Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Right aside from all the other little niggles (fuel and brakes being the biggest) I have a new problem which defeats all others!

No switches on or anything for that matter IIRC, hook up a battery and it sparks when you put the lead on it (short somewhere?) and then to get the required cold crank start amps hook up another battery (+ to + and - to -) and I get smoke from the heater vents any ideas on what it could be before ripping the dash out?

Cheers.
Jon.

Unfortunately it does sound like a short. If there's smoke then the wire is getting pretty hot and the fuse should blow. If it isn't blowing then it could be an aftermarket alarm or something. I'd look under the dash and scuttle panel with torch but if you can't see anything it might mean taking the dash out.

OK the first thing to do is pull the radio out & nose behind there. After that pull the instrument cluster out & see if there is anything going on in there. This may give a guide but saves taking the dash out first off.
An old trick is to put a bulb in line with the battery connection. If there is a short then the bulb will light at full brightness. Pull the fuses one by one & when you pull the fuse with the short the bulb will go out or dim. It may still be dash out but at least this will make it slightly easier.
PS Just thought the heater runs all the time even at switched at zero so that would be a possibility, is the fan seized?

Isn't the heater motor accessible from under the bonnet on 924/44

It sure is, as is the resistor pack. If it has been unused for some time then the fan can seize & it will take mega-amps, hence the smoke!

it isn't seized as it worked and blows quite well, could it be the heater wiring anyway and on low speed sticks? the heater knob was set to hot at the time could this mean that the heater elements were getting hot?

the heater runs off the cooling system

just hooked up 1 battery to try the pulling fuses out technique and heard a fizzing sound down by the accelerator (so Lighting or something near the rev counter) maybe?.

I would avoid connecting the battery again and start looking for burnt wiring in that area, the damage will only get worse as I have found to my cost, fires can get out of control fast.
Have a CO2 fire extinguisher on hand if you can. They make no mess unlike a powder one.

On a lighter note this may be of help http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

Is it a late car or an early car? The wiring loom layout is vastly different between the two. On the early car the ECU is down near the throttle pedal, on the late car there is the electric boot release and not much else unless its the wiring that passes through the door to the windows and locks.

tis from april 82 so I presume one of the earlier ones, one with a fuse box and relays as 1 down in the passenger footwell with an additional fusebox above.

And yes I know about wiring fires as dad had his cortina have a wiring fire which burnt out most of the dash and meant a whole rewiring of the car

Your lucky in a way the square dash is much easier to pull apart. It would be a good time to check all the ground points and replace all the bulbs that have blown.
This is a helpful place to visit. http://www.clarks-garage.com/