Pitfalls of Cleaning your engine bay

[Port 911]

Well looks like I may have jump when I should have walked very slowly, tried to give the engine bay a detail this afternoon.

A light spray with a cleaner, some tight scrubbing, then a light spray of with a fanned water jet, & low & behold now the car want start.

Thought I had stayed away from all things electrical, but obviously not well enough.

I have sins done some reading on a few forums, & looks like water should go no where near the engine bay of a 944, unless it's in the form of steam.

So does anyone have a check list I should work through, I have a good mechanic mate, that will laugh at me at first, then after taking the micky out of my should be able to help me, but he has not worked on a 944 be for.  

Ive got a few weeks before the Central Coast Cars & Coffee, would love to be back on the road before then.     

 

    

[targa george]

 

Hi Port 911

We're you watching me early Sunday morning? How did you know I washed my car Saturday afternoon?  Guess who had the exact same problem last Sunday morning? I gave my '84 targa a clean ("I'll show 'em, I'll have the shiniest red machine on the day!") on Saturday afternoon in prep for Autohaus' Sunday morning run starting from Berowra and ending at Bunnings Gosford. Set the alarm for 05.00 Sunday morning and tried starting the damn thing for the next half hour. Was I holding my tongue the wrong way? Was I swearing loud enough?  In the meantime, neighbours' lights were mysteriously turning on. I work for a bank as an I.T specialist  and swore I heard the word "banker" coming from across the road on a couple of occasions. Nothing worked, until...................... I pulled the distributor cap off and relieved it off some moisture / water.  Bingo! Took off like a thief in the night with a recently washed and waxed decklid covered in greased fingerprints and made Berowra just in time.  

Worth a try? I'm not entirely sure it was the culprit.  As a P mechanic, I make a pretty good I.T engineer.

[Buchanan Automotive]

I take it you are talking about the 1986 944 in you're avatar ?   , if so then }

Its no different to you're 993 911 with its twin distributors , water has made its way into the inside of the distributor cap or if you have non genuine Buru plug leads , then water is sitting in and around the vertical sitting spark plugs as well , meaning water they're will short out the high tension spark 

Note } with good condition genuine Beru plug leads & correct coil lead , this does not generally happen, with cheap imitation plug leads it will always happen

You must remove the distributor cap & wipe/ dry out the inside of it ( just like all other 1950's , 1960's , 1970's , 1980's normal cars )

Note 2 } on the 2.5L ( single cam ) 944 & 951 engines ( only ), the Bosch dist cap  is protected ( on the inside ) from the dust & crap inside the timing case & this goes for water as well with a dedicated black plastic dust/water cap that is meant to be there ( sits neatly around the base of the dist rotor ) and humans find it easier to just throw it out ( its a spare part ) & this simple black plastic dust cap stops condensation sitting / rising inside the timing ( cam belt ) case from rising to the top ( yes where the distributor cap  is ) and condensing inside the list cap ( which is what you probably have )

Note 3 } with the plastic dust cap missing will ensure more than usual black dust ( cam belt particles ) to build up inside the distributor cap & this with water is highly conductive , meaning the High Tension Spark with early short to ground because of it = no engine start 

Note 4 } with new correct Beru plug leads & new spark plugs & a new dust cap you can spray these engines with water with little effect

Note 5 } make sure the coil lead ( where it connects to the coil ) is not corroded internally & the brown plastic ( top ) area of the coil is perfectly clean and not covered in the normal conductive dust and crap that builds up on all last century coils on all cars & yes this area shorts out easily if covered in crap & is way ( just like on a HQ Holden )

Note 6 } I know this is shockingly basic , but just make sure the 4 spark plugs are not too old ( worn out ) it just makes everything so much harder 

All basic stuff we all do as basic first steps in ALL last century cars ( Ford , Holden , Merc , BMW , Toyota  , Datsun etc etc etc )

Regards

Bruce Buchanan

Buchanan Automotive

[turboT]

 

Hi Port 911

We're you watching me early Sunday morning? How did you know I washed my car Saturday afternoon?  Guess who had the exact same problem last Sunday morning? I gave my '84 targa a clean ("I'll show 'em, I'll have the shiniest red machine on the day!") on Saturday afternoon in prep for Autohaus' Sunday morning run starting from Berowra and ending at Bunnings Gosford. Set the alarm for 05.00 Sunday morning and tried starting the damn thing for the next half hour. Was I holding my tongue the wrong way? Was I swearing loud enough?  In the meantime, neighbours' lights were mysteriously turning on. I work for a bank as an I.T specialist  and swore I heard the word "banker" coming from across the road on a couple of occasions. Nothing worked, until...................... I pulled the distributor cap off and relieved it off some moisture / water.  Bingo! Took off like a thief in the night with a recently washed and waxed decklid covered in greased fingerprints and made Berowra just in time.  

