Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Car is back together and running very well. Still a bit of judder but it's only slight and mainly if the revs are low. I should expect it may bed in too as the clutch may have developed a bit of glazing and will have adopted that taper that was on the flywheel.

...and then on to other things: Oil pressure: that is high oil pressure. It was suggested to me that I had got the polarity at the sender unit wrong. It wasn't.
I then removed the OPRV which was quite straightforward and thankfully (it's eye wateringly expensive), the piston was good, no scoring and spring tension seemed to be fine. It's not something you could measure. Changed O rings. Pressure gauge is the same.
So it points to the dial itself (this was swapped out and the reading identical) or... an electrical fault. Time to sit down with the wiring diagram. Any suggestions welcome.

Yes reversed polarity is a known cause of this issue. If you earth the signal wire it will result in the gauge pointing skyward, however this seems not to be your case.

Also having swapped out the gauge, you can likely rule that out as well.

Whilst trying to get to the route of a similar, but not same, intermittent temp gauge pointing skyward, or dancing issue, a friend on PCGB posted the following possible causes:

The circuit is not complex from what I can make out the water temp sensor (oil pressure will be similar) receives a positive voltage from the dashboard PCB (same line as some of the bulbs). It is earthed through the body of the sensor. The second wire is the signal wire which feeds directly to the gauge on the PCB. From what I can make out there are no components in the signal path.

My best guess is that the intermittent nature could be -

1. An issue with the wiring harness (wire degradation possibly)
2. An issue with the gauge itself (I think you ruled this out)
3. An earth issue, this could be the engine block or the PCB earth
4. Possible back voltage from another component on the dashboard PCB, I noticed that + and - feeds for the gauge are shared with some of the warning bulbs and other gauges. Worth making sure all the bulbs are in good condition.
5. PCB connector issue, I've seen it mentioned before that the ribbon connectors get wear points when the cable connector pins have imprinted on the PCB connector. This could possibly lead to an intermittent connection if any flex or vibration occurs.

Cheers

Stuart

Thanks S.

There's not a lot to go on. I sorted ALL my earths out including changing both the battery to ground and clutch housing to bulk head cables. The issue is not intermittent.
Like you, I have had the instrument cluster out more times than I care to remember and I spent an inordinate amount of time changing bulbs, chrome painting the light tunnels, using dolls house mirror material on the prisms and cleaning all the contacts up with electrical contact cleaner and various light abrasives.
It still leaves the possibility of a weak contact on the PCB. The engine harness was sourced with the engine as it is peculiar to the 2.7 n/a and there are no external signs of degradation and as mine is not a turbo, it does not suffer related heat issues. That I realise, is no guarantee that there isn't and the wires from the sensor are quite close to the exhaust manifold.
Also, the other gauges on the cluster all behave themselves.

I will extract the cluster and just see if the currents coming in are in the right range and I will have a good look at the oil pressure dial to see if there is anything untoward. I shall also see if there is undue impedance in the flow from bulbs etc if I can work out inputs/outputs and flow.

Surely, if the current in is on the low side, the needle would not be on the high end of the scale?

Yes it is painstaking, and as I said, I'm many years down the line and still have the temp gauge issue intermittently! A non-intermittent fault would be preferable for fault finding, at least you have that in your favour!

For the life of me it has to be the signal wire getting grounded inadvertently to cause your issue. I know you have shuffled the sender connections to no avail, so it must be getting a rogue earth from somewhere else. From where is your issue.

Stuart

Hello again!
Thought I’d try giving this another go. Been having real issues posting on the forum & got fed up with losing everything I had written so went off and had a good sulk!
Got that out of my system so am back with some good news! No, I haven’t won the lottery, it’s even better – I finally got the torque tube detached from the clutch housing!

Of course that simple line really doesn’t tell the story of how it took hours to get the four piddly bolts out that secure the TT to the clutch housing! I say piddly but of course they’re not, they are M12 or something like that & one of them in particular has a degree in being particularly difficult to access. Those of you who have done this job will know exactly which one I am referring to.

