Hi.

Started having an unusal problem. My '84 Carrera dies on hard acceleration (instantantly, as if you turned off the car).

If I push in the cluth for a a few seconds the red engine status lights will come on, and I can pop the clutch and it will restart fine.

A few times, I had to push in the clutch again (twice) in order to get it to restart. But it has never failed to restart. (Knock on wood.)

Items which may help troubleshoot:

1. Car has 170K miles, original engine, never rebuilt.
2. Has never died in 1st gear. The higher gears seem more prone.
3. Seems to die more on the freeway (in higher gears).
4. Seems to die going *up* hills more (more acceleration going up a hill).
5. Car starts fine, especially cold. Warm/hot starts are not so instantaneous.

This problem is unsettling, as you might imagine.

Any ideas what might be causing it? Does this sound like a familair problem?

Is there a chance it might be the DME relay?

 

These are not easy problems to diagnose. I recall that was the first year of the DME. Do you have the shop manual? There is a troubleshooting chart in it, I'd copy it and send it to you but mine went with the car some years back. I remember spending a fair amount of time on that chart.Have you lookedat the fuel system - tank, pick-up, pump, pressure check valve, filter and pressure regulator? Next, look at coil, plug cabling, distributor and plugs - this should eliminate all the easy problems. I'd suspect a sensor/sending unit is starting to go bad and the first one I'd look at given your hot/cold description is the engine temp sensor - it's located in front of #3 cylinder. It's a nightmare to get out, but it can be done if you take your time. Porsche has a tool to make it easier.
Good luck.

 

Thanks rich.

No manual. Haven't looked at anything yet, as the problem seems so weird and perplexing.

Friendssuggest I start with the fuel filter. It's cheap, and I haven't replaced it in .. well, let's just say it's been a long time. (I thought they were good for 100K miles.)

I didn't think it could be the FF cuz of the way it dies so instantly .. as if you turned off the car. But folks smarter than me claim a clogged FF *could* result in that symptom. (I thought a clogged FF would result more in stmbling than dying all of a sudden.)

I just ordered one. Should arrive in a few days. I'll follow up.

Very weird feeling cruising down the freeway and having the car die like that. Now I hang in the right lane, just in case.

Good thing is .. it always restarts. Weird that I'm actually getting used to it. I keep wondering if this will be the time it won't restart.

 

Hi the symptoms sound like fuel starvation. You need to check the fuel pump operation, and the tank pick up pipe to ensure that it is still in the right place and not innudated in crap. Check any rubber connecting hoses in the system that they are not collapsing etc.
Regards Big Bob