Matt O.

Guys,

I got the driver's side cooling fan spinning properly... I think I'm going to have to get a new one though, it's making a slight clicking noise and it's coming from inside the fan itself (no blades are touching anything)...

Anyway, it is still overheating.

While I was down there, I found a flexible tube that isn't connected to the inlet it is supposed to be connected to. Question: what the heck is it? If you put your head under the front drivers side of your car, to where you are almost underneath the area where the fan is, and look up, you'll see a flexible tube that connects a hard plastic tube to another, but is flexible so it's able to bend and go up. It looks like it goes up to the air filter box, but I thought those tubes for the air filter box were up top?

Any help would be great. I'm going to try to connect it back up but at first try it is very crusty and doesn't want to budge.

TIA,
Matt

Matt O.

bump

Anyone?

It is running fine now, no clicking noise, but still overheating and it's 50 degrees out!!

I did notice that the water level is just ABOVE the MAXIMUM mark, and I haven't added water or coolant to the thing since they changed the thermostat/lower radiator hose back in June. WHY is this all of a sudden high?

My uneducated guess is that maybe the water isn't circulating properly, thus it's collecting in the resevoir?

Thank you very much for your help.

-Matt

Tabor

I can't help you with the overheating, but the flexible hose pushes cold air on the alternator to extend its life and minimize voltage flushations.

Martin

Matt,
It sounds as if you still have air in the system, that will cause the coolant to expand more than it usually would.
What did you have to do to get the fan working? This could be relevant?
Ignore the clicking, that is just the carbon brushes sliding over the slots in the commutator.
Is your radiator getting hot and at what point do the fans come on automatically?

Matt O.

The fans seem to come on when they should, they just don't seem to do anything to the climbing temp gauge (well, maybe a little, but not like what it used to be - still way to hot for my comfort - halfway between middle and red).

I got the driver side fan working (the one that stopped in the first place) by:

Pulled the power to it.
Ran 12 v through it, lit up a bulb.
Noticed the connector's soddering broke.
Re-soddered it.
Plugged it back in.
The driver side fan now works.

But my overheating still occurs.

That's odd because the overheating started the moment the driver side fan stopped working. It NEVER got above the middle bar (1989 944) since I purchased back in April, then started overheating in June and had a Porsche place in Florida fix it. Since then it has been perfect... until now. They replaced the thermostat and changed the lower radiator hose.

Still at a loss...

Thanks,
Matt

cbr2@softhome.net

Matt,
Here is the thing.. IF the car over heats while driving down the road.. you need to replace your thermostat.. If it is when sitting you have a fan problem.. As well I have a problem with my car over heating and it was neither.. It was that the oil cooler seals blew.. And dumped oil into my coolent..
Open you coolant tank (when cold) and check the cap to make sure you see nothing that looks loike chocolate or gew brown stuff.. This will not be very visable but will clog all the little lines in your radiator..

Martin

It is possible that your thermostat has failed or that air has somehow got into the system, if the fans are running then the coolant in the radiator must be hot enough to trigger the fans, this must mean that the water pump is circulating ok. Are you sure the fan is spinning in the right direction since you rewired it? Another possibility is a failed headgasket from the origional problem causing the engine to heat past the point where the radiator can keep it cool.

Robby

This might have nothing to do w/your situation, but it caused me a great deal of anguish, so I thought it may be worth typing...

IF you've had the water pump changed, make sure that the coolant is flowing through the hose to the turbo. I have been told, that this will limit the circulation in the whole engine. The reason I mention it is, when my water pump was replaced, the idiots hooked up the hose to the plug in the water pump, but didn't drill it out, so there was no fuild circulating!!! My car ran about 1/2 a notch hotter for a LONG time until we realized what had been done. The shop that did it, RPM in Knoxville, went bankrupt during that time, so I never even got the chance to "discuss" it w/them.. Evidently, there are SEVERAL different types of water pumps, so it won't be a problem for everyone...