I might have been alright if I had a set of those cranked spanners- you know the ones that look like the manufacturer was attempting to see if he could make boomerangs from the same press he uses to shape his spanners- business diversification & all that I suppose. Anyway, I don’t have any of them & the only chap I know who might have had a set was welding up a lorry somewhere a million miles away so that was a non-starter. So I persevered with the tools at my disposal along with reasonable amounts of telling said bolt what an awkward sod of questionable parentage it was and other words of encouragement. I’m glad I don’t have a vicar as a neighbour or he might have been calling the Bishop to arrange for an exorcism on the garage Clearly this worked as eventually, I got said bolt out and could then wiggle said torque tube back and ready for No.1 son to give me a hand tomorrow to get it out from under the car.
I did take the opportunity to spin the centre shaft and it was silent so I don’t have to battle with a bearing change thank heavens.

So that was todays update and this really did happen today- almost a real time update for once!

You need 2 obstruction or 'S' wrenches H. For the TT a 17 and for the exhaust at the manifold (and many other areas) a 13. Order a couple now before reassembly. There's little point buying a set... So useful and will serve you well in so many areas. However, I am struggling to find them in singles. Let me see.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271067032259 ... ench+10mm+–+19mm&epid=1004326329&itmmeta=01J8VTTPB0N5BQHRV0YFSXBAJF&hash=item3f1cdaaac3:g:9LoAAOSw9GhYgcdR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABIHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmkMLHtEvifx%2BJyFNH7ZY3fVTE2mroxqu%2FJ32IFjywfgPNGst3YvihqeB7YZVuhb8qfWR%2B%2BZphWe17XLPZgPMRddw44QzuMGjFYqEy6nKaajDfzBKq0hfLAoXazKCZyU%2BRps%2BllcxFAMsvvOCm9ShHqI0b%2FvrNH6D8hivMrDZYNdExs1McuRGR0nn1%2Fhs05477erxp1%2FQMekNpdwq1M9ZY%2F6L4ow1N%2BPYle3sj%2Fx7JvnAQTb5h0emM--rWPUV6y9Cq9ge7LzDx%2B7aKPUdO74liKj29EvCedmbsoEuBoekUImx%2B0DjQ0Mt%2BFYNINtt4xozSEmJd5MqZ3qqIlS1zlGfSI27SMFiXNDUPmAJzK9cU68Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMyuXq-sZk

For my sins, I decided that I would check the OPRV alignment to see if this is affecting the oil pressure reading. I mean, it's only 4 bolts on the oil cooler casing right? &$£*@*&^ job f$£^&@! ages. Ow!

Way back during lockdown, I put an advert out for a '2 foot midget, handy with a spanner' but I still haven't had any applicants.

2 days later, I finally got it all back together. I will drive it today and once it is warm, we shall see though I am not optimistic. It was just peace of mind. It all looks good in there, I did replace the gasket and 'O' ring set 2500 miles (almost 5 years ago).
Changed the 'O' rings on the OPRV to be sure to be sure.

Thanks Rob
I don’t know what’s happening of late but anything IT related is going pear shaped - I cannot even access evilbay today

Loving both of your right ups guys, very similar to my own pen strokes. Keep 'em coming!

I ordered a front shifter kit today from Willwood 944 on ebay. £49 delivered with a bit of best offer haggling. I really wanted the Only944 kit but only being available from the states and being twice the price (when delivery is factored in) swayed my decision. I have a very worn and rounded rod on my current shifter which has done 174k miles, just hoping the wear on the actual shift rod itself is minimal, either way, the shift is likely to be greatly improved just with this new part.

I fortunately inherited an almost new billet short shifter at the box end which came attached to the recent turbo s box I bought for an absolute bargain price. Such a bargain price I was able to shift my previous box on for just £30 less. Result of the century. The short shift kit seems to be £400!

Anyway, should be silky smooth shifting soon!

PS - Those bendy spanners look the business, as long as they aren't made of chocolate, which would be a concern for me @ £16 for a full set of 10mm thru 19mm.

Stuart

In a resumption of normal postings, I will now give you the update of something that was done a few days ago.
Actually it was longer than as this is what I was trying to post when I had all the forum issues and got the right hump because I kept losing everything I had typed up.

