I've searched this site, checked out Clarks, Roadfly, Cantonia, Connact, and I have picked up some ideas as to where I should look. Bu has anyone here actually solved a no start sitaution? what was it that you fixed? If anything, does anyone have a priority list of what to check? Really want to drive my car. It is killing me, sitting in the garage. 1987 944 N/A.

 

Yes all the time, it is probably the most common complaint in the 944. One person trying to get another person's car to start over the internet without seeing the car is a bit difficult.

Start with your basics,

Do you have fuel pressure (and what is it)
Do you have spark

 

Yes on fuel pressure and yes on spark.

Is there a procedure to test voltage reading at the fuse box where the DME/Fuel pump relay plugs into? I am thinking that if there is no voltage there, we can move on to testing the DME computer, located in the passenger footwell?
More bits of info: was able to get fuel pump to turn on by jumping 30 and 87b. but when the relay is put in, no sound from the fuel pump. I am ready for you to tell me what the next step is.
TIA

 

That is normal when the DME relay is not jumped, it will not make a sound unless you are cranking.

Have you tried starting the car with the jumper wire in? Keep in mind, it should be a 3 wire jumper, not a 2 wire jumper. 30, 87, and 87b should be jumped together (use a wire nut and three leads of wire).

Where do you have spark at? The plugs? The coil?

What is your fuel pressure exactly when cranking?

If you have fuel and spark, your DME is fine in my experience.

 

I have jumped 30, 87, 87b with a home made three wire jumper and still no fire, just cranks.
I have spark at the plug wire, pulled out, screwdriver stuck in , git close to ground and got strong spark.
Not sure what the fuel pressure was, but got a stream of gas when I disconnected the fuel line and jumped 30 and 87b with the 2 wire set up. Did'nt feel it was necessary to jump with three wire for fuel pump check.
So the DME sounds fine, cool, I think. The next step would be...

I know this has been asked before in posts, but just curious, how much bounce should be at the tachometer, mine "ticks a little up and down when cranking" or should they be huge movements?

Ready for more testing...

 

Your tach bounce is normal, it should be very slight.

Next, lets check to see if the injectors are firing. Put your DME relay back in. Pull your fuel rail out of the intake (4 10mm (head size) bolts) Pull the rail out, leaving everything connected, including the injectors. Have someone crank the car a few times, and make sure the injectors are spraying fuel.

If no fuel: Then put the DME jumper wires back in, and repeat.

 

Ok,

So I took out the fuel rail, all injectors exposed. Instead of putting the threeway jumper wire, I put my relay back in. Got my head close to the injectors to see if there was fuel spray, had my daughter turn the key and then BOOM! Fuel spray and spark caused a nice loud and unexpected explosion. My ears are still ringing as I type this. So now I'm thinking that the timing belt jumped a tooth? Timimg problem? Should I have pulled the coil wire first? (Anyway I pulled all the plugs and they are wet, I'll go buy some new plugs and let the cylinders dry out). Belt looked good when I took off the cover, but I didn't check the timing marks. Will try to do that first thing tomorrow. Hopefully you will have have the next step for me and let me know if I am on the right track.

 

So there I am removing the timing covers, air filter, dist cap, when Hmmm, I go to te feel around the rotor to find the screw holding it in.
No screw! I grab the rotor and it slides right off into my hand! So now I'm panicking and yet happy, I check the belts over to make sure that there was no damage to the belts, rotated the engine several times (plugs were out so did not have to fight compression). Everything looked good. Went to wreck yard (loooking for a scew) and called several stores to buy a replacement rotor (I was hoping that it would come with a new rotor, nope). Looked for a new scew from Pelican. nope. About to give up (It was Sunday) and was going to go to Porsche on Monday...

So I'm thinking, where could that screw be? I continue to remove the lower timing cover and the screw falls right out! Put everything back together and Zoom, zoom, zoom, I'm back on the road!

Thanks for your help!

 

Lol, glad to see you found the problem (the screw you could get a an ace hardware store), without blowing yourself up

 

Oh, and that screw should have blue loctite on it, or it will come out again.