Matt O.

First, thanks to everyone so far...

Second...

1. Yes the fans are spinning the correct direction (sitting in car, they spin counter clockwise).
2. My water/coolant is clean as a whistle.
3. My oil is clean (not chocolaty like it would be if there was a coolant leak...?)

Still at a loss. I am NOT going to take this in to get fixed, I want to do it myself. Wilmington is an hour away and I'd have to tow it down there. There is a place here in town but I think they know about as a 944 as I do. (He had a 924S back in the junk yard and I said "is that a 924S back there?" just to see if he knew, and he said "yeah, it's an 82 I think.")

Anyway, any more ideas fellas?

Thanks,
Matt

cbr2@softhome.net

Seems you wrote you did everything except replace thermostat.. As well you could try cleaning you radiator.. Stupid but I use to have to do it on my BMW every summer..

Matt O.

Well I didn't change the thermo because I just had that changed by a very reputable Porsche wrench place in Orlando. Of course, anything is possible but it is giving different symptoms then what it did at that time. Would a thermo fail that quickly? Could it have failed when the fan stopped working, not from bad installation but because it got too hot? (Note: I never let it get TOO hot - when I realized it was not working, I didn't drive it for 2 weeks).

I will give cleaning the radiator a shot tomorrow. Thank you.

-Matt

Bryan

I dunno man, these symptoms sound exactly like air in the cooling system. I just went through my 944 engine. The cooling system got a new turbo water pump (the car is an '88 8-valve), new hoses, new radiator, new thermostat, the works. I filled the cooling system and bled it enough that I thought there could not possibly me any air left in it. The car would then warm up and get almost too hot - the temp gauge would get to about the middle of the gauge and even a bit beyond. Then the fan would kick on and keep it there. Sure enough, still air in the system. Got a bunch more air out, car still heated up the same way. I ended up bleeding it maybe 4-5 more times before all the air was really out. Now the car never gets over the first mark on the gauge.

Before I had all the air out, I noticed that I wouldn't get much heat through the heating system in the cabin. If I revved the engine to about 2K with the heat on full and the blower on 2, the air would warm up. Let the revs drop and it would cool right off. Once I got it fully bled, the vent air would be very warm at all engine speeds.

Bryan

Wachuko

High engine temperature gauge readings (upper third of gauge) can be caused by a fan switch which switches at a higher temperature than desired. Improved switches are installed as of Model 89. They can be identified by a production date of 2/8 (Feb. 88) stamped on the switch housing.

Switch PN 944 606 481 00: 924S, 944 up to 85/2
Switch PN 951 606 481 00: 944 85/2 up, 944S, and all 944 Turbo

The switch part numbers have remained unchanged.

Radiator fan switches with a production date prior to 2/8 (Feb. 1988) should not be used.

Check it anyway... if it was replace with an old model that might be the problem... I would still think that the car has air in the system. Bleed the system just in case.

Also, test your radiator cap for pressure. The caps would fail after a few years and require replacement.

I hope you can sort out this issue... let us know how it goes.

Matt O.

All,

Thanks. Twist of events...

I drove her today to class, because it was [finally] a chilly day (ABOUT TIME, it's December!!).

Anyway, it started getting just a tad over the middle line (which it never used to do remember), but when I pulled into the driveway it went back to just below the first line... then, get this - fluctuated quickly yet randomly about the width of the needle itself, yet didn't go back up to overheat.

I'm going to check all that and I thank you for all your input, I really do. Maybe a temp sending unit? Is the temp sending unit the thermostat? Sorry for the dumb question...

Thanks,
Matt

Brian Wilson

Matt,
I have the exact same problem. Running down the road the air keeps it nice and cool, but when you stop it goes up. I think it is the whole air in the lines thing. Just have to make myself get out in the 0 degree (and colder) weather and check it out

Don't you just miss Sembach Matt? Only December and your puke already freezes on the way to the ground.