Luis de Prat

...or so I thought!

Boy, what a Sunday I had yesterday working on the 83. My original plan of replacing the spark plugs and fuel filter expanded into changing out the starter and replacing the battery.

Changed the plugs and found all four to match the "normal" picture in the Haynes manual. The old NGKs were light brown color with slight ash deposits on the electrode indicating that sure enough, they were worn.

This time I put in the plain Bosch copper plugs, which the Owner's Manual calls for, since I think the NGKs may be a bit too "hot" of a plug for this car, with 212K miles on the odo.

So, the plugs were in and I thought I'd take apart the throttle body and clean it out. Managed to get 3 of the allen head bolts out, but there was no way to access the lower left bolt with a standard allen key. What kind of extension would I need for that?

So as I'm putting everything back together the clip on the airflow sensor plug snaps off and falls into the bowels of the engine bay... Spotted it with a flashlight and managed to pull it up with a piece of chewing gum and a long screwdriver.

Now on to the fuel filter. Pulled the number 2 fuse to depressurize the fuel system. Soon as the engine died, I got under there armed 17 & 19mm flared wrenches, adjustable wrench, screwdriver, 19mm combination wrench, vise grips, catch tub and safety goggles. Inlet fuel fitting was a bit rusty, but a good shot of WD-40 and the 17 & 19mm flared wrenches got it loose.

Outlet fitting was a bit harder to access, but once I got the bracket loose and slid the old filter over, again I managed to get the fitting loose with the adjustable wrench and 19mm combination wrench. Turned the filter until it came out. Needless to say, this filter had been on there way too long. I'm curious if they have a "check valve" like the oil filters do, because the dirty gas inside would only flow one way, and I emptied it into the tub in shock at the amount of crud that came out!

Installation was "the opposite of removal" and right then was when things got "interesting." Put the fuse back in, and tried to crank the engine. Made three or four tries as the fuel pressure built up and then it suddenly went silent.

A few months ago, the starter failed once and knocking it with a golf club "revived" it ever since. This time, when it went totally silent I immediately thought "Oops. I killed the starter."

Luckily, I had panicked last time and bought a nice replacement early NA starter from *Michael*, so I jumped right into changing it out. It's pretty straightforward and again, as in Haynes, replacement was "opposite of removal." Tried to crank again, and no dice!

So it could only be the battery. It was a DieHard and had given 4 long years of service, so I couldn't really complain. Put a new one in this morning, and voilà! We have a working car again. So maybe the old starter isn't quite shot, but at 212K miles and a previous failure, it was probably going to happen sooner or later. Definitely sounds smoother firing up. Thanks *Michael*!

Zero10

Isn't it funny how one little job can turn into a full day's worth of work on our cars? I suppose yours was 2 little jobs, and probably wasn't a full day's worth of work, but that's pretty typical of our cars. Good to hear you got it running.

It's amazing how bad our fuel filters can get. Stupid question, but are we supposed to change them every year, or every 2 years?
Just wondering, because it's coming up on 1 year for mine.

IceShark

Sounds like an interesting day that turned out OK in the end.

As far as the allen key you have two options that I have seen. One is a socket that has an allen bit sticking out of it. If you don't have enough clearance to fit an 1/2" diameter socket in there then there are allen wrenches where the key is about 6" long and has a handle on the end. I have a 5mm one that has helped me out of a lot of tight spots.

Be careful when you bang on the starter. There are several permanent magnets rivited onto the side of the case. You can crack them fairly easy and once you do that the starter is toast. I don't know where you would ever find replacements.

I don't know for sure about the fuel filter and check valve but I bet it doesn't have one. There is a check valve in the fuel pump which is supposed to prevent backflow. When that valve fails it becomes nearly impossible to start a hot motor because the heat soak vaporizes fuel in the fuel rail, pushes the fuel back into the tank and you vapor lock.

StoogeMoe

Hey Luis,

Did you notice where your Bosch plugs were made? I was horrified to see that the ones I got were made in India. Damn outsourcing. I refuse to buy them again unless I can get ones that are made in a non third world country.

Peckster

You had a spare part, and you were actually able to use it? Unbelievable. I never need parts when I have spares for them.

Now you can get the old one rebuilt so it will be ready when you need it in seven or eight years.

Peckster

I think you'll find that first-world country companies making products in the third world (or even the second world, wherever that is) usually have their usual QC standards in place. It's capitalism at its best.

Luis de Prat

You know, I was really surprised to find that they were actually "Made in Germany." Bought them at a local Pep Boys, and they came separately in these neat little yellow boxes with multicolored markings. They came gapped at 0.9mm, so I had to squeeze them a bit to the 0.7mm specs in the Owner's Manual.

Yeah, I was planning ahead when I bought it last October, and wouldn't you know it, I actually used it!

Iceshark, thanks for the pointers. That lower left throttle body bolt is partly hidden by the intake manifold, so I'll have to look at the different tools you suggest to see which one would fit best.

Zero10, IIRC, I believe Porsche extended the fuel filter replacement interval to every 30K miles or so, but if you suspect inferior quality fuel, you may want to do it sooner. Mine appears to have been stopped up pretty badly, because I noticed the fuel economy gauge pegging on and off during highway cruising. It doesn't do that now, so I'm hoping the new filter helped!

theedge

Is your "new to your car" starter a fully rebuilt never used one?

Mine sounded wicked when it was starting with a freshly rebuilt one, sounded like a banshee or something was pissed off.