jdogporsche

Well I got my car back from the shop 1 week or two ago and it would appear that I got hosed. Late last week I found that my heater hoses were not in my engine bay. I called the shop and they said, oh yeah...um, they fell apart in our hands so we were unable to hook them up. We forgot to tell you about them. We still have your clamps though. I was going to go get them tomorrow and thought to myself, I should take a look at this engine bay to see if there is anything else I missed. The car has been running rough as I have posted and has been backfiring. I found a few things including my shroud still touching the pulley which they said they had fixed. Well good thing I checked...

jdogporsche

In the first picture you can also see the two open holes where the heater hoses should be connected but were not even in there when I brough the car home...Oh and wires were hanging out of my steering wheel when I first picked it up and the horn buttons were off of them...found them on my floor.

theiceman

Hey Jeremy looks like you won't be running back there any time soon . I was looking for apic that might help you and found one, is this the hose youare alooking for ? I have atached a pic if it will help. But on to some other things.

Firstly the hose they did not connect is of course very sloppy but not critical , it is the hose as you probably know that directs the aire from the main engine shroud pushed by the alternator fan through your blower, This actually provides most of the when running at high rpm on the highway. The blower assembly then feeds that air via the two hoses you are missing across the heat excghangers , through 2 other hoses underneath the rngine, through 2 flapper boxes into your cabin. At high RPM that blower is not really doing the work but the alternator fan is ripping the air into that hose that came off.
Now .. I have been thinking about your backfire. Did you get a chance to check it out with some starter spray or propane ? Take a very close look at the area below the kidney looking device and the area where you have your yellow oval, there are a lot of vacuum hoses in that area. Make sure none are dried split or popped off, this will cause your lean codition and back firing. Having this close look at your engine tells me it is well used. Not abnormal , but I think if you took some time and some simple green you can really start to clean that area up . In doing so you might find a few surprises. It really takes only five minutes ( less for you since your mechs did you the favor of leaving the hoses off. ) to take the blower out, this will give you tonnes of room to inspect vacuum hoses and clean up the area. BTW the tubing falling apart in their hands is BS, they are metal re-enforced and are surprisingly strong for what they are. Your boys just forgot to put them back on .

On a more positive note I too have had experiences like yours ( twice ) this was the biggest motivator to get me interested in doing my own work. I might make mistakes but I can guarentee it won't ne sloppy work . I have a feeling you won't be far behind .. oh yeah 4 kids ... sorry about that Dude.. I have 1 and it is a full time Job , don't know how you do it man !

iceee

der Mond

I hate to say this but it is all too often true that you can hardly trust anyone to do work properly anymore. Ever since finding loose lug nuts years ago after having brake work done I always do the best I can to double-check everything when anything I own comes back from the shop. The recent expose of Jiffi-Lube makes one wonder all the more, really, especially as shops are so inundated with work these days. The last time I had my valves "adjusted" proved to be a scam when I decided I needed to do the next one myself and found plenty of evidence that the valve covers had not been removed previously, including a couple fairly tight, on-the-edge-of-damage-but-not-quite valves. I hope if you have any mechanical inclination and tools, that you will seek to read and search posts and educate yourself to do as much work as you can yourself. This site and others such as PelicanParts.com have been godsends for owners like myself to pester others for the answers to the Porsche's mysteries. It can be scary to do things for the first time, and there are stories of guys who do screw things up expensively, so you need to take calculated risks. Having said that, once you do find an honest and reliable mechanic, treat that relationship like a best friend, that man is a treasured resource. Hell, give him a tip or a six-pack or a plate of cookies. And tell others. I just found someone like that in Fairbanks who did a bangup job adjusting my CO, and when I pulled my plugs for the winter to squirt some stuff in the cylinders I found my plugs to be a nice, healthy color indicating a proper mixture. As the credit card commercial says, "Priceless." Even if you aren't comfortable wrenching yourself, the more you know, the more you will be able to ask questions when you take your car in. I am currently reading the engine rebuilding book from the Pelican site because I want to at least know what every part in my 911 engine is and how it is supposed to work. It makes the ownership experience richer, anyway. Good Luck!

theiceman

Hey der Mond what did you spray in ?it is getting about that time for me too.
I can't belive I will be going into hibernation for the winter.. you guys won't hear from me again until spring...

