in Farnworth and it conked out. Just managed to coast and park outside the client's house. When I left it started fine, ran along the M61, M60, M62, M6 fine. Came off at Lymm truck stop for the A50. As soon as I went down and up a dip it conked out. Got it started and carried on, but it conked out again at exactly the same spot on Cann Lane. Fortunately the farmer wasn't there! I got it home and used our other cars for a few days.
Monday 14th May. Looked on previous threads on here. Followed the advice, checked the DME relay, fuel pump, distributor cap, rotor arm, spark etc, and all was fine. I called Stewart at 1930 and told him what I had done and what the current symptons were. While we were talking the engine was running but misfiring. He said it sounded like it could be an air leak. I had the bonnet open and asked him if he thought it could be the air flow sensor - and as I touched the plug the engine stopped misfiring. Took the plug off, cleaned it out, WD40d it, started it - fine. Took the plug off and heard the chattering noise again - just to confirm that was the problem. Put it back together and took it for a thrash round the lanes, flying through the dip / chicane on Cann Lane, and everything was fine. Washed it, locked it up and went and had a bottle of Stella.
So after all that, the fault was 'just' a dirty plug connection on the Air Flow box which was being jolted on and off with the bumpy roads - but now it's absolutely fine.
Sorry to bore you all, but as these cars get older (and mine is one of the last) I suppose other owners might suffer the same problem, and knowing this sort of info could save a lot of time and money.
Thursday 19th April. Left Thornton Cleveleys at 2230 for the 70 mile drive home. After 2 miles the car starts misfiring really badly and stopped. After 10 minutes it started again - and after another couple of miles stopped again. I got a lift home off a nice man from the RAC. Next morning I got the RAC to take it to Stewart at Autotech Services in Ashton Under Lyne, 30 miles away. Because I had been doing the 'how far can I go on the V-power' lark for a few tanks, we thought I had sucked up all the crap out of the bottom of the tank and the fuel filter was blocked. Stewart changed the fuel filter and cleaned out the fuel pump. Picked the car up Tuesday 24th April. The car ran great until Wednesday 2nd May (turned out I'd just been lucky). Round the country lanes on my way home at 2100, through the dip / chicane on Cann lane, and it stopped again, much to the amusement of the farmer, stood there with his hedge trimmer. "It doesn't sound very good" was his helpful comment. Eventually got it going and it worked alright for a few days (with occaisional misfires)until Wednesday 9th May when I turned a corner down a hill in Farnworth and it conked out. Just managed to coast and park outside the client's house. When I left it started fine, ran along the M61, M60, M62, M6 fine. Came off at Lymm truck stop for the A50. As soon as I went down and up a dip it conked out. Got it started and carried on, but it conked out again at exactly the same spot on Cann Lane. Fortunately the farmer wasn't there! I got it home and used our other cars for a few days.
Monday 14th May. Looked on previous threads on here. Followed the advice, checked the DME relay, fuel pump, distributor cap, rotor arm, spark etc, and all was fine. I called Stewart at 1930 and told him what I had done and what the current symptons were. While we were talking the engine was running but misfiring. He said it sounded like it could be an air leak. I had the bonnet open and asked him if he thought it could be the air flow sensor - and as I touched the plug the engine stopped misfiring. Took the plug off, cleaned it out, WD40d it, started it - fine. Took the plug off and heard the chattering noise again - just to confirm that was the problem. Put it back together and took it for a thrash round the lanes, flying through the dip / chicane on Cann Lane, and everything was fine. Washed it, locked it up and went and had a bottle of Stella.
So after all that, the fault was 'just' a dirty plug connection on the Air Flow box which was being jolted on and off with the bumpy roads - but now it's absolutely fine.
Sorry to bore you all, but as these cars get older (and mine is one of the last) I suppose other owners might suffer the same problem, and knowing this sort of info could save a lot of time and money.
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff