Picked up the car and drove it for 6 hours straight home.

Few issues to ask about..

1. Car runs sorta hot. Reads just over 3/4 and in traffic it starts to climb towards the solid "danger" area. The fan does kick on when the needle get about half way between the 3/4 and solid zone. I checked the coolant..it's full and green and like I said, the fan is coming on.

2. The heater controls move the air flow from the dash vents to the floor, but not up to the defroster. On the defrost setting, the air still blows out the dash..not even a hint of air is coming out windshield vents.

3. Gas smell.. big time when the tank is full. If the car sits all night the smell is very bad when I open the door in the morning, the fumes are harsh. 1/4 tank, and it's not very noticable. There doesn't appear to be a leak under the car. I'm wondering if I should pull up the carpets and silicone every crack I can find to make the rear of the car more airtight. (as well as fixing the smell cause itself)

4. This car was made in june of 82 and has manual steering. It seems very hard to turn.. more so than it should even with manual steering. You would expect the car to get easier to turn the faster you go (to a point) and this car requires quite a bit of effort to turn it into an exit ramp. Is there an adjustment somewhere that would affect steering effort, or some sort of lubricant change thats needed?

5. Where is the manual hatch release? No owners manual and the key doesn't work.

6. Oil Pressure guage pegs to 5 as soon as the key is turned forward..even without the engine running. Quick fix? or dead sender?


The body, engine, drivetrain, clutch, and brakes are really very good.. just need to work on these annoyances.

Thanks!

 

While many dispute it, my '83 temp stays on the final bar all of the time. It has for 5 years. I'm not concerned. As long as your fans are kicking on, and the car is not getting to the solid then I wouldn't worry. That's just me.
Your car may not have a hatch release (mine does not.) If it does, it's directly in front of the hood release by your left leg.
I've noticed that steering in my non-ps car was made drastically better by changing the tires back to factory specs. What rubber are you running now?
Your oil pressure gauge is doing the classic bed sender routine.

Micah

 

Thanks for the reply Micah..

Car has 225/60-15 in rear and 205/65-15 in front.

The steering is so stiff I'm not sure I could autocross this car

 

Under the oil filter is the oil pressure sending unit. The two wires that go to it are backwards. Your oil pressure gauge should rise to the "0" mark when you turn the key on.

I sure as doodoo would NEVER have driven it anywhere without a working oil pressure gauge.

I would think that someone had just been into the oil cooler for seals since the wires on the sender are backwards.

Runs Hot: The early 944's use a single wire sender to the gauge. There is a bit extra wire at the sender on the engine block under the bend in the rubber intake tube between the AFS and the throttle body. I've had to shorten and fit a new end to a few of these to get a good connection. Check for oil in the coolant. This would look like a light brown sludge. If you have any of this then the cooling system is not working efficently.


Heater controls: The three sliders use sheathed cables (actually a large diameter wire) to push/pull the vents and the valve for the heater. The plastic assembly that is behind the dash will break where the sheath connects. With the sheath loose it just follows the cable when you move the levers.

To get the most air to the defrosters you have to slide the left arm to the center, the right arm to the far right and close the flaps on the rear facing center vents. The outer vents should be pointed at the side windows to help clear them.

Do you have all three blower speeds?

Don't expect much from the early dash ventilation.


Gas Smell: There are two things; the vent hose under the filler cover is cracked and the filler cover is most likely loose or the sealant is aged and has shrunk. I would go with both. You can get a 45 degree copper water fitting at the hardware store that fits inside the vent tubing at the bend it makes to follow the gas filler. Can't remember the size. This is easier than dropping the transmission and gas tank to replace a three dollar hose. NOTE: you will have to remove the side trim under the quarter window. Good time to check for aged speakers and replace them.

Manual Steering: Check the air pressure in the tires. Some run this a bit higher than 32 psi. If the car has been sitting for a length of time, say a year or more, the u-joints in the steering link between the column and the rack and pinion can freeze up. The ball joints on the early steel arms are easy and cheap to replace.

Rear Hatch Release: The only release is the key. You may have to climb into the back and pull the carpet back from each latch and give each a good spray of WD-40. Also use the little plastic straw and squirt some into the key lock. Get a helper to press down on the spoiler over each latch as you turn the key. Taking the pressure off of the pin may let the hatch open.

If you don't have a key that fits the lock you can pull the lock from the inside. Don't loose any parts.

I don't know why there isn't a remote manual release either.

 

Temperature: Bad dash grounds can do this.

Oil Pressure: A failed oil pressure sender can do this.

Steering: Have your alignment checked. Also, if your tires are questionable, have them changed.

 

Another solution to gas smell--could it be the gas cap is shot? Try a new plastic one, and see what happens.

