Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all,

Great to find this forum.

My 1987 944 N/A has just stared making this noise (see link to video). I would much appreciate your views on what this could be.

Cheers,

Rich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcTeNDr3 ... ata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4YA3q4P3M4

Difficult to tell but I'd be stripping the front cover off & checking all the belts & idlers. I'd look close at the water pump as well.

That gold thing under the inlet manifold isn't an "Ecotek Valve" is it?

http://www.ecotekplc.com/CB-26P.htm

Can't quite make it out in the video, but if that is what it is then I am almost certain that is the source of your noise. They do make a noise like that.

Does sound like a dodgy water pump to me, what is the state of the coolant in the header tank is it up to level and or full of sludge? Check the history if you can to see when the pump was changed maybe at the last belt replacement. But I suppose it could be what Simon suggests as those valves do make an awful noise when in operation.

sounds like metal grinding on metal to me. I'd get that checked out asap if it were me. Thats definitely not good.Could well be something realted to your cam belt/guides/tensioner /pulleys/water pump bearing
Use a long wooden rod or a screwdriver pressed to your ear and try to track down the source of the sound. I use a cheap stetascope £10.00 from ebay but a bit of wooden dowel is just as good.
Sounds to me like a pulley wheel grinding against aluminium . It should be easy to spot on stripdown just look for fresh grinding and swarf

edit Listened to second vid and it really does sound like the waterpump bearing has gone. Should be easy enough to wobble it to see if there is any play on the pulley

That sounds makes me cringe.

I'd pull the cam belt cover off and have a look for anything fouling in there. I'd also be turning the engine over by hand to try and track down the noise without the sound of the engine running in the background.

Also try removing the ecotek valve thinger from the car to eliminate that.

Thanks guys for all the quick responses... and solution! Simon was right - turned out to be that ecotek valve that a previous owner must have put on! I've now correctly adjusted it by screwing the cap clockwise and noise has stopped!

Cheers again,

Rich

thats a beer you owe Simon
Do those things actually work ? I would have though that it would muck about with the ECU's mapped control of the fuel delivery and ignition system

I fitted one to my Golf GTI years ago and it worked so well that it is sitting on the shelf in my garage, where it's been for the last 10 years

Couldn't tell any difference to be honest, other than the horrible noise that it made.

I owe you one Simon!

Not sure if it makes any difference as its been on there since I got the car 5 years ago. I was thinking of installing an air induction kit but haven't got round to it yet.

Rich

No problem.
I half recognised the sound, but when I spotted the gold bit under the manifold I was pretty certain that's were it was coming from

I wouldn't run it sounding like that. Awful. Get rid of the nasty add ons. They don't work. If you want to go faster take it to Wayne Schofield Chip Wizards. He can find you lots of HP & tell you what you need to replace to regain lost power. Money well spent.

To be fair the ecotek valves are one of the only addons that does genuinly work, so may be worth leaving it there

Results are far from conclusive. It works on some cars to some extent. A stock pug 1.1 8v or similar. Single point injection. On a Polo 1.4 16v with multi-point injection it lost as much as it gained. Tested on an 8v Golf GTI (Closest to a 944 tested.) it produced 1 additional hp. Except you can get up to 3 hp difference from run to run. Basically it made no difference. If you remap the car you optimize the fueling in all situations. You can't do better than that. With 16v cars gas speed is the problem. Dumping manifold vacuum is only going to make it worse. Theres a device on ebay that you plug in & it kids your temp sensor that it's cold making you ecu throw extra fuel in. It works on the dyno in that the car will make more power. What it doesn't tell you is that it destroys your engine by over fueling. If these things worked the manufacturers would fit them!