ajmarton

As part of my post purchase work I went through the fuse box replacing all fuses and cleaning the contacts / relay connectors with Craig's DeoxIT. The 911 is an 89 so I thought it would be a good project. I was also blowing the electric window button fuse so I thought it was a good place to start. I got surprisingly good results. All my dash lights are just so slightly brighter. I thought I would pass the results along as it is a simple process and may help others eliminate electrical gremlins.

Mike Murphy

I did exactly that after purchasing my car as well - cleaned and replaced the fuses. I then discovered that the reason all the blowers didn't come on wasn't because of the fuses. All the blowers (except the AC blower) were shot. Oh, well, those are all easy fixes.

Pedro356C

You would be amazed by what "cleaning the contacts" could do for your entire electric system!!! I've been there...always keeping my 1965 356's contacts in great shape!

Edgy01

The most important job on those 'older' cars now is identifying all the ground straps and cleaning them up.

ga

Sounds great-----where did you get Craig's Deoxit ?

ajmarton

I got it on Ebay - 2 cans for $20 plus shipping. I got the newer (I think) pump can version. It works quite well. I also have some similar solution from Radio Shack which was around $10 for a small can. The Deoxit has a slight pink color to it and is a little thicker so it stays on better. It leaves a shinny finish which I guess is a protective coating(?). After a couple of minutes put on a second coat as it will "wash" away the corrosion that is removed from the first application.

Mike Murphy

What ground straps?? See, I don't even know about these on my car...

Edgy01

throughout the car are a variety of grounding straps that are critical to good clean electrical function. I actually think that someone should publish a little book on how to find these so that as your 911 gets up there in years you can deal with these matters.

I can't tell you precisely where they are but using a little common sense you can spot them. In general, you want grounds close to their working areas. For example, there is a ground for your starter motor,--right near the transaxle. There is also a ground cable (braided) for the transmission,--attached to the body under there. Remember that the body and then engine are 'ground,' so all electrical circuits will have them nearby.

The way to fix them up is to remove them, and with something like a little Dremel tool with a miniature wire brush head, burnish the unpainted area that the wire or cable touched the body. A really good place on mid-ranged 911s was the area near the battery. You need to really remove the battery to do this. You'll find about 6 brown wires all gathered together to a ground point near the battery.

Yes, it is a bit of a pain in the neck, but it is critically fundamental to everything you do.

Mike Murphy

By the way, you have 1,999 posts. Congrats on your 2,000!

Mike Murphy

And after the grounds have been cleaned, I've heard that sealing them is a good idea. Don't they make an electrical sealer of some sort? Keeps moisture and corrosion out?

morganb

I used vaseline over my fuse contacts after I cleaned them, no issues in 4 years since I applied it.

Edgy01

I don't know of a good dielectric sealer but there must be some out there. I suspect Porsche never used them in production as they tend to gather dust, etc. The exception for me on older cars is to definitely, as morganb suggests, use Vaseline on your battery terminals. It keeps oxidation from happening. BUT, you have to keep up with it by cleaning it out periodically and redoing it.

Sometimes Vaseline attracts more issues than it solves. Proceed with some caution.

tone40

I cleaned mine about 2 months ago and I noticed a difference (anecdotal?).

HarryD

Vaseline is ok but it does melt off over time. Get yourself a tube of Dielectric grease. Does the same thing and tends to stay where you put it. I use it on all my electrical connectors whenever I work with them.