The radiator fans often 'fail' due to a burned out resistor that is clipped to the fan unit. Check this out regarding the radiator fans: https://www.renntech.org/topic/37254-radiator-fan-question/
Here's an inexpensive fix with an alternative resistor: http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/70000-low-speed-fan-resistor-alternative.html
...glad that rear carpet finally made it there.
AAZCD said:The radiator fans often 'fail' due to a burned out resistor that is clipped to the fan unit. Check this out regarding the radiator fans: https://www.renntech.org/topic/37254-radiator-fan-question/
Here's an inexpensive fix with an alternative resistor: http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/70000-low-speed-fan-resistor-alternative.html
...glad that rear carpet finally made it there.
Any comment on the pressures I'm seeing? Still feel like teh AOS needs to be replaced?
Mad_Ratel said:Any comment on the pressures I'm seeing? Still feel like teh AOS needs to be replaced?
The readings are high, but not super high. I know that the URO AOSs have a heavier membrane than the original Porsche ones. If it was me, I'd probably run it for a while longer and keep checking to see if it gets better or worse. The problem from a bad AOS is oil getting sucked into the intake. A little oil and an occasional quick puff of smoke isn't urgent to me. A lot of oil and hydrolock might destroy the engine.
If it isn't obvioulsy smoking, how about cleaning the intake, driving it for a while, then checking the intake for how much oil has accumulated?
I also should have checked to see if AAZCD has any wheel lug bolts. I'm missing 2 and the front has wheel locks that I do not have keys to (so another 2)...
I hate the locking lug bolts. I remove them and replace them with a plain lug. I should have thrown them away, but I do have a coffee can full of locking lugs and a couple keys. Do you want some locking ones with the key? I'll send them free if you want those evil things. I'm hanging on to my spare plain ones, but I know a guy who probably has some to ship cheap.
AAZCD said:I also should have checked to see if AAZCD has any wheel lug bolts. I'm missing 2 and the front has wheel locks that I do not have keys to (so another 2)...
I hate the locking lug bolts. I remove them and replace them with a plain lug. I should have thrown them away, but I do have a coffee can full of locking lugs and a couple keys. Do you want some locking ones with the key? I'll send them free if you want those evil things. I'm hanging on to my spare plain ones, but I know a guy who probably has some to ship cheap.
I do not want the locking ones either. two of them are missing in the rear. Just looking for stock ones, OR I'll go ahead and switch over to Track Studs. For about 100 for the entire car.
AAZCD said:Mad_Ratel said:Any comment on the pressures I'm seeing? Still feel like teh AOS needs to be replaced?
The readings are high, but not super high. I know that the URO AOSs have a heavier membrane than the original Porsche ones. If it was me, I'd probably run it for a while longer and keep checking to see if it gets better or worse. The problem from a bad AOS is oil getting sucked into the intake. A little oil and an occasional quick puff of smoke isn't urgent to me. A lot of oil and hydrolock might destroy the engine.
If it isn't obvioulsy smoking, how about cleaning the intake, driving it for a while, then checking the intake for how much oil has accumulated?
It is not smoking at all anymore, i swapped it based on a thread that indicated one of the failure modes could cause the hard/slow cranking I am seeing.
I have a work trip to Atlanta tonight. So tempting to take the car but I just do not trust tripling the miles I have on it in one day. (I've done ~300 miles with the car sine I bought it in short bursts max of 40 mile round trip and atlanta is 160 miles each way from me.)
frunk struts are replaced, as are the boot ones.
I hope you have the fuel pressure sensor for the tank. That may be my culprit.
I filled the tank all the way for the first time today. It took thirty minutes for the needle to reach full. It reached half tank easily, but oh so slowly climbed from there. Something tells me this car has sat a LONG time with only half a tank of gas.
Updates:
So, objectives for this weekend:
What got completed?
Items 3 and 4.
Struts were stupid cheap for the front and rear of the car and having the hoods fall on my head was getting annoying.
Step1: borrow wife's tools:
Step 2: change said struts and bask in the simpleness.
