Engine

No Spark

My car wouldn't start last night. The fuel pump didn't run during cranking, so I jumpered the fuel pump relay which turned the pump on, but even after cranking for a while, the car wouldn't start.

Next I pulled the coil wire from the distributor, stuck a paperclip in the end of the wire and wedged it near a ground point. No spark during cranking. Without touching or moving the coil wire, I turned the key off and then cranked again; this time I got a healthy spark. Once I reconnected the coil wire to the distributor, the car started and ran fine.

Any ideas on what's happening?
--
Jim Stadter
'83 928 S 5-speed (U.S. spec)
'88 928 S4 5-speed


Ignition relay. Saw that behavior in an 85 5speed.

Kevin Berez (kaberez@mindspring.com)
'86.5 928S Auto Meteormetallic


The problem is that the L-Jet cars don't have an ignition relay. One guess would be the ignition switch itself, which has to switch quite a bit of current and seems to be a bit of a problem in older cars. It's perfectly possible for the starter contacts to make a connection while the ignition contacts fail to do so.

-John White-
'84 928 S