Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hello, I need any help and advice please with my 944 that is a daily driver.

I had a local independtant "Porsche Specialist" carry out fitting of shocks all round and two engine mounts one mouth after the cambelt and balance belt were done by the same garage. Upon picking my car back up after the shocks and mounts were fitted on the Wednesday I noticed that on tick over there was a vibriation that was not there before hand, the next day I also noticed that the temperture was going very high when driving slow, i.e. in traffic or just on tick over once it had got hot. On Sunday I decided to check the water level before switching it on and it was low so I topped it up and forget to replace the cap, lost the cap when driving down the road and got one off a friend but the it was not correct as it had no spring so on the Monday left it outside the garage with w not stating the I lost the cap and the one on it is not correct and there is a temp problem and vibriation.

The garage called me that afternoon (Monday) to say that they fitted a new cap and pressure tested it and it is fine, as for the vibriation that is due to new engine mounts being of a harder rubber and and will take time to settle in and this will go within time. This I did not believe!

I then took the car home and thought I would see what the temperture would do on tick over and it was sky high again, so I looked under the bonnet and saw a leak coming from the bottom left of the radiator, so I went to work the next morning and I got there 18 miles later and the radiator just gave up and threw all the water out so I topped it up and took it to the garage for him to tell me that the radiator is leaking.......then he say's lets do a pressure test, but as he comes to do so he does not know which type of cap fits to carry out the test and try 3 before finding the one that fits, now if he did a test the day before surley he would of rembered which one fits.

So he does it and the radiator pours out water from the side of the core, so I arrange for a new radiator to be fitted instructing him to do so and check the car to find why the temp is going high. Two days later (Friday) I picked it up for him to tell me it is all fine and the thermosat is opening and closing as it should and after a few hours at traffic lights it may run into the red but just give it a rev and is will cool down, I told him that carn't be right as it should never go into the red he said these engines do run hot.

I paid the bill £539....ouch! and took the car to find that it is still the same only now with a new radiator, So I took the car to a different garage on the monday who said after looking at it for two hours that they believe it could well be the thermostat so with the balance belt now due to be checked by him I called him and said I'm not happy as the car is still the same and he just said drop it off and I'll have a look/ I dropped it off on Thursday and told him to do the balance belt and change the thermostat, later that day he calls me to say he's done the belt and changed the thermostat but the old one had the centre of it missing and this is somthing people used to do years ago to make the car run cooler (funny he said that I thought as the other week he said it is opening and closing fine) but now I've put the new one it it gets hotter even quicker, so it could be your water pump or head gasket, so I just picked it up off him paid him for the thermostat only and now just about got it home and that's were I'm upto with it.

I've had the car for 6 months and covered 3000 miles with regular trips being of around 80 miles each way, it has no loss of water, no loss of power and no oil in water or smoke from the exhaust.

Can anyone give any ideas or advice please? I simply think the garage has sabotaged my car to create more work for himself.

Many thanks David.

Where are you based? if anywhere near Ferndown (Christchurch) give Jon at JMG a ring and get a reputable specialist to advise/look at it.
(Been taking my Turbo there for the last 10 years, 450mile round trip with no such problems arising )
HTH
Clive

Hi Clive, I'm based on Wirral and now can't really it over more than 500 yds without it already getting hot.

Might be worth Joining "Tipec" and contacting North West region area to see if anyone lives local to you who may be able to help.
Further posts on here may offer ideas. (I took my 944 S2 Cab to Hartech in Bolton many years ago, would recommend.)

I joined TIPEC last week so will try and contact them, Thank you.

Have you checked that the coolant system has been bled properly?

That was my first thought

check the fan switch too....I'm not familiar with your system but I doubt it's much different in design to the turbo except not needing to cool as much. For the turbo the fan has two speeds, slow to keep the heat at the correct temperature and fast that comes on when the car gets hotter and the slower speed can't help...at fast speed it cools the engine rapidly. Try running the car and wait for the fan to come on, if/when it overheats again with no fan running then it's most likely the fan switch...in the meantime don't ever go back to the fool who worked on the car before, he clearly knows little or is on a money making mission.

regards

Pete

sounds like if was all OK before then it could be the system has not been bled at all. I don't believe the engine mount story - I suspect the balance belt timing is wrong. Its all easy to fix so don't panic - just need to find someone near you who knows what they are doing.

