Q – I plan on getting my 944 back on the road after having stored it for 10 years. What should I do to get it ready? Gino
A – Whew! Ten years of storage is tough on a car and the process may be complicated even once you get it running again. First things first, check the oil, coolant, install a fully charged battery, remove the spark plugs, disable the ignition coil, remove the fuel pump relay, oil the cylinders, change the oil and try to crank the car. As you crank it, you will probably notice that initially it cranks slowly then gradually speeds up. Crank it until you see the oil pressure gauge start to move (or the warning light goes out).
Once you get the engine oiled up by cranking you can reinstall the spark plugs and proceed with the fuel system. Drain the fuel tank as best you can and put in about two gallons of fuel, one can of “drygas” and about ½ bottle of Techron additive. It is very likely that you will need to remove the tank to get it clean but you can hope. After you get fresh fuel in it, disconnect the fuel pump and power it up with 12 volts positive and ground. If it actually runs, great! Usually after a number of years, the fuel pump will be seized. If you hear no sound, try reversing polarity of the power and ground on the pump and see it if will run backwards. If you get no fuel pump run at all, you will need to replace it.
So with the original pump functional or a new pump installed, you should have fuel pressure at the rail. You can check this in a number of ways but you are working with fuel and possibly spark so observe safety precautions during this step. The fuel pressure will be in the range of 40 psi plus.
The next step is to reinstall the fuel pump / DME relay and crank the car to see if it fires up. As you crank it, you should notice resistance in all four cylinders that will create what I call “cranking rhythm”. If you get uneven rhythm, you may have a compression or timing belt problem. But even if you “got rhythm”, It probably won’t start.
At this point, you will need to check for spark from the ignition coil. I would assume you will have spark since ignition on 944s is very reliable, even when they are stored for years. Caution: As you check for spark, be very careful that you do not become the ground side of the circuit. It can kill you! Rubber gloves may not be fashionable, but they could save your life.
Let’s say so far, so good; you have spark, but still it won’t fire up:
Now you need to check the injectors for pulse (with a volt-meter) and sound. If the injectors are not getting a pulsed-voltage signal, there is an issue with either the control unit(s) or the wiring. Break out the DIN diagrams, and pack a lunch, ‘cause you’ll be hunting all day! We tend to charge a LOT for electrical diagnosis, because it can be the most difficult thing to do on any given car…searching for a needle in a haystack is easy compared to searching for loose electrons in a wire!
If you ARE getting pulse, but no fire, you probably have clogged or “seized” injectors. As you crank the engine, the injectors should be clicking if they are not frozen due to old fuel residue. You can hear them click with a stethoscope. If you hear the injectors click, they still might be clogged and I would be surprised if they are not. So after a bit of cranking, pull a spark plug and see if it is wet with fuel. If it is not wet, put the plug back in, try a very brief shot of starting fluid into the air filter area and see if the engine tries to start. If it acts like it will start, stop there, that is all you need to know at this point. Do not try to run the engine on ether! This is only to verify that the engine can run with a fuel source.
If you have made it all the way to this point, and you have determined that the injectors will not spray fuel, you will need to remove them and send them out for rebuilding or replace them. A local source for this is Kinsler fuel injection in Troy. Now let’s say you get it to start and run. An engine that has been sitting for a long time will very likely have some collapsed valve lifters that will take a while to pump up. Don’t let a light rattle coming from the cylinder head scare you.
After you have gotten it to start and run, as it warms up, watch out for overheating since it is possible that the thermostat may be stuck. Once you are satisfied that it lives again, replace the fuel filter, fill the tank and add the rest of the Techron. Congratulations on a successful resurrection. But don’t try driving it yet. There is another chapter to this story so stay tuned.