mouse

Ok, so 4 months and 3,500 dollars later, I'm finally driving my 1988 944 S regularly. So after driving her around a few times, I have some questions:

First, the light that comes on for switching gears seems to come on awfully soon...it seems like it wants me in 5th as fast as possible...should I switch when it sounds like I should, or should I obey the light and switch real fast? It normally tells me to be in 4th by 40 mph...seems too fast to me.

My vents constantly pour hot air-- I know this is a common problem. I tried to check the heater clip to find that the screws holding the cover over the clip is really awkward to take off, what the hell kind of screw driver do you need for this?

This one's pretty obscure: My rear view mirror shakes a lot with the car, if I hold it, it's fine. Anyone know any kind of fix to keep it from bouncing around other than a load of duct tape?

There have been a few threads about shifting and preserving your clutch by shifting as little as possible...several people said they never down-shift when approaching a stop sign or light. I'm a manual transmission newbie, does this mean if you're in 5th and you come to a stop light, you slow down to a stop in 5th, and then when you're stopped switch to 1st? Does that work, and that's better on your car than just down-shifting?

Thanks for the help guys

Operator

another S owner. yay.
what cost you 3500 dollars and 4 months worth of time? i hope everything is okay now!

lets see... the upshift light. try ignoring it, that works best. really, no one pays attention to it. you might ask "well then why is it there?" well see, in the 1980s there was this whole thing with fuel in the us economy and the gov was pushing companies to make cars that ate less fuel. porsche had an 8cyl car in its lineup for a long time and its total mpg was pretty bad because of it. the gov would give companies a little slack if they installed upshift lights in their manual transmission cars, so porsche did so. something like that, anyway, ignore it, shift at 4K when you're just cruising around... and when you wanna get that kick in your pants feeling shift at redline.. because as we all know, the S is REALLY fun from 4K+ ...

hot air. well. theres lots of reasons for this. i must admit, after all of my stupidity it was the plastic clip under the dashboard so im going to suggest you go there first. yea theres this plastic cover that covers up the rod and clip under the dash near where your right knee usually is, two phillips screws hold it on. just use a small stubby screwdriver and push really really really hard. they will come out and you can check to see if the clip is there and holding that rod all the way up or not. if its not the clip.. well dont worry about that yet because i bet it is

mirror shake is probably somewhat normal but if its really bad... maybe go to a glass installer and get it re-attached to the windshield using professional stuff... not duct tape but it seems like no matter what method used... no one can re-attach a mirror back to the windshield as well as the factory did. oh well. is the whole car shaking at idle? maybe your motor-mounts are going...

clutch saving? well first of all. dont worry about saving it TOO much. peoples clutches usually go from takeoffs in high rpms and stuff like that. if you wanna take it easy on it, at least for stopping at a stop sign from fifth... just push the clutch in, switch to neutral, and stop like that. no need to downshift through every gear unless you're planning on taking off in one of them.... cool?

triscadek

Happy to hear it's finally going, did the belt just break and trash the valves?

I used a short phillips to get those screws out. The hardest part was getting myself in the correct position.

When I had the constant heat problem my valve was bad. It would open and close so it looked good, but evidently the diaphram was weak and would open after I started driving.

It is easy to get to on an S, it's just above the front header tube between a metal coolant tube and the water pump.

Also if the heater A/C control fuse is blown it will default to full hot.

mouse

Wow thanks for the long replies

Yeah Triscadek you know how I had said my dealer told me it looked new, and it did through the peep hole...but on the other side of that belt, it was really bad and corroded. So apparently what happened is when I was starting the car it just finally went, and bent several exnhaust valves in the process. 3,100 for 30 hours of labor, new rollers...new belts, new water pump, oil change. Is that a little inflated or a decent price?

Operator the rear view mirror actually holds on to the windshield fine, what shakes is the part that you adjust...it just seems loose. Maybe I'll just have to get a new one, it's not the biggest deal. And if you want the whole story on my car, search for the thread "timeline of sorrow".

