Q – My 1968 912 is running hot. My mechanic suggested that the oil cooler is clogged since I live on a dirt road and for quite a while, the engine compartment gasket wasn’t doing it’s job. I believe him but wow is it expensive to take it all apart. I guess I should be glad that it is not a 911. Peter
A – Well I agree with your mechanic. His method is foolproof but expensive. But I have had some success by using a chemical called “Gunk Engine Brite”. I sprayed it into the cooling fan on a cold engine (about ½ can) and then let is sit and soak in for about an hour. Then I started it up and held the engine speed to about 2,000 while spraying hot water into the fan. No, the engine did not stall (I was surprised) and once the process was complete, the engine ran at normal temperature, never exceeding the ½ way mark on the gauge. As you would expect, this was a fairly cheap, “Band Aid” process. My client and I were tickled pink that he could spend his money on other fun projects. Hooray!
If this does not work in your case, you better consider avoiding long drives and changing to synthetic oil that can tolerate a lot more heat than regular oil. I have seen oil coolers expanded to the point that the vanes in the cooler were so bloated that air could not pass through them. Oh yeah, and about the question of the faulty gauge…trust the gauge and save your engine. – MC
Q – My 1991 Carrera AC no longer blows cold air and I wonder about converting it to the newer R-134 Freon. I had it charged three years ago and it worked pretty good for a couple years What do you recommend? Mike
A – Before you take that step, it should be diagnosed. One cannot assume that it needs to be converted just because it does not cool. And besides, the Freon itself is usually not the problem; it’s the leak, the switch, the hose, the relay etc. If the system worked fine three years ago and continued to work afterward, maybe you just need a charge?
Does it have any Freon in it right now? Does the compressor run? If it has some pressure and the system operates, a recharge and leak test is the first thing to do. Then you develop a strategy.
If you are considering a conversion, there are a number of considerations. It is common knowledge that the newer R-134 Freon is less efficient. And to change it over involves some component replacement. There were concerns about the supply and cost of R-12, and yes, pound for pound, it is outrageous. On your car, it doesn’t take too much to fill the system. So considering the quantity that it takes for a charge every couple years, is “the cure worse than the disease”? – MC
Q – My 2005 Carrera started running poorly on the freeway. I was cruising at about 80 when the car began running rough and the check engine light went on. When I got off on the next ramp it died and would not restart. I had it towed to the dealer and they charged $7,000 to dismantle it. Now they tell me that the intermediate shaft has failed and they want a ton of money to fix it!
The car has only 53,000 miles but it is two years out of warranty. I have never tracked the car nor did the prior owner. The car looks like new and I am baffled about what could have happened to it. Lee
A – I am sorry to say that your engine is probably toast. As your internet research will reveal, this all too common failure has nothing to do with you, the maintenance of the car or any other external cause. It is just a faulty part. So you are going to want to talk to someone higher up in Porsche to see what they will do for you. You have hope.
They will want to see the service history on the car to verify that the car was well maintained. They will also want to know who serviced the car. Simply taking the car to “Uncle Fred’s Quick Oil Change” or a place that calls itself a Porsche specialist won’t impress them. They are looking for a facility with experience and credentials; they are also impressed with genuine Porsche parts.
The last time I advised a client about the problem, Porsche stood up and took responsibility for the replacement engine but not the labor to install it. And they only allow a Porsche dealer to do the labor. The program involves a “plug and play” replacement or the entire engine assembly at a very attractive price (well I suppose “attractive” depends on your point of view).
So try to put a positive spin on this horrible experience. You will have a fabulous car with essentially a new engine. You get another factory warranty (which you will probably never need). The odds of another failure of this type are nil since Porsche replacement parts are always updated once a problem is detected. So other than the trauma and the money…“time will be your doctor and your pain will soon be gone”. – MC
Q – The air bag light on my 99 Boxster is on and the code that was extracted from the computer is #43 which indicates a failed seat belt buckle. I can still fasten my seat belt. So I have two questions: 1) What makes the buckle go bad and 2) Do my air bags still work. – Ray
A – The buckle still works fine mechanically and to answer your last question first, no…the air bags do not work while the light is on even if the seat belt still does. Now why the buckle failed is a bit more obscure.