 

On the heater controls, I noticed the same thing, that most of the air comes from the dash vents, If you use the individual vent shut-offs, you should get substantially more flow from the defroster.
On the maunal steering, I recently rebuilt mine, not difficult.
There is an adjustment on the rack, at the steering shaft. Just loosen the lock nut and turn the center adjusting screw counter clockwise to reduce stiffness. Be careful.. as you loosen this too much, it will cause play in the wheel. The only way to lubricate the rack is to disassemble it and apply lube directly to the rack itself.. I run 225/50/16 and it feels very light at speed, and alittle stiff while parking.

 

Hey, I think my oil pressure sender is shot too. Goes straight up to 5 when I start it and bounces of the little "peg" at the end whenever I give it any throttle. How much does a new sender cost, and how hard are they to replace

 

Another note - do not top off the tank. As soon as I hear the gas "burgling", I shut it off. Stopped a lot of the gas smell.
Mine is also mfg in 82,

 

On the defroster issue:

If you pull the gauges (not difficult, easy if you pull the wheel) you will see part of the plenum box. More than likely you will see a black adjuster cable with a broken white piece of plastic.Near it on the side you will see the other half of the broken whit plastic bit. If you move the controls and figre out which wy it should turn then use a pair of needle nose pliers to turn the baffle to the defroster position. When I did this I got my defroster back. Then by adjusting the left hand switch I can go between defroster and heater/defroster mix. Being a fellow New Hampsterite I think that is a good combination. But I'm not one of those guys who needs 15 different combinations of air Blowing.

As to the gas smell:
What kind of driver was the PO. Mine was a college student who shoved cheap gas in it. A few tanks of premium and some hard running helped quite a bit.

As to the rear latches. Follow the advice of the others. But rather thatn WD-40 use white Lithium greas. WD-40 has a nasty habit of breaking down grease. So you'll just have to keep using it. White lithium grease should free up the mechanisim and not break down the grease in there.

If you want to make a trip Nashua way maybe we can crawl around together on it. I'll even throw in a pint or two of Guinness.

 

ilove: Does it setle down when it's warm. Then it's fine. When cold the oil pressure is high, after it warms up it should settle down.

 

Haven't driven it in a while (broken b-belt, paranoid about the t-belt) so I really can't say, but IIRC then it doesn't, it just stays up at 5 all day long. Could be wrong though. I'll tell you in a week when I get my car on the road again <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

 

[quote]Originally posted by MicahJones:
<strong>While many dispute it, my '83 temp stays on the final bar all of the time. It has for 5 years. I'm not concerned. As long as your fans are kicking on, and the car is not getting to the solid then I wouldn't worry.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I recently had this problem with my 83 and although the cooling fan relay seemed normal when I took it apart, the car's cooling capability increased dramatically after replacing the relay.

It costs around $42 and is 944-specific, so you can't use a cheap generic VW like on other applications, but you can test it by bridging the poles. It also helps to fit a lower temperature thermostat and fan relay. These ARE generic and made by WAHL for the VW Jetta.

My 83 seldom reaches the 3rd mark anymore. Even sitting in traffic in 90 degree weather with the A/C on. Cooler engines run longer, so it's worth looking into.

As for the manual steering, I'll admit it makes parallel parking somewhat challenging, but feels great on the road. One thing that's already been mentioned is that the tires are suspect. Factory size for the 83 was P215-60-15 all round, on 15" cookie cutter rims.

They're great cars. I have 199,500 miles on mine and counting.

 

Hi guys.. I'm looking into a bigger issue now.

I had a friend put the car up on a lift for me and I didn't like what I saw.

LOTS of broken plastic parts behind the lower valance, both foglight brackets bent back so far they are not attached to the foglights anymore, the sway bar sticks out of the bushing mounted to the control arm just 1 inch on the drivers side but 3+ inches on the passenger side. The pan has scuffs and the upper mounting holes have no screws in them and the holes are off by 1 inch on each side. The drivers side wheel bearing is shot..tire shakes pretty badly and that side also shows inner tire wear.

The manual steering is relatively hard to turn in this car. I fear the car was hit low in the front and the chassis is tweaked causing extra stress on the rack and associated front end parts.

Now that I look real close at the body lines, the passenger side seems to sit closer to the windshield than the drivers by about 1/2 inch.

I'm talking to the guy that sold me the car later tonight.. It was advertised as "never hit and no rust".. it was painted "due to fading on the roof and hood only".

I'm not real happy right now.. If I paid $2000 for it I'd live with it..but I paid almost double that because it's a 60,000 mile "all original except paint" car.

I'll let you know how the conversation goes.

 

Kick his ***, seabass!



Micah