Rear was a repeat and i did not take any pictures.
Item 4:
I had read online that some people reported similar h ard starting when cold to mine had had success replacing the fuel pressure sensor on the tank. This sensor only detects vacuum in the tank, it should have nothing to do with starting. But AAZCD said he had a used one he'd send me.
First step: take out battery:
oh look, no tie down guess I need to hit up AAZCD again for parts...
remove tray under the battery:
Also note, coolant lines to heater core, super greasy. This car was driven for a long time with oil in the coolant methinks. (and every hose is affected.)
I'll be adding them to my "E36 M3 to buy" list. More on that later.
Step 3: Replace dead simple to reach sensor with "newer" one.
What it looks like w/o the sensor installed:
The above necessitated a drive. In 40* weather. First start was better but not exactly confidence inspiring.
So i went to Starbucks. To offset the hipsterness I looked as redneck as I could.
I also stopped to put in fuel. The first full tank since I've had it. And what appears to be the first one in a LONG time for the car.
That's after putting 15.5 gallons into the car. (17 gal car and it was on fumes.)
Two minutes later i had another 1/4 tank. and 6 minutes after that, I got another 1/8 a tank...
Note my gas mileage. I am only taking short trips, and once teh car is heated up, I do not drive her gently.
This morning I had to get my son from an Aunt who had played taxi and taken him to his grandparents for the weekend. (we were dealing with kiddo 2 having the flu for the last week and keeping him away from the infant has been a chore.)
Car started within 1 second. Which it has not done in a long time. I'll keep track but i tentatively want to say that something about the sensor swap fixed my hard starting issues.
As to why id id not tackle any of the other items on my list.
namely, I did not feel like it. And I am missing the gasket for the water pump. I had assumed the new pump would come with it. Also the dash delete requires two clips that fit into the space where the cup holders were. I can get them for 6 bucks each on pelican parts. and the gasket too. but then pay 15 dollars in shipping. I figured I'd wait a bit and see what else is on the "order me" list. I.e. those heater core lines. Which I'll replace when i cut into the heaterbox to fix the foam flap which is spewing foam into the cabin right now.
Good forward progress Ratel, and Red neck is an attitude. The outward appearance is just there to warn people.
I felt like such a slacker on sunday after posting that I said screw this and went back out to change the oil.
My eldest was super excited to help me. got out all the jack stands, helped me jack the car up. We discussed safety about not getting under the car while lifting it etc. He also put hte Jack away for me (before I was done so that took me a while to locate again.)
Mann oil filter and the one in the car looked completely different, to the point of me spending 20 min trying to figure out if the plastic cage in the filter was supposed to swap between them. Old filter looked trashed but contained nothing that looked like metal particles. I also bottled some of it up to send to Blackstone to see what they say. (why not?)
I also replaced teh Oil Pump Pressure Piston. Supposedly a good thing (and cheap). New piston has a bevel on it and the spring is slightly thicker.
While I was under there I saw signs of an oil leak. Not sure what these lines are. (Circled in blue). On the transmission. It is definitely oil though and not transmission fluid.
Rear main seal?
As I was wrapping up I decided that I was going to do the krios/crios mod. Only i was not succesful. Screwdrivers just bounce around in there and my 3/8" drill bit shattered instantly...
Jealous of those gas prices...
Good progress in this thing! I've been following along.
I recently picked up a Boxster and have been slowly going through it. I haven't come across the oil pump piston. I'll have to look into that.
So, some research last night. This car has a version of the ims solution, I believe. That braided hose goes to a chunk in the bell housing. However the source is not correct. Oil filter does not have the adapter on it. I am going to have to investigate further. Car is a real question mark when it comes to history.
IMS SOLUTION:
My car:
Thing is, the hose on my car goes the wrong direction. It has a different source for oil and it does not have the oil filter adapter plate.
Possibly, i have the Tuner DOF bearing.
https://tunersmotorsports.com/trs-development/ims-bearing-direct-oil-feed/
So,
My wife was otherwise occupied with baby stuff this year and kind of forgot me.
