About Dave Ward Expertise I`ve been restoring and driving my own 356`s for over 35 years. I`m not a professional mechanic but after all these years can pretty much put a 356 together with my eyes closed. I find there is very little help out there for the 356 hobbiest, so I decided to sign up and share my knowledge. I`ll do my darndest to help out with your questions and if I don`t know the answer, I`ll search as hard as I can to find it for you.
Like I said, I`m not a professional but can certainly relate to your frustrations and problems that sometimes come with restoring one of these little beauties.
Question Hi,
I have a 1979 928 that has recently developed a strange problem. The car will start and run fine for about 10 -15 minutes, then will begin missing badly, then die, and will not restart until it sits for several minutes,then it will will usually start fine and repeat the above. When the car is running the amp meter will register in the normal range, but when it dies and won't restart, the amp meter is bottomed out. Again, after it sits for a while it will fire right up and the gauge reads normal again. Possible alternator or voltage regulator problem or something else?
Thanks for the help.
Answer Hi Rick,
Your symptoms do point to an electrical problem assuming the amp meter is giving you good readings. I wish I owned a 928 so I could talk about the amp meter with authority...but since I don't own one....Do you know what the amp meter is measuring? Is it watching how many amps the battery's delivering at any given time? Or is it measuring the amps provided by the alternator to replenish what's been used by the battery?
In the meantime...here's an idea that's not electrical...you may want to check it out. If the hard fuel lines coming into the engine compartment from the fuel tank are routed near the exhaust manifolds or the block the fuel could become uncharacteristically hot. If the fuel boils and then vaporizes you'd have fuel starvation that would seem like "missing" right up til the car dies. Then, when everything cools down, the car would start and run fine until the fuel was superheated again.
Write back to me at all experts using their follow-up system and let me know what you find.