Hi David -

Sorry to read your woes. If they have been fiddling with an engine belt, I would check the water pump belt. This is run by the outer side of the cam belt, ie the smooth side. So - if the belt is slack against the pump spindle, the pump will not work and hence engine overheat...

Dave
CT

Do the fans work? Is the heater hot?

Even closer than Hartech, who seem more concerned with Boxters and other later stuff now. Try Unit 11 at Warrington. Sounds like the balance shafts arn't adjusted. and check head gasket not blown after overheating.

Thank you every one for your replies, Yesturday I went to a local garage that I know of but have never got them to do any work on any cars for me, I got them to test for the head and they did a block test to see if there was any gas in the water but this came back negative so then the very nice owner who is around 70 now and happend to be visiting the garage run by his son these days jumped straight on with pleasure to the 944 and told me that he used to work on these engine many moons ago but now he just can't remember much about them, however he did the test, I told him what has been happening and then he established that the water simply isn't circulatiing correctly and asked me did the other garage really change my thermostat to which I replied I can't say he did or didn't, so he bleed the system and then some water came through to the top hose but not much before doing that he switched on the heater full blast which did blow hot air, he then said i'm 99% sure the head is fine as the block test was fine and the engines runs smooth. He told me to take it for a run and see if it begins to cool down and come back, I got 500 yrds down the road only for the pedal to stick all the way down, which it had done a couple times after I picked it up from the garage so I quickly turned the engine off while driving at 40mph and then pulled the pedal back up and slowly drove back where this very nice old man lent in the footwell and did a temp repair preventing that happening again and then suggested to me that I should change the thermostat and then see how it behaves as he does not think he changed it.

I agree with Pete and think he is on a money mission, So my plan tomorrow is to change the Thermostat using this very nice old man and i'm going to change the fan switch and temp switch, the gauage switch is fine as the very nice old man tested that too, however I am begining to think there is something wrong with the water pump and going off what Dave CT said it does point to that being the case now.

I did find this information on the net which says how to bleed the system, would this information below be correct as I haven't see anyone bleed it in this way yet?

First set the heater switch to maximum inside the car. Then you need to release the coolant bleed screw on top of the upper most radiator hose. Then fill the system at the header tank until coolant can be seen coming from this hole. Close the bleed valve and belch the system by squeezing the top hose. Repeat the process until you can't fill the coolant tank any more.

Next run the car up to temperature, this will cause the thermostat to open and release coolant into the rest of the system, keep an eye on the fill level of the coolant tank. Turn off the car and fill then belch the system repeatedly until no more coolant topping up is needed. Run the car up to temperature again and check the fill level. If all is ok just have a final check that none of the hoses are weeping and you should be done, if not just keep topping up the coolant until the level stops dropping.

P.S. I did take my pipe off today to see if the thermostat is there and new although I have no other tools, I did see it there although it looked old but I think its the wrong way round, which way should it be fitted? What should I see when i take the pipe off?

Many thanks
David.

Depends who you talk to.

Someone from 911 and Porsche world had new engine mounts fitted to their 944 and this time they went with aftermarket mounts over the genuine items. While he said things improved he did say they transmitted way more noise into the cabin than before. If this was anything like my 205 it would indeed cause things like the dashboard and even your keys to vibrate ; that car was on Group N engine mounts and upon changing the final lower mount, the car became way noisier inside, so much so my dad when he drove it thought there was an issue.

As for the price of £530 it's "fair" I hate to say if they did the job right. A radiator is the best part of £250 these days and removing the thermostat is never a pleasant job in a 944 due to its location.

It sounds like it has not been bled right. IME I had issues with a "First Line" Thermostat and the temperature waving alot of the time. It never overheated but the gauge used to swing about quite a bit between half way and a 1/4. After I fitted a genuine Porsche thermostat for around £12 from an OPC all was well ; it also had a bypass foot on it to block the flow of hot coolant from the bypass circuit once the car was hot enough. BEHR make the original thermostat. The top of the thermostat should be pointing outwards from the water pump if that helps Fitting the circlip however is a right pain.

So, is your car now running the correct cap?

Hi AlpineTurbo, Thanks for your reply. It's not running correct the cap as it yet as the garage did fit a new one but i looked at it the other day and it says 110-126 and im sure it should be 150 so I will get a new one that is 150.

I think I will see to get an Porsche thermostat in that case and i think it is pointing outwards from the water pump.