Vilhuer

Just a warning what can happen if pressure line goes without any warning. Local 6.4L stroker, custom ITB intake, high lift S3 cam, 968 intake valve, heads ported to the max, carbon fiber brake, 18" Strosek wheel, automatic to '90 GT gearbox manual conversion etc GTS burned to the ground on test drive. Steering pressure line ruptured and leaked ATF on top of red hot headers. Car is almost total loss. Costs of the engine mods alone were around $20k and most labor was free and done by the owner.

Vilhuer

And all PS hoses were just 4 years old.

Hilton

Oh man that sucks! I had my high-pressure leak - first I knew was a large cloud of white smoke when I parked the car.. I was lucky it didn't burn tho'.

The best idea I've seen is to put a heatproof sleeve over the high pressure line when its being rebuilt.. so that if it does leak, it goes down the inside of the sleeve and drips on the floor, rather than onto the hot exhaust.

JakeS2

Here is one instruction how to replace the hoses: http://www.928.org.uk/112-power-steering.html

But I was looking at it thought that wouldn't it make some protection if exhaust tape would be wrapped tightly on the line that goes near exhaust manifold? That tape is quite strong to take the pressure blow and it also very heat resistive.

LostInSpace

I'd be gutted, especially with all the custom work and personal time invested.

ptuomov

Wow, that's sad. The only thing that I can think of that will be harder and more time consuming than building that motor is the subsequent fight with the insurance company.

hacker-pschorr

If they were just 4 years old, how often are we supposed to replace them??

Where did the new hose come from? Too bad it will be almost impossible to tell how it failed. Did the hose burst or did the fitting come appart.

Was it a brand new hose or NOS? Some of these "original" parts that have been rotting away on a shelf somewhere might not be any better than the used part you are removing.

Courtshark

THIS. I had the exact same problem crop up on mine. The lines were "new" but didn't enjoy my track sessions, and ruptured on the second weekend. Fortunately no fire. Just a big stinky ATF mess. I now have truly new ones in there.

mickster

So the moral of the story is when buying Genuine Porsche Parts, check them for aging immediately to ensure they have not been sitting in Ontario, CA or somewhere for too long...or in a dealer or distributor's warehouse for too long...be nice if custom ones could be made new...

terry gt

Very sad . So my 23 year old oil lines and PS lines should be replaced ? Or rebuilt ?

hacker-pschorr

That's the big question, this guy did replace them and the car burst into flames anyway.

Lizard928

For ATF to actually ignite on a hot exhaust manifold the metal must be over 1000F
Aluminium melts at 1600. Most NA engines don't get that hot......

It is more likely that it was ignited due to a compromised ignition lead.

Rob Edwards

I had a recent experience with this as well- When I got the GTS in 2009 I put a new factory power steering hose (928 347 447 07, the one for '91-95) in. The GTS has been sporting different intakes in the past couple of months, and I swapped the stock one back on to prep for the biennial smog. Started up the car, and some smoke starts wafting up from the passenger side. I figure it's just some coolant or something on the headers, but the smoke persists.

Put the car up in the air again, the pressure hose has been rubbing on the #8 header tube, enough to put a tiny pinhole leak in the metal portion of the line. There's a small puddle of blood on the ground under the spot, so it was big enough to not all be burned off. Greg repaired it for me, but the take home message is to ensure that you get any PS hose clocked properly in its retaining clips so there's no contact with anything. Yet another rookie mistake, 8 years into 928 ownership.....


GB's gotcha covered. Here's Greg's '87-90 pressure line vs. a factory '91-95 pressure line.

JakeS2

At least the Mobil ATF 320 which I use in my PS line has flashpoint much lower than that. It's actually less than 400F (http://www.mobil.com/Russia-English/...l_ATF_320.aspx) and I've measured temps ca 600F on my S4 with stock engine after some intensive driving (track).

But that aside, the sleeves for pressurized hoses look like a good upgradepart for any NOS manufacturer, I'm sure there's bunch of people going for that. I'm doing something for my PS lines first thing next week - until then I'm not driving it.

Hilton

Rob - you might find the nylon spacer ring on the new hose walks along it - mine did on my rebuilt pressure line.

I used two small zip ties either side of it to make sure the spacer ring stayed where the shock tower is, to keep the line from rubbing.