According to Porsche, the buckle and harness suffer from a resistance problem that is cured with a new design. For years, wire terminals and harnesses would last for the life of the car but now, corrosion and environment conditions damage these components. With computer circuits being as sensitive as they are, if a signal is corrupted, the computer gets confused and shuts the system down. This is considered a “fail safe” strategy versus the possibility of a false air bag deployment. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but better safe than sorry. – MC
Q – My 993 has a soft brake pedal. If I push it down and hold it, it slowly sinks half way down. The odd thing is that when I stored it in the fall, the brakes felt fine! I took it to a shop that diagnosed it as a failed master cylinder. I had them replace the master cylinder and now they are telling me that they think the ABS pump unit has an internal leak and that is why the pedal is soft. The part alone is $2,700! The master cylinder was not cheap and this “spring surprise” has really dampened my enthusiasm for the car. I have to wonder if they really know what they are doing. – Peter
A – A soft brake pedal can be caused by a failed master cylinder but before condemning it, a proper brake inspection should be done to be sure that no leaks or other sources of pressure drop could be causing the symptom. This inspection should include checking tightness of all the fittings in the system especially the fittings on the ABS pump. Usually Porsche tightens brake fittings very, very tight but once I found a loose fitting on the pump that caused a soft pedal.
Following the inspection, I would then pressure test the system caliper by caliper to verify the diagnosis. Expect to measure about 1,000 psi while pressing and holding the pedal down with moderate force. If you find a drop in the front or rear circuits, if it were my call, I would replace the master cylinder to eliminate that as a possibility and then see if pressure drop still occurred. Although this is a painful method of diagnosis, I know of no other way to eliminate the master cylinder as the source of the problem. You cannot condemn the ABS pump unit without a known good master cylinder in the system. – MC
Q – My Boxster had been slowly losing coolant for a couple months and every once and a while, I just added a cup or so but now it went down over the weekend and I couldn’t see where it was going. I took it in to a local shop and they told me it was the reservoir and estimated an astronomical price for the part and the labor. I am stunned! I had a reservoir replaced on my Audi A-6 and it cost me less than $200.00. What makes these so tough? – Kevin
A – Kevin, my sympathies and I am sorry to say, it is probably worse than you know. When I have been involved in these repairs, it is always an adventure and rarely goes well. The problem is where the bottle is located and how it was installed. The reservoir was mounted to the body before the powertrain and so, the easiest way to remove it…is to remove the powertrain first!! Now that’s absurd so what you are left with is multiple hoses grouped tightly together and clamped with spring clamps that you cannot get a straight shot at. The pliers alone to compress the clamps will set you back $100.00 on the Snap-On truck.
So lets say you manage to compress and sneak the clamps down the hoses and you naively think the hose will slide right off…WRONG! The hoses are baked on! When hot coolant has circulated about ten years or so through the hoses, the easiest way for removal (again absurd) is to cut them off. I can see that sometimes that might even be cheaper.
Here is the “worst” part. The plastic tank is made of a similar material as some of the other hoses, pipes, and flanges in that system. So don’t be surprised if other parts break in the process of working around the area. When the chemists and engineers designed these cost and weight saving pieces, they did their best to quality test the materials and design in the R & D lab on dyno test stands. They test run engines 24 yours a day for weeks and months trying to make sure that their computer derived components would stand the test of time. Unfortunately… they never test them in the world we live in, where these things have to last for years.
There is an elf somewhere in Bavaria who decided to make water pump impellers out of plastic to save a few pennies per unit. He sold the idea to BMW, VW and Porsche. Now he is laughing his butt off, enjoying his retirement (you know he is related to that other elf who has the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that no one can ever find…) while those of us who bought the product would love to tell him how much we appreciate a water pump that will randomly fail, usually on the hottest day just after a high RPM romp on the freeway. Heaven help him if we ever find him and heaven help you if you don’t notice the gauge or the red light in time.
Of course there is another side to the story here. Those of us in the auto repair business would like to thank him for the thousands of hours of “job security” that he designed into a product that was doomed to fail. So with one kid in college and another one soon to follow, Thanks! – MC
Q – I just fired up my 1985 944 and noticed the odor of fuel and it started kind of rough. When I opened the hood, I saw wetness around one of the injectors. Do the injectors just suddenly start leaking? – Ted
A – Well Ted, I have just begun to see this on vintage 944s and they do “just start leaking”. The bottom line is this: If you smell fuel, trust your intuition and shut it off.
There is a local outfit that can test and clean your injectors and the last time I ran into this, I took the three that were not leaking in for testing. They found one of them leaking but the other two OK. Foolishly, I assumed that I needed two injectors and replaced them. Of course, just after installing two old and two new injectors, a third one started leaking as well. The moral of the story is: Replace all four with remanufactured injectors and you will be done.