So I went a bit nuts on 12/29.
EBAY: $154, Second resonator delete
Ebay: $39, short shifter
Discount Tire: 490.98 (3 tires to match teh only newish tire on the car).
Pelican Parts: $129.19 (see below, lots of miscellaneous stuff).
I've been waiting on a Pelican parts order for 2 weeks now. The clips I need to move teh HVAC module up to the upper dash where the cup holders are were listed as available but they are struggling to find them or source them. Part of this order is also my water pump gasket that I was missing.
Last night, at 7 pm. While finishing tidying the garage so the wife could park her car for the week. I found teh gasket I got with the water pump. Next to the water pump, in the box. So yeah. could have done that while on vacation the last two weeks.
I did get the resonator delete tubes in. This is an unbelievably easy job and required only the removal of teh stock resontated piping. When I looked at the Facebook 986 group, a guy had just mentioned having the muffler's for sale as well that go with this kit. Picked that up today. There is apparently terrible drone at 3,000 rpm with the cheapo kit. More expensive kits include a bypass to reduce it. Supposedly if I go to Amazon I can find a motorcycle baffle that will kill the drone taht I place in the one side of the exhaust.
I also got rid of the stock wheel lug bolts. I was missing several in the rear and the front had two locking wheel lug bolts from the factory. These were terrible to remove. I tried a socket one size bigger than the stock 19mm and pounding it on and it just was not working. I tried the next size and it seemingly kept falling off. I then took the 20mm and put it in to the toaster oven to heat it up. This failed and did not get me the grip I needed.
Finally desperate, I took the next size up again, and just hammered the E36 M3 out of it. and voila, bolt came out easily.
It's been in place quite a while though. (the tire has a 2009 or 8 date code on it.)
I had already ordered new studs and nuts from AWS Track. Some blue locktite (which now comes in a red container?) and the use of a double nut enabled me to get them seated nicely into the hub.
I also decided to add up what I've spent. I'll just give the total for now, but in the future I'll add line items like Duster does his builds. I was unpleasantly surprised at the number but feel that I'm really at the point of finishing installing what I've bought and just driving it for the unforeseeable future.
Total so far is $6163.12 Including the car purchase (not including insurance/reg).
This includes parts to fix the car as well as parts that I did not need (exhaust tidbits, short shifter that has yet to arrive etc.)
At this point the only things the car needs:
Seats. I have to repair or figure out how to get it looking/feeling nicer in the cabin and the seats are a big part of it.
Dash. Pelican is having the damndest time finding the two clips I need in order to move the HVAC controls up. https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/99657350100OEM.htm?pn=996-573-501-00-OEM&bt=Y&fs=0&SVSVSI=1050
996-573-501-00. I may try moving the controls without these brackets but will see.
I do love how that despite delaying my order 2 weeks, they still list the parts as available.
Top. My top has developed the dredded tear in the plastic. Not a huge deal right now as I drive it in decent weather only and short trips. but I'd like to trust teh car to drive to charlotte from time to time and having a good top is part of that. Not quite sure what I want to do with that.
IMS. I am also going to reach out to Turner to see if they've had teh oil leak problems my car is having before and what I can do to mitigate it.
Miscellaneous:
We went on a Christmas cruise. I have a 2015 Yamaha AR240 that consumes most of my summer. This boat has two jet motors which require zero winterizing. This meant that my wife and I could load it up with a few drinks and motor when it was 62*F Christmas Eve.
I also gave it a really good scratch launching it. OOPS. I hope it's not through the gelcoat.
Guess this means I'll need to bring it home this spring and spend several days polishing the gelcoat again. If you've never had to polish gelcoat. Dont. It's a royal PITA. Luckily this boat is not as bad as my first one that required wetsanding from 200 to 2,000 then polishing to remove the scratches from teh prior owner.
It is so much easier to park the boat at dad's house with the tractor. Just moves it right where he wants it.
My father in law loves to make toys or random items for his grand kids.
This year he raised teh bar. (AGAIN.)