Brett San Diego

Somehow, I don't think that's true.

Jeremy, sorry to hear about the troubles. Sometimes if you want the job done right, you've got to do it yourself, which is really unfortunate when you've shelled out some big bucks like you have. The car us undoubtedly worth it. Looks like a million bucks on the outside. Just needs to get everything in order under that svelte orange skin. Good luck, and keep us posted. Teaching others the solutions to your problems is the most important contribution you can make to the community.

Brett

g-50cab

Seattle Area? John Walker's Workshop

http://www.johnwalkersworkshop.com/

theiceman

Hey Jeremy I don't remember, what exactly were you having done anyway ?

g-50cab

Looks like the main goals was seperating him from his money.

theiceman

Hey we have all been there. I once payed 2 grand to have my car taken apart just so I could go get all the pieces on a flat bed and bring it home. The car was running great when I took it in ! I vowed I would do all the work form that point and always have.

r911

Did you talk to the owner? It's possible he has a bad hire and is not informed about the problems. And...

1. Ask them to give you the pieces (I bet they lied about that). Wash. law may require them to save old parts for you.

2. Take the car to John Walker's workshop and ask him to check it over carefully for you.

SeattlePorsche

Jeremy,

My mechanic in Federal Way is Ognian. He is a Saab expert, but he can work on any car. He has high dollar BMW and Mercedes in his shop. The shop is called OTEMS in the phone book. It is right behind B&B Auto Supply. I trust him with everything about my Saab. He will work on my AC on my 81SC later. He is super fair about price. That is what I like about him. He gives me way too many freebies. I recently bought a 1986 Saab 900 Turbo with 272k miles. I took it to Ognian to look the car over, sort of a post purchase inspection. The PO removed the entire AC and Ognian has access to used Saab parts, so I asked him how much to restore the AC. He said 600$. He couldn't get the AC to work and had to spend 7 hours troubleshooting it. He worked until 2am because he promised me the car by 8am. He didn't charge me a penny for the extra labor. I usually have to insist that he charge me for certain things because I don't want to take advantage of him. So for certain things, Ognian would be great. Tell him I sent ya and I guarantee he will look after you. I also bought my Sachs clutch from him this week and he resurfaced my flywheel for the Porsche.

But other major things I would take to John Walker or Gerber Motorsports. John only works on air-cooled Porsche. Just like Ognian and Saabs, John knows everything about P-cars. He is going to do a major maintenance on my 993 next Friday. Gerber is very meticulous about writing out what you need and what they did. They also have at least 3 mechanics and one manager Mark who used to be a mechaic and he knows everything Porsche too. John is a one man show. No receptionist, no other mechanics, no manager. So he is hard to schedule an appointment with. So I am saving my big things for John later. I will ask him to reset my CO levels when I am done with the engine and exhaust.

Good luck!

jdogporsche

Yep, the two lighter hoses. Those are the ones I need.

Nope not yet. Can I ask a dumb question? Could you please explain the process of the starter spray? Are you referring to finding an exhaust leak? I have read about soapy water if so and was going to try that this weekend.

No kidding! That one really burns me up. I will be heading down there today to get this sorted out. I was pretty worked up last night, but will keep it cool when I go in there today.

Yes I will be doing as much of my own work as possible. Thanks so much for your post, it is much appreciated. The 4 kids do make it a bit tougher to work on the 911, but I will still find time!

jdogporsche

Yep, I will be getting 101 Projects For Your Porsche this week and will be doing as much work on my own as possible. I had John Walker work on my last 911 a few years back and one of my 914s. He did great work. For anything I cannot handle, I will be having him do the work. Thanks for the advice!

jdogporsche

Thanks Brett. I do love the car and am looking forward to getting it running properly. I was fine with "the big bucks" if it got my car running, but when I spend cash like that and the work is half assed, it drives me crazy. I am glad I have had an evening to think about it and calm myself down (I found most of the things wrong just last night after not believing them regarding the heater hoses falling apart in their hands).

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I will let everyone know what happens when I go to the shop.