Now you are probably wondering why I, a person who always does his best (HA-HA-HA) would have only replaced two? New injectors run over $300.00 each and at that price point, I did not want to “over prescribe”. I have learned my lesson. I found reman units that are of good quality, have a decent warranty, and come with the seals you need to install them. I can promise no more fuel odor, better starting and better fuel economy as well. Oh yeah, and I only charged for doing the job once. I call that tuition. – MC
Q – When I got my 930 Turbo out of storage I found the steering wheel very loose and wobbly. Oddly, it felt tight when I stored it. What happened over the winter? – LM
A – I am betting that the plastic insert in the steering column bearing has disintegrated. I see this many times a year and it usually happens in the spring. Odd. This plastic bushing is part of the bearing and to replace the bearing is a major pain since the column has to be dismantled to remove and replace it. Unless the bearing itself is worn out, I would not replace it. There is a trick part, used on a 928 Porsche, that fits perfectly and replaces that crumbling plastic part. VW uses the same type of plastic bushing so if you happen to know a Beetle owner with that complaint, they too can add a little Porsche to their bug. (some minor modification needed) . MC
Q – I am thinking of buying a 944 Turbo and I want to know what to expect. The car was kept up very well by the previous owner but he took it to DE so I am concerned about what it will take to get it roadworthy and trackworthy. The car has about 100,000 miles on it and it is located in another state. Specific areas I worry about are oil leaks, timing belt, clutch, and turbo. – Matt
Well Matt, fortunately a 944 Turbo has about half the engine of a 928 S so the money pit will only be about half as deep. Now I am not knocking either model, they are my favorite test drives, but wow can they be expensive. But I digress:
First find a competent Porsche shop that has worked on hundreds of these cars, not just a dozen or so. With these cars, experience counts. Then get a written report of all the visual problems that can be seen and touched. Remember though, a visual inspection only goes so far. If you really want to get to know the car, you have to take it apart to some degree.
A visual inspection will tell you if the car has oil leaks or seepage and you should expect any older 944 to have dampness or dripping. The important issue is where and how much. Since the car is only going to be available for a short time at the shop checking it, ask for oil leak diagnosis as a separate operation of the inspection. Oil wetness should be washed off the powertrain, leak detection dye added then the car can be run in the shop while being viewed with ultraviolet light. If the leak is profound, you will probably find it. If the leaks or seepage are subtle, when you get the car back, you can view it again and see what needs attention. Some common failures are the cam cap seal on the rear end of the cylinder head, oil pan gasket, balance shaft cap seals, oil cooler, oil pressure sending unit, front crank seals and power steering hoses. After twenty years or so, you should expect to reseal all of these areas eventually.
If the car appears to be worthy, I would then have the timing belt cover removed and externally inspected. This costs more but it well worth it. Regarding the timing belt, if the previous owner has service history for the car…and he should…find out when it was done and get a copy of that (and all) invoices. Even with that, if you plan to track the car, expect to have the area restored once you get the car back home. The inspection will just give you an idea of how critical the need is. Replacement is cheap insurance in the long run.
Clutches cannot be inspected for long term condition or durability during a visual inspection. But during a road test by a qualified Porsche technician, an opinion of strength and function is possible. Common problems at this time in a 944s life include clutch slave cylinder and master cylinder failure. If the pedal feels spongy or does not return all the way, or if shifting into reverse produces a grinding sensation, you might have a problem developing in the linkage. The strength of the clutch is easily tested but again, you can’t be sure how long an original clutch will last. My suggestion: Budget for a clutch and use it as long as if feels and functions well. When the time comes, you will be ready since 100,000 miles is a very good lifespan for an original clutch, especially on a car that has been to the track.
Turbo performance is highly subjective. A strong turbo can hide weak engine compression. Therefore, be sure to get a compression and leak down test before you consummate the purchase. This is usually not necessary on normally aspirated cars. A competent evaluator can test drive the car to feel the performance but this is no substitute for a chassis dyno test. One dyno test is worth a thousand “expert” opinions. But if it feels strong and solid, you can do this when you get it home.
Some other things that I would expect to need based on the mileage are: Axle joints, boots, ball joints, radiator, central tube bearings, exhaust hangers or exhaust, rear torsion bar bushings, control arm bushings, motor mounts etc. A pre purchase inspection will help you make an informed purchase but with both eyes wide open, prepare to do a full mechanical restoration on this great handling, four seat sports car. A good internet resource is 944FAQ. MC
Q – I have a 1989 Carrera and the leather seats are faded. The leather looks nice otherwise. I have been told that dyeing is an option but that it’s not something that I should try on my own. I priced out a set of hides for simply recovering them and Wow! Are they expensive! I would not mind having them replaced if that is the best plan but I would like to keep it original. – Ted
A – I understand your dilemma Ted. You have the patina of the original seats and if they were well cared for, the leather is thick and well formed to the driver. For re-dyeing, the only place that I know of in South East Michigan is Paul’s Interiors located in Pontiac on Cesar Chavez Avenue. Paul and his sons have been working on interiors for some of the finest restorations in the area for years and they too will be demonstrating their skills at Devils in the Details. I am told that they will be doing some sewing and dyeing.
If you have questions about any cosmetic aspect of your car, no where else will you find a wider array of experts in one place on one day. Hope to see you there. Just don’t forget to RSVP! MC