1990 Porsche 911 C2, A Story

No problem GPS, it's spring break and all the kids are at home so as long as they're not killing each other I don't have that much to do.
A new dremel is on my list. My dog ate my last one. Really.

I bought a can of coolant to try and recharge the AC. Word is that it works, but it doesn't hold a charge for a terribly long time. Well, right now the problem is that I can't get the compressor to engage. If I jump it from another 12v source then the clutches grab, but no amount of fiddling with the switches will make it go on otherwise. I suppose it's time to learn all about 964 AC.

In reply to mazdeuce:

When I got the car in '08 it blew cold but leaked out kinda like the PO juiced it before he gave it to me. So it worked for a while. Once it didn't anymore I had it charged and it worked again. It's an R-12 system... costly enough that I only ever did it that one time. I went back and forth on R-134 conversion vs just removing it completely but ultimately just drove with the windows down.

So, I expect it should work if it gets magic sauce in it.

I'm going to try and diagnose and fix the leak myself. We'll see if I'm successful. A little internet sleuthing turned up a blown fog light fuse or relay as a possible problem with the compressor not engaging. Sure enough, the fog lamp fuse was out. There was a spare in the box and things are running now. This car is like one big secret code.

This is turning out to be a great thread! I love how you keep updating it regularly.

Its making me want to start one of these build threads.

J

The speedometer is fixed. It turns out the needle had just slipped on the shaft. I took the gauge apart and reset it and it's golden. I had to get it all back together because my wife is taking it to work tomorrow. She says it's because she really wants to drive it because it's awesome. I suspect that she's taking it mostly so I have time to clean the shower and fold the laundry. I couldn't do those things today because there's stuff to be fixed on the Porsche and really, clean the shower or replace shifter bushings, what would you choose?

The is an AWESOME thread. Keep it coming!

on my neon, id rather cleanm the shower.

and as the son whos dad did these kinds of things with him, thank you for being that kind of father. he guided and altered my life on the powewr tour, and now we go to races and crusies together. my daughter is following in thise footsteps. she comes down to help in the shop, and shes only 4.....

keep rocking at being a dad.

oh, and nifty porsche.... michael

Shift bushings win every time.

When you have time and get the car sorted head to the Hill Country. I will be happy to show you some of my favorite roads in a highly "spirited" manner.

Is your son helping turn wrenches during spring break?

My wife drove the Porsche to work this morning. When she came home this evening she said, and I quote, "you'll have to buy another one, this one's mine". I now have full spousal approval. Awesome.

mazdeuce wrote: My wife drove the Porsche to work this morning. When she came home this evening she said, and I quote, "you'll have to buy another one, this one's mine". I now have full spousal approval. Awesome.

Time for a Couple's Track Day!

Sure wish photobucket wasn't blocked at work.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Yea, maybe, but she just woke me up to tell me the car wouldn't start. Instead of looking at it like a huge problem I thought I'd look at it like a chance to learn. I was walking out to the car as she was pulling away and thought I'd crank it to establish the no start condition. Except, for me, it fired right up. This sucks. I learned nothing about the car but at the same time severely damaged my wife's confidence in it.

In reply to mazdeuce:

The car has never lived outside so it always had the good fortune to start in 65F+ temps.

My guess would be it was chilly this AM and the fuel pump relay needed a little time to wake up. You swapped out the spare DME relay, pick up a fuel pump relay (IIRC, they are the same but check).

Always carry spares of those two.

That is 1980s Bosch fuel injection... sometimes it takes a crank or two under ideal conditions. Especially if you start cranking cold and slip off the key so it only cranks for half a second, then try again immediately. When that happens - wait a minute, then retry or it just cranks like it's out of fuel for a while before firing.

I talked to her and she said it wouldn't crank. I'm 99% certain she couldn't get a grip on the tiny emergency key head that came with the car. The solution to that is coming in the mail today along with some other stuff. I scrounged up a silver marker and will be marking the DME and fuel pump relay and showing her how to change them out. She's actually pretty mechanical so I'm not too worried about it once they're more obviously labeled than the sticker inside the lid.
If this was a Chevy Citation I'm not sure it would be worth learning all of the ins and outs of the car, but it really is nice enough to drive that I think it will all be worth it in the end.

Parts!
This morning my wife couldn't start the car probably because she couldn't get a grip on the tiny tiny key that came with the car. I've bought cars with one key before, not a huge deal, I just have another one made, which is what I'm doing here. I've never had one with a tiny key like this though. The head is literally smaller than a dime. Luckily Porsche was wise enough to make the shafts of their keys removable. All I had to do was slip off the old tiny head and put on the new big Porsche one. Next week I'll go get the blank cut. They're something like $22 each so I'm hoping that I can find a competent key cutter.

