urgent help, Aircooled 911 wont start

[smilerbaker]

A guy here has an old aircooled 911, its a shed of a thing, b reg.

Anyway it wont start. water has got into the engine bay, it turns over but just wont cough into life, we had it running for about a minute at lunch time but it died and wont restart.

It parked in front of work and will get towed soon, he has no international breakdown cover and is supposed to be going back to the uk tommorow.

So what should we check, already checked the obvious, dizzy, leads etc going to spray everything with wd40 later, but apart from that what else?

I was able to move the dizzy cap (not wobble) with my hand, am I right in thinking a b reg porsche would have electronic ignition and not a rotor arm?

The owner knows nothing about cars at all, and freely admits its not been serviced in 5 years.

Ta

[r5gttgaz]

Pull one of the leads off the head and stick a spare spark plug in to check for a spark.

If no spark, flywheel sensor? Rotor arm?

[rich 36]

Best give it a (now legendary)
kick,

That can elicit a respomse of sorts

[smilerbaker]

rich 36 said:

Best give it a (now legendary)
kick,

That can elicit a respomse of sorts

LOL, fortunatly its not my car, so no kicking

worst case is I have to tow (toe) it somewhere, but I don't think he has the money to get it fixed, especially not at swiss rates.

[ingham]

"freely admits its not been serviced in 5 years."!

sounds like hes got his just reward for not looking after it

[smilerbaker]

ingham said:

"freely admits its not been serviced in 5 years."!

sounds like hes got his just reward for not looking after it

LOL looking at it its a miricle it made it out here, its got one foot in a breakers yard, which I recon is its next home.

[regroo]

smilerbaker said:

So what should we check, already checked the obvious, dizzy, leads etc going to spray everything with wd40 later, but apart from that what else?

Pull the plugs check spark and see if they show signs of fuel.

[SpydieNut]

smilerbaker said:

ingham said:

"freely admits its not been serviced in 5 years."!

sounds like hes got his just reward for not looking after it

LOL looking at it its a miricle it made it out here, its got one foot in a breakers yard, which I recon is its next home.

sorry, but what does he expect - run a supercar on nothing and have it not die on you.

maybe it's best he leaves it where it is and you call him a cab to the airport so he can fly back.

[rich 36]

TOE it out to periscope depth lakeG and cut loose from demon mini-sub

Paint teardrop on conning TOWer to signify
Confimed kill,

Publish on youtube


You know the drill

[smilerbaker]

regroo said:

smilerbaker said:

So what should we check, already checked the obvious, dizzy, leads etc going to spray everything with wd40 later, but apart from that what else?

Pull the plugs check spark and see if they show signs of fuel.

not really an option, they look like a bitch to get to, and have a cover etc etc over them, not somthing to attempt outside work, in the rain.

was kinda hoping a porsche nut would say "yes, common problem, check x and y"

[rich 36]

Plug a spare plug in and short it near metal,
Those fitted are indeed a long way down, can you hear a fuel pump whining on the key?

Tap a couple of relays in front N/S wing, and just check for some. Juice in tank

[rich 36]

Use plug from mower BTW

[smilerbaker]

rich 36 said:

Plug a spare plug in and short it near metal,
Those fitted are indeed a long way down, can you hear a fuel pump whining on the key?

Tap a couple of relays in front N/S wing, and just check for some. Juice in tank

yes I can hear the fuel pump, and smell fuel

[Henry-F]

It`s all the standard stuff initially. Take the dizzy cap off and wipe it with a dry paper towel inside to make sure not moisture, ditto king lead from coil to cap. There is a DME relay under the passenger seat you could either bridge that or close the relays manually with your fingers, could it be an immobiliser, unlikely to be plugs as they wouldn`t all go. One of the problems in checking plug leads is that sometimes you can get a spark, it just isn`t enough to start the car. It could be a timing sensor, an ECU fault if it`s been jump started incorrectly, etc, etc. Initially check the standard items but do it properly. Just spraying everything with WD40 won`t clear moisture from the inside of the dizzy cap for example (and it is possible that if it ran for a minute the engine got warm and caused the water in the cap to mist / condense on the cap / stop it running.

Henry

[crofty1984]

Tow it here, give it to me.

[smilerbaker]

crofty1984 said:

Tow it here, give it to me.

if you saw it you wouldn't say that

its a money pit

[rich 36]

Gasp'

Its not
(Whispers name)
A colvin is it?

[smilerbaker]

rich 36 said:

Gasp'

Its not
(Whispers name)
A colvin is it?

no, its a real 'en a very very bad example, but a real one

never seen rust on a 911 until today.

[smilerbaker]

Got it running

Took the dizzy cap off, and oh my god!!!

Looks like it was the original one, corroded to hell, leaking, and full of crap. cleaned it up as best I could, cleaned the rotor arm (suprised to see it had one, my my its just like beetle ) lots of wd40, and she fired up.

This guy needs to spend some serious money on this car, a real shame as it could be quite nice.

[wildoliver]

Poor thing I feel really sorry for it. ask him if he'll sell it I feel the need to adopt it.

On a serious note check area under grill for any electrics, plugs, sensors etc, if it only happened since the rain chances are it was caused by it.

If he still can't get it going I have a tow car and a big trailer, could come and fetch him!