Anyway, let’s get back to the update. I decided that it would be a good idea to remove the rubber split bushing from the rear control arms. Truthfully, I ‘d put this off a bit as prior reading had said this could be a nightmare! Well blow me down with a feather, my bushings were out in less than 10minutes per arm. I’d either got the technique bang on or it was an indication of just how knackered the bushes were. I’d like to think it was the former but the reality is it is likely to be the latter, However, let’s call it a bit of both as its good for the morale!

Buoyed by this success, I thought, right, lets now remove the steel outer bushing sleeve, should be straight forward given how easy the actual bushes were……


Oh dear!



It wasn’t.



Not a bit of it!


Remembering how I did the front control arm bushes (also a split type)- carefully cutting a slit in the sleeve with a hacksaw and then tapping round said sleeve with pin punch before finally drifting it out from the mid split. I applied this same process to the rear control arms. However, I’d noted that on various forums the perceived wisdom was to heat the aluminium control arm which would expand at a greater rate than the steel sleeve and this would then pop out quite easily especially of you were fortunate enough to have a split bearing removal tool from a certain US performance shop.

I didn’t.

It is available from Design 800 plus 111 but at an eye watering £150 so I had to stick to my plan.

Two hours later, I was finally victorious and the outer bushing sleeve was out. However, this was a hollow victory as I’d only got one half of the split bushing sleeve out. The other was still safely (and firmly) in the control arm. Deciding to quit while I was ahead, I sprayed liberal amounts of deblocker around said sleeve, turned out the lights and left it as a job for the next day.

The next day dawned and as a result of there being only one sleeve to remove, I could employ a different tactic.
Using an impact socket that was as close in size to the diameter of the bushing sleeve as possible as a drift, I heated the control arm as before and gave the socket a couple of firm whacks with a hammer and out it popped! No sawing, no careful tapping around the circumference with a punch, just wallop, wallop & out it popped! I could not believe it.

I’ve not attempted anything with the other rear control arm as its going to be a while before I’m ready to rebuild it and refit the rear suspension. There are better ways to spend the time that it takes to get these bush sleeves out & to that end, the split bushing tool actually makes a lot of sense especially if this is something you do on a regular basis at a commercial garage say.
For the home mechanic, it would definitely save you time and make the job far easier. It is a question of justifying the cost. Yes, it’s expensive for what it is but do I really want to spend another couple of hours risking ruining the control arm by cutting away with a hacksaw and to then spend ages tapping away with a pin punch whilst still having to heat the arm?

Unfortunately, as I found out today whist making on-line enquiries, all the above is rather academic as the tool only fits the front control arms of the 924/944 and 968 models. The confusing bit is that it does work on the alloy rear arms of some 911 variants. These look similar in the on-line videos to the 944/968 alloy jobbies. Looks like I will have to break out the hacksaw after all. That said, I am flirting with making something up that will do the job.......Hmmm……

Oh yes, nearly forgot - on Sunday, No.1 son remembered that he was going to help me on Saturday and enabled the removal of the Torque tube from under the car!!
I’ve secured it to a wooden dolly I made so I can get it in & out of the garage nice & easily. However, as the Autumn monsoons seem to have kicked in, there has been zero progress in the planned rust removal and general clean up.

As Edd says, ‘That is a job for another day’

You're planning to do the TT bearings?!?!

Augment engineering provide this service and given how such a PITA the job is, I would consider it if I had to.

New gear shifter kit arrived today so duly fitted it. The pin on the old one was very very worn! A quick test drive showed a nice improvement and now reverse gear engages straight away with no fuss.

Also now a dab hand at popping the plastic bearing cup on and off the bottom of the shifter!

Kit came with the shift lever, 4 x washers, 1 x circlip, 1 x white plastic bearing cup and some fitting grease. Decent for £49 delivered.

Stuart

No, I don’t have to thank heavens I spun the driveshaft and not a grumble or groan was heard

I did the same with mine. What a relief that was too.

Took the instrument cluster out today. That thing has been out more times than the Italian Government Cricket team. Cleaned up all the contacts and the foils where the 3 plug connectors attach. This did little as the intention of finding out why the oil pressure gauge isn't doing what it's supposed to do but I did manage to sort one of the blubs that illuminate one of the 'tunnels'. This is nececelery as I have every intention of driving it even when the night's draw in. I could have SORNed it on Monday but the thought was driving me to depression ever since the reminder came in the post.

