996 C2 Tip Broken down Plan C!!!!

Evening all, Took the car out yesterday evening, mainly to fill with fuel as light was on a week ago on way home from work. Been stood for the week. Started fine, drove fine to petrol station (only £20 as only 97 at local garage) then driving home car spluttered then stopped. Did turn over fast enough and a slow ticking sound from drivers rear. Wouldn't start though. Towed home. I put battery on charge overnight as hazards and lights on for an hour. Today the engine turns over quickly and almost fires a couple of times. Still clicks, just under once a second. I'm thinking Fuel pump/relay/DME or CPS? Any thoughts? Cheers Ed

Im going to have to start with the stupid obvious questions .. sorry .. You did put petrol and not deisel in the car ? Bad batch of fuel .. but normally many other cars would be at the side of the road and yes ive seen it before .. cost the petrol station a fair bit . Ok moveing on from that to an unrelated fault .. car trying to start and you have CPS ok .. you have a poor fuel delivery or a poor spark .. individual coils almost rules out spark so fuel pressure .. pump being the main one .. pump relay and you would have NO fuel . If i was going for the horror story .. Ims bearing has let go .. this normally causes a large oil leak and noises when cranking so a little unlikely from the description .

Thanks DeMort, Definitely put petrol in. No oil leak. If I turn ignition on from cold, I can't hear the pump pressurising the system, so I'm thinking fuel pump. Any DIY way of checking? The clicking sound is regular when turning over, IMS would be irregular? Thanks fella

IMS is an outside chance but one i have to mention .. you would have plenty of strange noises as the chain timing would have slipped so i think this is unlikely . Because its trying to start then things like CPS , Cam sensor etc can pretty much be ruled out .. if it Didnt try and start then ok . Fuel pressure is the most obvious atm but bridging the pump relay wont really tell you anything .. you need a pressure gauge on it as a Low pressure ie a knackered pump would do this sort of thing . You wont hear the pump running . To be fair there are a few things that could also cause it and really to procede you would at least need a fault code read out ... if you have a tester then do this please as even the lack of a code helps .. (its fuel pump btw if no codes ) Only diy atm i can think of .. just check the fuses .. look at the handbook and check things like engine sensors , dme etc . I dont like coincidences though .. you filled it up with fuel then this happens :?: Stupid thought .. unplug the maf sensor and try to start it .. clutching at straws a bit but its worth a check .

Ed /911 AU, if you haven`t got a code reader or access to one, then buy a £3 ELM 327 bluetooth OBD dongle from fleabay and download the free "Torque" app on Android or iphone and you will have a very good ECU code reader, EML reset tool for next to nothing :thumb:

Thanks fellas It's def trying to start, a bit. Will look at doing the suggested at the weekend when I get some time. Good pointer with the Code reader, will do cheers

Bit of an update, finally got car down to Pro9. Fault codes indicate one bank out of sync. Poss IMS. They'll do a proper diagnostics in January. Boooo!

Im not sure you actually want me to answer this question .. If the car spins over but doesnt start , some noises and fault codes indicating the cam timing is out then its not good news . Im not sure of the actual year of your car .. very early vario cam and it might be a fault with the chain on that bank but i have a feeling yours is later and its Ims . Sorry young man :nooo: There are times i dont actually like answering the posts here .. this is one of them .

Yep, got that sinking feeling. Car is a 2000 3.4 no glove box model. 110k miles. Owned since 2008, regularly serviced. I'll post again when I know more, Thanks fellas Ed

:sad: :sad: :sad: Oil filter full of shiny fragments of metal. Knackered. Another one bites the dust. Not worth repairing as after an engine rebuild, it would need a new hood and lining, bits of bodywork, refurb of alloys and tyres, window regulator, air con rads not to mention a suspension refresh to bring it up to standard. Mind you I paid £18k in 2008. Bought it off Ebay unseen as I had a short notice tour to Iraq and I'd always wanted a 911 but had always put it off before. Thought the dealer had fallen off his chair after I got him to describe the car then asked for his bank details to make a payment with collection the next morning.Was serviced but not much else in the 10 years that it was my daily. It came with the reg 911 AU which is prob worth more than the car in its current state. Driving a VW Beach as my daily currently. Wish list for next Porsche: Cab Dark colour ext and int 997 Gen 2 or later or if earlier then with Hatch rebuild already done, or a Turbo cab but they seem rare and ruddy expensive! Mileage not important Always hated buying or selling cars... Thanks for all your advice DeMort - you're a star, I think your first reply hinted I might have put Diesel in, secretly I was hoping I had as it would have been better than the dreaded IMS!

Sad to hear, you've certainly had your money's worth out of it though. I bought mine for £14k around 8 years ago and have easily spent £20,000+ on it in that time. Sell it on and move on to the 997 :thumb:

I like the 997.15 turbo. The others leave me cold. I would rather have a 996. Sorry to hear of the issues. MC

Sorry to hear your sad news. :nooo:

Bad news and sorry to hear it. I guess a decade of driving a performance car with just servicing and consumables is good going. Still won't help the pain but the other thing that's a positive is that you have a saleable vehicle/parts store left rather than just driving it to the scrap yard!

sorry to hear, but if you consider that had you bought any other car 10 years ago (other than a 993, 964, 911 Ferarri 250 GTO etc) you would have lost more than £18k, so I think you did well on a financial level. And there seems to be relatively good value out there at the moment. Best of luck in your quest to replace it.