Charles got a 11ft long wooden train set for his first birthday. Clemson Engine, SCAR Caboose. (he's a Carolina fan.)
Oliver got a Trolley for his first birthday he could sit in (The Olly Trolley).
We have a Chestnut rocking horse.
So this year?
This year he made wooden replicas of his F150 and my F150.
Down to the colors, the different types of bed caps and the style differences between my 2014 and his 2015. (mine also had a toy black dog in the bed to represent our furry member of the family.)
Rumor has it that he's building a wooden tank for Hank (Henry) for his first birthday next November.
Henry seemed ok with his lack of wooden toy this year.
Lastly on sunday, Kid 1 (charles) and kid 2 (oliver) were playing downstairs.
My wife and I hear a thump, then screams. Oliver dropped a 20 lb weight on Charles foot.
He's a trooper though. and it turned out to not be broken and the bruise went away extremely fast too. But man did it give us a scare.
Famous last words heater core blew out today I think. Moist windshield and while I was at the dentist the coolant system emptied itself again. I refilled it and left the expansion tank in bleed for the drive home with the heat turned off. No issues and no draining.... wtf
Got my oil report back.
Not sure what to think.
i was going to comment about coolant and bearings, but i see Blackstone's comments cover those.
On Thursday last week the Heater Core decided to try strand me at my dentist, 20 miles from home.
The interior vents showed humid air despite the HVAC being off. I also had a sickly smell. I parked the car then went in for my filling.
I came back out to a small trickle on the floor under the car and a big red "STOP" sign on the dash when I tried to start it telling me the car was out of coolant.
I filled it up with the help of the Dentist's admin staff, purged it there and drove it home. It did not leak again??? (WTF). Still a sickly sweet smell.
Which is weird because the car has not had coolant for the past 6 months, 1,000 miles.
This topped with the blackstone report have burst my bubble about the motor's condition and I have had a rollercoaster of emotions.
Do I sell it as is and take the fairly large loss?
Do I swap a 2.7T from an Audi in it? (I even reached out to an Englishman who just finished his second conversion after the first burnt tot he ground.)
Do I buy a JY motor and swap?
I even contemplated calling up Vorshlag and buying the 2018 GT of theirs. I love mustangs and a 2+2 just makes more sense for me being able to use my "fun" car more often. Plus i could trust it to take me to the airport. Which I just cannot do with the porsche.
I'll also be in Dallas for work in 2 weeks.
I just do not know. I hate debt. The mustang would put me solidly back into the red. I also enjoy working on the Porsche but work is about to pick up and i wont have time for a car to be broken down. (It is a third car but this would still irritate me).
Decisions Decisions.
This weekend I focused on just installing parts I have. The OBX Ebay Exhaust I got for $100 used went on. With Challenges. It's pretty obvious that something was off because the tips had obvious wear marks from where the PO had let it rub against the heat shielding and the bumper. It the end I had to space the mounting bracekt out 1". This allowed the muffler to rotate and install with enough clearance on the bumper. I fought this for hours thinking the C-pipes were to blame. I just did not like how much force was being pushed back into the headers. We call this cold Spring in my field. That piping will heat up and drastically increase the forces placed on every weld and bolt. Not good.
Still struggling to find the HVAC clips. I'd love to get that moved so that the interior is finally tidy.
Parts still to go in:
water pump and belt.
wipers
short shift kit
to be delivered today: new heater core and seal.
the vorshlag mustang is a great deal for the price. If you're planning on buying one it'd be hard to pass theirs up...
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
Well if in Dallas holler and we can beat my Boxster S for a bit or my 996. Honestly, you probably have a cracked head. You could repair it and enjoy the car for a long time. Well you could do the removal and reassembly. You should hire out the repair to Len Hoffman. I tried getting a cracked head boxster for $1k to do as a challenge car but the owner though je had a gold mine.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
I've already spoken with him and live close enough to drop the heads off. But with all the "while you are in there" bits it's still close to 3k in work.
docwyte said:the vorshlag mustang is a great deal for the price. If you're planning on buying one it'd be hard to pass theirs up...