Let’s talk Torque tubes or, more precisely, refurbing (cosmetically) the TT.

As is the case with me, we need to go back a few days. In this particular case, it was Saturday and I managed to grab a couple of hours to commence battle with the refinishing of the tt.
Now whilst not coated in a layer of mud like much of the underside, I wonder was this an attempt by a previous owner at preserving the features of the car? The tt was exhibiting many, many surface rust bubbles as well as some deeper rusty bits at the transaxle end. Let’s just say it looked like it had a really heavy dose of chicken pox.
In this on-going war against that mortal enemy of the automobile, rust, I had assembled a selection of brass brushes of various sizes and styles, flap wheels and for really stubborn areas, the knotted steel wire wheel. I’d also got one of those polystrip discs designed to remove rust & loose paint.

First wave was the brass wheel in the drill. This did a reasonable job of cleaning off the surface rust and any flaky bitts from the tt itself. I also tried it with a very light touch on the aluminium section that bolts to the transaxle. Of course, it wasn’t very good at getting into all those nooks and crannies around the strengthening webs, However, I had a plan for that.

Whilst the tt looked a bit better, closer inspection showed lots of pin holes in the coating and it also felt quite rough, a bit like some 240 grit sandpaper.
Change of tactic and equipment – Brass wheel in the cordless angle grinder. Oh yes! The extra rpm of the whizzy wheel produced much orange coloured dust and the sight of shiny metal although this was heavily pock-marked with stubborn black lumps of corrosion.

I did have to get the big guns out & bring in the knotted steel wheel & whilst this did seem quite effective in getting to the rust hidden in the pin holes in the tt coating but it was still leaving the black lumps. Round three then- the flap wheel.

I managed to get a couple pf passes in and this seemed to be even more effective and was leaving lots more nice, shiny metal and the surface was much smoother to the touch but still not getting to the point where I felt it was ready for chemicals. I’ll circle back to chemicals in a bit- I will, I promise.
Anyway having seen that the flap wheel was reasonably effective, I determined to persevere with that and see how it looked once I’d exhausted the batteries or decided that a cup of tea was needed.

However, I had an appointment at 5pm, so I had to pack up and go out so that was it for Saturday.


Battle recommenced today.

Although the flap wheel was working to a certain extent, I decided to give the Polystrip disc a go- what a revelation! It effortlessly cut through the black lumpy bits along with any remaining rust, leaving nice shiny and smooth metal. The only downside was that it did wear at quite a rate and I ended up having to go and get another one. That itself was another saga and I’ll never use click & collect again! To be absolutely fair, it wasn’t a brand new disc to start with and was probably about 1/3 rd or more gone when I began to use it on this job.

Although the tt was devoid of rust and paint, it was left with lots of little craters where rust had done its thing -not a bad as Deadpool when he removes his mask but still cosmetically challenged.

Sooooo, circling back to chemicals -see, I promised we’d get there- a bit long winded but hey, there’s only the Equalizer 2 on TV for like the 40th time this year or some reality drivel alternative.

As I was saying, chemicals. I’m a big fan of Bilt Hamber’s Hydrate 80. Blooming good stuff as I may have said before- shout out to Waylander who put me onto it.
So, having wiped down the tt with some panel wipe to get rid of any dust and oil /grease, I set about sparingly applying said rust treatment. As part of the chemical reaction this turns the tt a fetching shade of blue/purple with dark spots where rust is converted into a nice stable substrate.
So that was that.

As for the aluminium flange that bolts to the transaxle, the cunning plan I had for that involved the use of the Dremel and the selection of brass brushes that I had for that. Absolutely perfect for getting into all the crevices mentioned earlier.

Sort of.

Well it is, the use of the Dremel and the brass brushes.

Only the brass brushes I had were er, quantity rather than quality and they shed their bristles like a company of archers getting paid a bonus per arrow and they were all trying to grab the biggest payday of their lives. I looked like I’d had a close encounter with a brass bristle equipped porcupine and come off a very second best. However, the aluminium is now clean and will be treated with some of Bilt Hamber’s Dynax wax protection to help stave off corrosion and hopefully make it easier to keep clean too.

Painting the tt is next but as Edd says, that is a job for another day.