Lethargic starting! A 944 characteristic?

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: mr brightside

I work as an electrical engineer and i've been considering your problem all day.

The crimped connections on the 16mm2 live wire to the starter and the earth straps are also a problem area, moisture corrodes the terminals and also capillary action draws it back up the conductor and damages the strands. Someone suggested rubbing the crimped ends with sandpaper which is a good idea but coat all the connections in contact grease before reconnecting.

Good point, I forgot to mention that. I used vaseline but honestly can't remember now if this is right or not. Someone years ago told me it does the same job as electrical contact grease. It certainly didn't seem to hurt.

In theory the alternator kicks out plenty to charge the car but my 968 seems to have been suffering from not re-charging itself enough just like the S2 did. Its all these 5 miles drives to work and back with the lights/heater/demister all on.

 

[n8ony]

I have a low mileage S2 that is on an Accumate in the garage every evening, but it still turns over just as slowly first thing in the morning after its charge as it does once started again during the day.

Everyone I looked at before buying this one was the same.

 

[JamesO]

Probably makes no difference, but I always start the car with the clutch down so the starter doesn't have to spin the shaft in the torque tube too and naturally turn nothing electrical on.
I know its nothing compared to overcoming the forces of trying to turn over a large capacity high compression engine, but every little helps.
My girlfriend does the complete opposite, lights on first etc annoyingly her old fiesta starts nicely everytime but then it has a tiny ohv can of nails for an engine

My first 944's original engine started really easily and span over nice and quick, unfortunately it was also completely worn out and compression was way down.

 

[James_G]

When parked in the garage, no matter how long (but it's never more than three weeks irrespective of the weather) my car starts almost instantly. But when parked outside on a glorious sunny day, it'll churn over like the best of them. It was much quicker (both to start and round the track) than the 968 I was parked alongside yesterday however, which made me feel much better. []

 

[Keith D]

Sounds like great advice, and a nice Sunday morning job.

Question .... Can you tell me what the "Change Over Switch" is for (03834436) stupid question I know but it's my wife's car and she is bound to ask ..
Cheers
Keith.

 

[944 man]

Vaseline is excellent; but it can be embarrassing to purchase.....

 

[mr brightside]

A changeover switch as fas as i know will automatically switch from a primary power supply to a backup source in the event of loss of primary supply, in order to keep the circuit equipment going. A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is an example of such a system.

 

[Keith D]

Thanks for that, the switch is on the center console with the Number(03834436) I quoted, I just goggled it and got the change over switch description.

Still not quite sure when to use it.

 

[nick3814]

Whilst changing the oil and filter today I thought I would have a look at the starter motor, disconnected all the connections (which were covered in crud), rubbed them with sandpaper, reconnected them and covered them in vaseline! And the result??

Quite a difference actually [], still turns about the same number of times (4 or 5) but spins much quicker, so quite please really []

Cheers

 

[Neil Haughey]

Another happy customer, and best bit is it only cost you the price of a pot of vaseline and some wet/dry sandpaper.

 

[Bonzo]

Yes I will agree with that too!!! I nearly forked out £££'s for a shinly new starter for mine... but decided to get under there and check it out.
Clean ALL the cables going to the starter with wet 'n dry and WD40.
Secondly, unbolt the starter and clean the ally corrosion/ chalky dust from where it bolts to the bellhousing- a nice clean connection here means a nice clean earth []
After all that, it turns over quickly, hot or cold (but still sounds a little rough) and I trust it to start every time now.

 

[nick3814]

As a further plus, I fitted the 75 amp battery from my 911 today which is a new battery and she's like a different motor, spins even faster and fires almost straight away!! The battery that was fitted is a 70 amp Porsche item but no idea how old (not mentioned in history) so looks like the battery might be on the way out also!

Smiles all round [][] (apart from having to fork out for another battery [] never mind)

 

[ashley]

Costco Nick,

let me know and I'll pick one up for you

 

[Neil Haughey]

77 quid including VAT last week from my local car battery specialist, this was for my 968 but it is the same one. Halfords are around 100 quid for the same spec battery. I would have thought most decent sized towns have one of these trade battery places. The battery in our car is a standard size so I would have thought you should be able to get one just about anywhere.
A local specialist can also check and help with the vent hose and connection on the battery, something not easy to determine with a battery bought from a non-specialist or over the internet.

 

[nick3814]

Now I left the battery off charge today whilst at work so car not used since yesterday as I was curious about voltage drop. Measured it tonight and its gone from 12.85volts to 12.68 tonight, tried starting it and it turned quickly enough and fired no problem, now these figures are about what the other battery use to give but it wouldn't turn over anywhere near as quickly, is this because its a more powerful battery, 75 versus 70 amp hrs??

 

[Neil Haughey]

Nope that is the capacity. The race battery I have in the S2 is something like 18 amp Hrs, but it cranks out 680 amps for the first 5 seconds which is similar to the max output current of a standard battery. It spins the engine over at about the same speed as a stock battery but perhaps a tiny bit slow some times for my liking. I believe a lack of max current output is possibly a characteristic of an old battery. The one I had in my S2 was very slow to turn, I put it in the 968 when the 968's battery died and again it was slow to turn. The new battery I put in the 968 the other week is rated at 650 amps max but seems to spin the engine very nicely.