I saw your name and totally thought "oh he's going to be pushing keeping Porsche."
Guess I was wrong.
If it turns out to be true, it's just confirming what the seller was implying with "oil in the water," right? You even suspected it to begin with, "this is going to hurt." You and Seth can commiserate over your fulfilled prophesies.
How much of a loss are you facing if you cut bait? Do you still want the car, if you fix it? I can say that a lightweight mid-engine roadster is a vastly different experience from a monster Mustang. I love my MR2 spyder for commuting duties and the Boxster S is basically that plus refinement and power. I think it would be an awesome car once fixed. I'd even be interested if the price was right, and if it was blue I'd be begging for it. I'm sure there are a lot of people here interested if you do cut bait but I think you should keep fishing if you still want the car.
It really depends on what I could get. I have approx $6200 in the car. I would let it go for that easily.
I am fighting the same knowledge
Scalpel vs sledgehammer
Basically the worst case condition has happened so yeah maybe I cursed myself with my title to the thread.
Tuners is honoring their warranty and sending me new seals for their ims kit.
Mad_Ratel said:In reply to AnthonyGS :
I've already spoken with him and live close enough to drop the heads off. But with all the "while you are in there" bits it's still close to 3k in work.
I know. You could go crazy though and cobble together what you need. There are lots of guys like AAZCD (I think that's right), that are flush in Boxster parts. I know everything you should do, but other than gaskets, the only thing you have to do is fix the crack.
You really have figured out the problem with Porsche ownership though. Doing anything right will be big $$$$. Porsche's are not Miatas where everything is reasonably priced.
I would get in touch with this Len Hoffman fellow, I assume he is an independent. Tell him that you want the car but it does not make sense to spend $3k at the moment, ask him if he can fix it for around $1500.
That would at least put you in a car you can enjoy for another year or so and that has a much higher resale value than what you have right now. I know this puts you further under water but get some enjoyment out of it.
In reply to Slippery :
I already have. His base quote for the most common crack is 2200. he did say that he has done 100 or so of the heads.
he did tell me the most common is the most expensive to fix and that if it's not the most common the price would drop. Keep in mind, that price is if you hand him the heads, no shipping. And you've already taken them off of the motor.
Now, if I knew that I could buy a set of used heads, spend the 800 or so to get them inspected by him and they'd be good to go. I'd be hitting buy now. but this is a VERY common issue for the M96. Jake Raby (Another famous name for the motor) has stated that he has never seen a headgasket go. It's ALWAYS the head cracking. Both he and Len have stated that most owners dont even know they have a cracked head until they get IMS issues and go to rebuild.
Jake charges around 20k for a rebuild of a car. You ship him the car he hands it back. You want to punch it out etc? closer to 30k. On a car with a street value of 10k.
Like I think i've stated elsewhere in this thread. I am not uninitiated. I grew up helping my dad rebuild a 1983 911sc, 3 times... If I spend the 3k i will more than likely keep the car for quite a while. I love how it drives. The only reason I'd look at something bigger for the next is that a 2+2 makes way more sense on a car I only use to take kids to school. (kid 1 is the only one but in 2 years kid 2 will be).
Look the math works that if I did a full head rebuild and that while I'm in there nothing else is wrecked (bearigns all plasti good) I'd spend ~3400 bucks on the rebuild. (timing chains, timing guides, update the IMS / reuse my Tuners.) These cars go for ~9k right now, probably 10k in the spring. So I'd probably be on par with a car with good history but unkown internal condition. Except I'd know the internals are good. That's a mighty big incentive. If I went 3.4 while doing all of this. I'd more than likely still need to get the heads reviewed. Andthe motor starts in teh 5k range for a JY one. Power the porsche way is $$$$$$
From reading your last post it seems to me that you are ready to let the car go and cut your loses.
I have another contact that might be able to help you. Will PM you the details in case you want to give it a shot.
I hate to see you let go of such a nice car. Plus this could be a perfect project for you and your son!!
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