bluesteel1969

Ok, after trying to think too hard about this, thinking I was missing something, I went with my thought from my first post. I went out and bought another ignition switch. The last one was only a couple months old and probably only had a couple dozen starts on it. I bought the first from Napa, and the new one from Autozone. I put the new one in and it worked right away, tried it a dozen times. The one at Autozone costs 3 times as much but is hopefully worth it. Thanks for reading my post, and any input, now to sort through the cab top...

I hope for every Porsche owners sake that this is not the case. I am getting a Durametric soon, was kind of torn between hoping to find a used pro version on ebay vs buying a new enthusiast from durametric. Thanks for your input.

I thought about that, my remote has never worked since I've owned it. I don't have a spare key unfortunately, both of these are on my short list to do. I'm assuming that since I can easily bypass the relay and start the car in 10 seconds, that the immobilizer is not on, otherwise it would kind of be a joke. I am going to buy a Durametric ASAP, I know it would/will help immensely. I really thought it might be the immobilizer because it was narrowing down to not many other options. However, if I can jump the car from the relay terminal, and drive the car without any issue, I'm wondering if the immobilizer just immobilizes the ignition switch, and not the starter which would be a total joke. I appreciate the feedback, these responses are what I need to figure this out. Thank you. According to Bentley manual, the immobilizer disables the starter, fuel injection, and ignition if the key transponder is not recognized. Since your car starts when you bridged the start lock relay, I think your immobilizer is fine. Otherwise it will be a joke like you said. I have the wiring diagram in front of me now. When you turn the key to crank the engine, the ignition switch supplies battery +ve power to pin 3 (term 30 of the relay), then the relay (should already be activated at this point) sends the power to pin 5 (term 87 of relay) which is connected directly to the starter solenoid. Now the coil of the relay: +ve power appears at pin 7 (term 86 of relay) then the DME grounds pin 2 (term 85 of relay) ***IF*** everything checks out i.e., clutch switch closed and immobilizer cleared So I think you must have bridged pin 7 to pin 5 before. If you turn the key to crank, you should see power at pin 3. If not, your ignition switch is not working or there's an open circuit between the switch and the relay. Thank you for the pin out designations, very helpful and appreciated. I guess all I need to do at this point is to check pin 3. This is the deduction I came to above as well, is that it has to be the ignition switch. With the conditions I have described above, is there any possibility that could be taking place? Each component either tested as functioning, or bypassed to eliminate it. I am always a skeptic to believe that a part that is only a few months old would suddenly fail so quickly, although I do know it happens. It's not like it was difficult to replace, and by far one of the cheapest Porsche repairs imaginable, so I guess I should be grateful, right? Thanks again for taking the time to look that up for me. I will report back with results unless you think of another possibility missed.

I thought about that, my remote has never worked since I've owned it. I don't have a spare key unfortunately, both of these are on my short list to do. I'm assuming that since I can easily bypass the relay and start the car in 10 seconds, that the immobilizer is not on, otherwise it would kind of be a joke. I am going to buy a Durametric ASAP, I know it would/will help immensely. I really thought it might be the immobilizer because it was narrowing down to not many other options. However, if I can jump the car from the relay terminal, and drive the car without any issue, I'm wondering if the immobilizer just immobilizes the ignition switch, and not the starter which would be a total joke. I appreciate the feedback, these responses are what I need to figure this out. Thank you.

I don't recall which pins I jumped to start, but I didn't need to turn the key to crank, as long as ignition is on. So I don't think it eliminates the switch since it is essentially bypassed by the momentary jump by bridging. The relay has been switched with another one currently in use on the car, and same thing. The clutch switch is bypassed with jumper, I can start car from outside of vehicle by jumping the relay momentarily. I will check pins 2 and 7 this a.m. Do you have any idea where the relay gets the second signal from. I haven't seen a P&ID to see where each terminal gets signal. Thank you very much for your input, we'll see what those pins put out.

Ok, so I just developed this issue where the car will not crank or turn over. I have read every single similar post I could find on the Internet so I wouldn't waste anyone's time:) I previously replaced the ignition switch about 2 months ago just because the spring was a little weak. I have bypassed the clutch switch. The battery is new. I have checked the relay, and even swapped it out with one nearby with the same value. I can start the car no problem by removing relay and jumping the wires across terminals to the output signal. So, I know starter is good, clutch switch isn't the issue, not battery, not relay, and since I can start it jumping the relay terminals, I'm left thinking that the ignition switch is bad already? Are there likely options I am missing? Any thoughts, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.