Worth a try? I'm not entirely sure it was the culprit.  As a P mechanic, I make a pretty good I.T engineer.

think i might have seen you there. 

[90sF1Kid]

Sorry to hear mate, hope you get it sorted in time for its big debut :)

[Port 911]

I take it you are talking about the 1986 944 in you're avatar ?   , if so then }

Its no different to you're 993 911 with its twin distributors , water has made its way into the inside of the distributor cap or if you have non genuine Buru plug leads , then water is sitting in and around the vertical sitting spark plugs as well , meaning water they're will short out the high tension spark 

Note } with good condition genuine Beru plug leads & correct coil lead , this does not generally happen, with cheap imitation plug leads it will always happen

You must remove the distributor cap & wipe/ dry out the inside of it ( just like all other 1950's , 1960's , 1970's , 1980's normal cars )

Note 2 } on the 2.5L ( single cam ) 944 & 951 engines ( only ), the Bosch dist cap  is protected ( on the inside ) from the dust & crap inside the timing case & this goes for water as well with a dedicated black plastic dust/water cap that is meant to be there ( sits neatly around the base of the dist rotor ) and humans find it easier to just throw it out ( its a spare part ) & this simple black plastic dust cap stops condensation sitting / rising inside the timing ( cam belt ) case from rising to the top ( yes where the distributor cap  is ) and condensing inside the list cap ( which is what you probably have )

Note 3 } with the plastic dust cap missing will ensure more than usual black dust ( cam belt particles ) to build up inside the distributor cap & this with water is highly conductive , meaning the High Tension Spark with early short to ground because of it = no engine start 

Note 4 } with new correct Beru plug leads & new spark plugs & a new dust cap you can spray these engines with water with little effect

Note 5 } make sure the coil lead ( where it connects to the coil ) is not corroded internally & the brown plastic ( top ) area of the coil is perfectly clean and not covered in the normal conductive dust and crap that builds up on all last century coils on all cars & yes this area shorts out easily if covered in crap & is way ( just like on a HQ Holden )

Note 6 } I know this is shockingly basic , but just make sure the 4 spark plugs are not too old ( worn out ) it just makes everything so much harder 

All basic stuff we all do as basic first steps in ALL last century cars ( Ford , Holden , Merc , BMW , Toyota  , Datsun etc etc etc )

Regards

Bruce Buchanan

Buchanan Automotive

Thanks Bruce

I will go through these steps tomorrow, can sleep a little better now I have a plan of attack, it is the 944, I know it got new plugs, Rotor button & distributor car around 5000 km's ago at an adelaide Porsche specialist, so hopping they are good quality. I don't know about the leads though.

[tazzieman]

You've cleaned and dried everything on the outside , now you have to work on what got wet on the inside! As Bruce says , it's all "last century" and thus if they could get from Peking to Paris in 1907 with similar bits and bobs getting wet/cold/hot/dirty/broken - so can you!

[Buchanan Automotive]

Here is the Porsche part number of the very inexpensive , but quite important ( we often see missing ) dust / condensation cap that sits at the base of the distributor rotor & it seals off the inside of the cap from dust & condensation = 944 602 803 00

Make sure you have a Bosch dist cap & rotor , there are a few other much cheaper & quite nasty brands out there & they are cheaper to buy for a reason

The plug leads must not be cheap nasty "carbon " leads , they must be very high quality Beru leads ( standard Porsche  ) & naturally Beru leads for the 8V 944 engine ( Made in France by Beru ) last around 25 years , sometimes 30 + , where as cheap carbon leads will play up ( particularly when wet ) on these cars real quick

Regards

Bruce B

[Port 911]

My little girl started this morning, but I will be checking all items mentioned & cleaning out said items as well. Happy days :-), I have driven the car in torrential rain before without any issue, I think direct water was the problem.