Afternoon guys. I'm aware this question has been asked a million times and believe me I have read and researched absolutely everything regarding this issue and have my own ideas but I'm keen to see the view of the collective.
So I bought a 986 which needed a bit of work as it was running hot. I was aware of this which is why I bought it in the first place so other than a few test drives I haven't actually used it - the hot running is an aside to this issue and not really relevant given it hasn't actually over heated. The day I test drove it, it took quite a bit of cranking to start but it was on a steep slope and the fuel was below empty so I put this down to low fuel. Once it started it ran brilliantly and then stopped/started again several times with no problem.
Likewise once it arrived at my place off of the low loader it started and ran fine - few jerry cans of fuel in it by now. However over the next few months (when I actually got a chance to look at it) it progressively got harder and harder to start i.e. cranking for ages, bit of gas and finally it would kick in to life - not happy about doing it though. Once started it would run absolutely fine and would happily then start again from hot so the opposite of the usual crank sensor issue.
Now however it wont start at all and shows no sign of wanting to. Not battery related at all - battery is strong and I have made sure it was fully charged every time. It cranks the starter over very well and the engine is spinning as I've removed the inside access panel to check.
I thought fuel pump or relay so I jumped the terminals and the pump is running yet car still wont start and shows no sign of doing so. Whilst its possible the pump could be weak, it seems unlikely to be the problem as I would expect it to at least cough and fire a bit. I would test the pressure at the rail but don't have the required fittings. Again it could be the fuel filter but I think this is incredibly unlikely.
Now would be a good time to say I'm in no rush for this car and am not interested in having the car recovered somewhere to be diagnosed as firstly I don't really trust anywhere (and don't want to pay them for it) and secondly I do all of my car work myself down to engine building (as a hobby but I am an engineer).
So at the moment I'm still feeling that this sounds like a crank position sensor issue as its clearly something that has got progressively worse and appears to be affecting spark rather than fuel (no I haven't checked yet). Ive just fitted another engine to my 996 C4S after a rather painful failure so have removed the known working crank sensor from the old engine that I took out and will swap it over to see if it gives any joy. I also need to check if its sparking however the freezing weather put pay to me doing much over the last few weekends as the Boxster is outside.
Are there any other theories out there that could fit my description? I dont get much time to work on my cars and even less to put aside for the Boxster so anything else I can test at the same time would be great or is the collective in agreement that this sounds like a crank position sensor issue?
Thanks for reading.
So I bought a 986 which needed a bit of work as it was running hot. I was aware of this which is why I bought it in the first place so other than a few test drives I haven't actually used it - the hot running is an aside to this issue and not really relevant given it hasn't actually over heated. The day I test drove it, it took quite a bit of cranking to start but it was on a steep slope and the fuel was below empty so I put this down to low fuel. Once it started it ran brilliantly and then stopped/started again several times with no problem.
Likewise once it arrived at my place off of the low loader it started and ran fine - few jerry cans of fuel in it by now. However over the next few months (when I actually got a chance to look at it) it progressively got harder and harder to start i.e. cranking for ages, bit of gas and finally it would kick in to life - not happy about doing it though. Once started it would run absolutely fine and would happily then start again from hot so the opposite of the usual crank sensor issue.
Now however it wont start at all and shows no sign of wanting to. Not battery related at all - battery is strong and I have made sure it was fully charged every time. It cranks the starter over very well and the engine is spinning as I've removed the inside access panel to check.
I thought fuel pump or relay so I jumped the terminals and the pump is running yet car still wont start and shows no sign of doing so. Whilst its possible the pump could be weak, it seems unlikely to be the problem as I would expect it to at least cough and fire a bit. I would test the pressure at the rail but don't have the required fittings. Again it could be the fuel filter but I think this is incredibly unlikely.
Now would be a good time to say I'm in no rush for this car and am not interested in having the car recovered somewhere to be diagnosed as firstly I don't really trust anywhere (and don't want to pay them for it) and secondly I do all of my car work myself down to engine building (as a hobby but I am an engineer).
So at the moment I'm still feeling that this sounds like a crank position sensor issue as its clearly something that has got progressively worse and appears to be affecting spark rather than fuel (no I haven't checked yet). Ive just fitted another engine to my 996 C4S after a rather painful failure so have removed the known working crank sensor from the old engine that I took out and will swap it over to see if it gives any joy. I also need to check if its sparking however the freezing weather put pay to me doing much over the last few weekends as the Boxster is outside.
Are there any other theories out there that could fit my description? I dont get much time to work on my cars and even less to put aside for the Boxster so anything else I can test at the same time would be great or is the collective in agreement that this sounds like a crank position sensor issue?
Thanks for reading.