Also, one more question: Like I said they put on new rollers, and he had told me it might squeak a little. And it does, it squeaks quite a bit when I get above 50 or so. When I go in for my 800 mile belt re-tension, is there anything I can have them do for me to fix that annoying squeak?

Operator

yea get a new plastic thingy.. if you can

owch.. your belts went and bent valves.. i would have to say that 3100 dollars is pretty decent considering thats about the worst possible thing that can happen to a 944 aside from an engine fire and a rollover.

you can wait a bit longer than 800 miles before you do the retension.. i waited 2900 but hey thats me. just wanted to make sure the belts were really stretched does it squeal? or squeak? or whine? whine is pretty normal... but probably not constant whine above 50mph.. just low in the rpms maybe. just tell them about it and ask them to check everything is torqued to spec and stuff like that.

maybe someone else has something more specific to suggest....

Stefan

My mirror shook all the time as well and drove me mental. the ball joint just gets loose over time. I couldn't figure a way to repair it so I coughed up the $100 for a new one and had it replaced when my windshield was done.

You can get the epoxy and mount required from most supply places like Performance Products if you want to do it yourself <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

I tell you though ... as small and picky as it seems ... I love my new non-shaky mirror

mouse

Hmm...how to describe a noise. I would say it's a constant high pitched squeal, I really only hear it when I get going fast. It's comparable to say...an old fashioned wooden wagon type high pitched squeal...if you know what I'm talking about. The wheeling of an old cart perhaps. One thing is for sure, it's pretty annoying.

lol Stefan I know what you mean, It's small things like that that make your car feel real tight and solid.

Peckster

So the dealer said the belt was OK? Did they pay for the repairs? I sure hope it wasn't the dealer who made the repairs.

And he said it might squeak a little fater the new belts and rollers? There's no reason for that. Did they warn about that after they made the repairs? I would think so, just another BS excuse for bad work.

I haven't been following your exploits but it sounds like you need a thorough inspection by someone who really knows the car, not someone who works on european cars, but a real specialist. It sounds like you are getting hosed.

Kool

Was that $3100 in labor? If so that is like $103 per hour. I pay $65/hr to have my car worked on. Granted that isn't at a dealer but it is a very reputable shop. Who work on Porsche's and Audi's. I have never had to take them the car for the same thing twice. Don't you wish every auto repair shop was like that.

AndyK

Talking about rear-view mirrors, my passenger side outside mirror magnifies, instead of the usual concave "objects appear smaller" mirror.

Is that usual?

ArcticCzar

In my opinion if you KNOW you're going to stop, go to neutral and just begin braking. Everyone's got an opinion about this, but I think everyone would rather change worn-out brake pads than a worn-out clutch.

Operator

my passenger side rear-view mirror makes everything long and skinny... and i think the manual says its supposed to.. either way... its kinda neat-o!

rfuerst

If you have a strange noise after someone has done extensive work,something is wrong in my opinion.I would ask the mechanic that told you the noise is normal what is making the noise?I replaced the balance belt and timing belt on my 1987-944S and there was no funny sound at any RPM,and this was the first time I had done one.If they told you to bring it in after 800 miles to look things over,that would be fine.If however they told you to bring it in after 800 miles to re-tension the belts most people will tell you that is too early.I think most will agree somewhere between 1500-2500 miles.Will the shop warranty the work if the normal sound breaks and kills the engine?Good luck. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Stefan

Yes, the Pass side mirror doesn't have the usual wide angle capability that most newer cars have. My 86 is pretty useless. The PO of mine had put in some round convex mirror in the corners and these help a lot ... although a bit small to see way over on the passenger side. I think he did it after he backed the rear corner of the car into a post <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

You can buy a glue-on mirror glass for the Pass side which will give a wider view from most porsche parts places. Anyone try one of these?

As for the squealing ... sounds like BS to me. Just had mine done a few months back in the 951 ... no squealing, and I certainly didn't expect any.

Stefan

One more thing ... the card that came with my timing belt from porsche indicates retention at 3,200 to 4,000 km (that works out to 1800+ miles I think)

I did mine early at about 1200 km as my mechanic said it would be fine. I'm a bit worried that I did it too soon now. Should I have it done again?