Sometimes you should leave well enough alone…
Since 928s are known for their sketchy electrical connections, I decided to clean all the fuses by removing them 5 at a time, sanding them with an emery board, then spraying the fuse spades and socket with deoxit to clean the connections. There are 44 fuses but I did them all. Only found 1 that was blown and it was for some non-important function. I also pulled many relays and sprayed their sockets.
Then I decided to test my brake lights. I attempted to hook up the battery in the dark (I had the garage door down and no lights on in the garage). There was a big spark when I tried to connect the negative cable. Huh? Tried again – another spark. I turn on the lights and see I had the battery charger hooked up to the battery but it’s not plugged in. Removed the cables and connect the battery, turn out the lights and am surprised to see the light that illuminates the dash is on. OK, just adjust the wheel under the dash to turn it off. Nope. The wheel spins but never turns off the light. Looks like I’ve found the drain on my battery. Test the brake lights and have 2 working out the 3. Good enough for govt work.
We’re heading into Labor Day w/e and I get a few email ads from various tire stores about sales. Unfortunately, they’re selling tires brands I didn’t want to buy for the shark. Looked at Firestone’s website and found a set of Indy 500s that would cost me $100 / tire and $513 out the door. Checked Discount Tire for a set of BFGs and they were slightly more expensive. Discount was giving away a $50 credit card but only if you bought Michelins. I decided to go with the Indy 500s. There’s a Firestone store just 2 miles from my house, so even better. Except the last time I had the Mistress running, her idle was bouncing up and down and when it finally stabilized, it was very low and she usually died. I needed to see if this was still the case and would I trust her to go 4 mi.
Hook up the battery, turn the key, hear the fuel pump energizing, and then nothing. Engine doesn’t turn over, no clicking, nothing. Just silence. The first thing that runs thru my mind is I’ve shorted my $500 rebuilt computer with the big spark. Lots of things run thru my mind at that point, but none of them were good. Am I going to have to send it back to AZ for another rebuild? Will it cost me another $500? Can I maybe take my computers to my friend’s house and try them in his S4? I’m not happy. After I calm down a bit, I realize this is different than before my computer was rebuilt. Prior to the rebuild, the engine would turn over, it just didn’t have any spark or fuel. Now the engine wouldn’t turn over. So it’s probably something else, but what?
Labor Day night I had requested an appt for Wed at Firestone. Very early Tue morning I get a call from them. They say they don’t have the tires at their store but the tires are at their warehouse. If I can bring my car in after lunch, they can install them. Since the Mistress isn’t running, I have to devise a way to get the 928 wheels to Firestone. I get busy after breakfast getting the shark up on jack stands and the wheels off. Thankfully I have the Cayman at my house so I can load 2 in the back and take them over. I was trying to get this done before the apocalyptic rains began and was ready to load just as the skies opened up. Decided to wait until after lunch to maybe catch a break with the rain. No luck so I load 2 and head to FS. Their guy greets me and I say I’m going back home to get the 2nd pair. He asks if I live far. I said no. He thought they might be able to have these 2 swapped by the time I get back. Cool. Sure enough, when I get there with the 2nd pair, the first pair is done. I pay for them and take them home. Come back and the 2nd pair is done and waiting for me. Got the job done in 3 trips rather than 4. And now baby has a new pair of shoes.
I return back to my no-start conundrum. If it’s from the big spark, maybe I’ve blown a fuse so I check all 44 again. None blown. OK, maybe a relay. Electricity is not my strong suit but I do have a multimeter. I google how to test a relay and it doesn’t look too bad. You hook 12 volts to two of the prongs. You should hear a clicking noise. Then have your multimeter on ohms and poke the other 2 prongs. The meter should jump around with values less than 1 but isn’t a constant number 1. Run thru many of the relays, making sure to test the start related relays while skipping some of the not-as-important ones. A single relay is iffy so I replace it but it wasn’t directly related to starting. The rest test well. Not feeling confident that I’ve done anything positive but I put the multimeter away and hook up the battery again. The fuel pump energizes and the engine turns over and immediately starts! Yay! And the idle seems to be hunting less but still a shade low. Post mortem, I think a relay may have been stuck open and me zapping it with 12 volts jarred it loose and allowed it to close the circuit. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Today I started to put items scattered around the basement and garage back on the shark. Our club is hosting a car show and meal next Sun and I want to display the Mistress. I finished cleaning the interior and mostly put it back together. Late in the afternoon I called an audible. I was planning to drive her around tomorrow to build up some confidence but decided I should do it this afternoon as my neighbor across the street was home with his pickup. Thought it might be wise to have him available to tow me home in case there was a problem. Asked him for his cell #, said I was going out for a drive, and I was leaving a log chain out by my garage door. He said he’d be willing to pull me home if need be. I reloaded my NAPA 5 gal bucket with H2O along with my fire extinguisher and was ready to go. Drove around the neighborhood for at least 15 min with no problems. Tomorrow I should be able to put the air cleaner and snorkels back on the engine. I might tear into the dash to look for some remaining problems, but I’m trying to decide if I should heed the advice I began this post with. I will defn be doing some polishing before the big event on Sun. The Mistress needs to look good for her coming out party.