924Board.org

[Judge]

Hi,
So I acquired a 924 2.0l NA 4 speed last spring. The car doesn't run, and I've been trying to fix it ever since.

The car had lots of issues:
- Fuel pump not running,
- No spark,
- Poor engine timing,
- Oil plug stuck,

But no rust on the chassis, which I'm glad.

To fix the fuel pump, I basically jump started it by wiring it to the battery,
and now with the key on ignition, the fuel pump starts.
I also fixed the spark (bad rotor, and the contact breaker was always closed.
I also after a lot of struggle and now a new oil plug, managed to change the oil (there was 10 litres of oil in the engine, and yes, there is a big oil puddle under the car).
I finally used the marks on the fly wheel to set the correct timing on camshaft.

Long story short, the engine supposedly now has air, fuel, and a spark.

Last weekend, I then decided to try and start the car by having it towed. The engine coughed a little, the rear wheels did spin faster than what the car was going (it's still the vintage tires and they have no grip).
The engine didn't continue to run on its own.
The speedometer and the tachometer didn't move at all, which lead me to check under the dash and lots of cables are either cut, disconnected, or wired in what I guess is not the OEM way.

Additionally, the ignition (where you put the key in), feels a bit broken, as when turning the key, it's not all always on the ignition, and the dash lights up when cranking.

Please help, I really wanna drive this car and I'm kinda stuck now

[fiskolja]

I'm new to these cars (new to doing repairs and stuff aswell) so I guess take my answer with a pinch of salt but my next steps would be to check fuel pressure and compression.
Bad piston rings are supposedly a common thing on these cars and I would check the injectors after the car has sat for so long.

I can try to take some pictures under the dash on mine tomorrow (although i'm sure there are cables missing/wrongly wired in mine aswell but my speedo and ignition works atleast).

What year is yours?
_________________
924 NA 1977

[924RACR]

Some more immediate/basic checks...

The ignition switch (electrical half) often wears out; you can hot-wire the car after unplugging the wiring from the ignition switch to rule this out while sorting out the rest, and they're inexpensive to replace.

Just don't forget to put the key in and turn it before driving, or your steering will lock!

You mentioned resetting the cam timing. Hopefully you used the mark on the back of the cam pulley, not the front???

While compression/bad rings could ultimately need attention, they won't stop the car from starting - not worth looking at right now.

Is there a reason you can't use the starter to start the car? Seems like you need to address that, get the starter to turn the motor over properly, before going any further.

Checking fuel pressure, or more simply checking to see if you can get any fuel spray from the injectors, would be good ideas...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[morghen]

I can offer you a bolt on / plug in engine management system that looks similar to the original equipment but has modern technology inside.
Have a look on my website for more details.
You can also find my email address there and if your engine and car is OK mechanically, you can be driving that car within a day of work.
_________________
Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[Raize]

If you've connected the wires from the ignition to the fuel pump directly across the fuel pump relay socket you need to UNDO that because the ignition live wire is far too small to take the current!

You can easily re-pin the socket to take a standard cheap 4-pin relay.

You need to get the starter working and check you've used the right cam timing mark as 924RACR said.

[Judge]

Hi,

One message to reply to everybody:
- It's a 1979.
- I know how to hotwire the car, I'll try to do that yeah.
- Yeah I used the back of the cam pulley to time it.
- My starter died, so I removed it and ordered a new one. I did a really shit job at wiring it, so I'm going to check that this week. I ordered tools to wire things properly.
- When I was checking for spark, I removed the spark plug and hold it on the engine, you know? And fuel squirted out of the spark plug hole so I'm guessing, the injectors work.

- OOOH I KNOW YOU! I've seen your videos on how your supercharged your 924. Yes I'm very interested in doing a distributor delete and moving to coil on plug technology. My car has to be OEM for the MOT test to get the collector papers, but in the future, I'll probably do that (I wanna supercharge mine as well).


Finally, I asked around and someone sent me a wiring diagram for the car. I'll be studying that this week (I got exams Tuesday so I haven't been able to focus on the car recently).

Thanks everyone for your help.

[924RACR]

Oh my, if you've got that much fuel that it can shoot out of the spark plug hole, she's pretty wet!!

On the plus side, sounds like your rings are likely pretty good! LOL

And speaking of proof you weren't getting spark...

Probably will want to remove all 4 plugs, crank the engine some to air it out clear the flooding, once you have a happy starter in place...
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[Raize]

[Judge]

So, the wiring in my car has been extremely modified,
I'm trying to see if I can find a 924 owner in my area, someone who'd be willing to help me compare OEM wiring with whatever has been done to my car. I got the wiring diagram for my car but I'm very confused with all the improper wires that are going everywhere.

[Judge]

I am fixing the 924 little by little by putting the wiring back how it should be.

Electrically, the car is behaving crazy. If I wire the battery, and turn on the headlights, they work, but once I turn them off and on, everything shuts off in the car apart from the clock. I have to unplug and rewire the battery for things to rework.

I am guessing the grounds under the dash are bad (there's a thin layer of rust). I'll try to clean everything once I find the appropriate gear to clean it (having the head under the rust and dirt I'm cleaning is a pain).

However, I replaced the starter and changed the oil. It seems the oil is dripping from the rear and front of the engine. The oil pan seal seems to be okay, but the crankcase one isn't?

Can someone enlighten me on which seals might've gone wrong? I see a lot of post about the rear main seal but mostly from 924S owners.
Can I replace those seals with the engine in the car?

Thanks.