Keep the shield off and leave a spare in your wallet. Handy when your auto locking car arms itself in the winter. :)

Next on my list today was dealing with the surging idle. The 964 is supposed to idle steady at 800 rpm. My 964 idled somewhere between 900 and 1200 depending on..... I don't know. It moved all over the place. It didn't stall, but it was annoying. The most common cause is a dirty ICV valve. You just need to take it off and clean it and put it back on. Not a problem, except it had factory style hose clamps crimped on it and I didn't have any more. What else can I check. Another failure point is the O2 sensor. This car is old enough that it won't throw a code if things are wonky, it will just change modes and keep on working. Cool. One way it does manifest itself is a wonky idle. If you unplug the O2 sensor the idle will stabilize. I did, and it did, so I ordered a new one.
Replacing it was as easy as pie. Just take off the drivers side rear wheel and unscrew it. Seriously the easiest O2 sensor I've ever taken out. Unplugging it in the engine compartment was harder. If you're not blessed with thin girlish arms you'll either have to find a set or remove the rear blower motor. I am luckily blessed with thin girlish arms. No problemo.

A quick trip to the parts store for some conventional hose clamps and I was ready to tackle the ICV. It's the shiny can on top of the engine. Not much is tricky here, but the plug that plugs into it is held securely on with a little wire snap ring that wants to fall off into the engine when you take it off. Be careful.

Cleaned it with brake cleaner and put it back together. This Porsche stuff is easy.
I started it up and the idle is nearly rock steady at 800 rpm. It's worlds better than it used to be anyway. Honestly, it wasn't really a problem before, but I was worried that whatever was causing it might cause some sort of emissions issue and that's what's terrifying me now. Next on the list is to face the smog man and see what he says.

AndreGT6 wrote: Keep the shield off and leave a spare in your wallet. Handy when your auto locking car arms itself in the winter. :)

When I'm sure I have found a competent key cutter I'll have a couple more made and keep them around. I've never lost a key (yet) but spares are always good.

Yeah I need to get a spare done for the GT6... ;)

Enjoying the read.

Would love to own one myself but have to many brands in the garage already :)

mazdeuce wrote: They're something like $22 each so I'm hoping that I can find a competent key cutter.

There are two regular (not valet) $22 Porsche blanks in the owners manual folder that I put in the cardboard box with the jumpers and compressor.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

They're not right. If you look at the Porsche key point towards you, the left side is offset down and the right is up. The blanks in the box are the opposite. They don't fit in the ignition. The new blank is the same as the cut key and slides right in. No problemo, it's not a big deal.

The little key is the wallet key, most german cars have this. Also if the key is factory, I would call the dealership and ask how much it costs to cut ... they are made out of really hard steel and some locksmiths dont want to touch them.

Can you do the "stomp" test on this car? On some BMWs running Bosch computers, if you press on the gas five times while the key is on the acc. on position (not running), it will flash the codes.

J

From what I read I can't get codes without a reader. The 91+ cars do the blinking light thing, but not the 90's. I'll check into a dealer cutting the key. It's probably time I figure out where my closest dealer is anyway.

Today I was bored. The good thing about a car like this is there's always something you can do. I decided to find and clean some grounds. In the front trunk I located the main ground and five others. It's a busy place. Most of them were like these two and easy to get to and clean.

When it came to the main ground things were less easy. It's sort of behind the battery low in the nose of the car. I could get a wrench on it but when I tried to loosen it, the piece of metal tried to bend and rip off the car. Not cool. In order to get a better angle the battery needed to come out. In order for the battery to come out the spare needed to come out. Here is the offending ground.

It took a little penetrating oil and a little careful elbow grease but it came out. No real drama here. Six grounds cleaned and reassembled. It may not make anything better, but it certainly won't make anything worse either.
While I was in there I checked out the battery. It had a 2012 date stamp on it. Cool. It was also not actually clamped in the hold down. It's not a big deal because the battery can't go anywhere in the front of a Porsche, but in order to pass tech at an autocross the battery really needs to be secure. I loosened and tightened everything and got it all back where it should be. When I went to put the ground back on I realized that the battery being out of the clamp was on purpose. One of the previous owners had installed a battery disconnect, which is pretty useful on a car that is notorious for draining batteries when it sits. In order for that to fit, the battery had to be moved over about 3/4 of a inch. Just far enough that the clamp wouldn't fit. I had a choice. Either take off the disconnect, or run with a loose battery. I elected to take off the disconnect for now as the car will be driven very regularly. All I need to do to run the disconnect with the battery clamped down is to get a ground strap that is about three inches longer. I'll add it to the list.

keys4classics - you can send them a digital photo of your key - they will send you back a key guaranteed to work - which is more than the p-car dealers will do or the local locksmiths (at least around here) - or you can send them a blank (they're in Australia). Worked for me and a few other rennlist folks.