Carl Fausett

The new owner of this car has been contacting me via email and phone and we have given him a short list of things to check.

The car was supercharged in 9/2013 and has been in Reno, NV since then. As usual with our kits, there have been no over-heating issues at all. That said, it isn't impossible that something hasn't happened to cause it to loose pressure or fluid, so that's why we are looking into it.

This is the first 928 for the new owner, as you can kind of gather by some of his questions. He'll learn where his coolant level should be, and what "normal" looks like on that error-prone VDO temp indicator, like we all have.

jwyatt8171

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I have found 2 issues so far.

Thank you Carl for the tips on email. Parrots what most are saying here. Coolant level, fans, and pressure test.

First find was the pusher fan is not working. After finding this I remembered some bearing or bushing noises from the fan last year, but now the fan is not running. You can see it try to move, the motor is spinning, but the fans not running. I have not pulled it to see if there is some sort of cir-clip, or coupling of sorts on this fan. i doubt it as small as it is. Most likely a replacement will be ordered soon.

Second finding: I rented/borrowed a pressure test set from Oreily auto parts. Fooled with it for about 45 minutes trying to get it to seal, but could not get pressure to rise. I could hear the pressure escaping as I was pumping. I thought it was the seal on the cap of the test rig itself. A bottle of dawn dish washing liquid&H2O quickly found the air was coming from the coolant level seal. The o-ring looks more like a flat rubber washer now. Hopefully Napa will have the correct size O-ring tomorrow. I would love to get this together while its still hot to see if it fixes my issues/concerns.

Carl Fausett

You are on the right path. If I remember correctly, you said the pusher fan you had on the car was no longer the one showed in the picture. Do you know where the pusher fan came from? Just wondering if it might still be under warranty for you.

That kit model does require all 3 fans be working to keep temps in check, so when you get your pusher fan working again, and a system that holds pressure, I am sure you will be all set.

Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

jwyatt8171

Its the fan that came with the kit as far as I know. SPAL va18-ap71/ll-42s
I have all receipts from the PO, Tons for 928MS, and no fans purchased besides what he got from you. I emailed you an image of the tag on it with SPAL WO#. I called SPAL, and the 3 year warranty they offer is only good if the vendor gives a warranty as well. Whatever the hell that means! The car has maybe 4k miles on the kit, and fan.
Any chance you can track from the info I sent you?

Thanks

Carl Fausett

That fan was purchased on 10/7/2013, so it is just shy of being 4 years old. That puts it out of warranty.

What I can do, however, is sell you a replacement at my cost of $132.50, with a new 3-year warranty. I will include a new set of mounts, too.

We stock this fan, so let me know and I can get it out right away.

jwyatt8171

Thanks Carl, I will be calling shortly.

James Bailey

Might want to recheck this..... but might explain why Fred's car runs so cool in the desert

FredR

Ooops- good spot- got my units confused somewhere along the line- the capacity is more like 12 litres or so- as I seem to remember.

Must do my conversions from memory instead of lazily using numerical converters.

jwyatt8171

UPDATE:
Napa had a replacement o-ring. I was able to test my coolant level switch, nd it does not get a passing grade. Have a replacement from 928srus already to install, but that will wait for another day.

Before I received the replacement level sensor I was able to pressurize the system with a loaner tester unit from O'Reilly's. I was able to successfully hold 19psi(highest I tried) for 45 minutes. I call that a success.
I also found installed a 18PSI vent cap. I installed the correct pressure cap for our cars 13 or 14 PSI.
I took the car out for a spin without the pusher fan, and while it did not over heat it certainly did run on the warm side. I did not stay out long for fear of issues. The needle stayed above the last mark, I think its 190F or so.

Carl offered a great deal on a replacement pusher fan. Better price that any other vendors advertised pricing. Much appreciated Carl!


I was able to install the new pusher fan today. It really blew my mind how much cooler this car runs now. It is a cooler day, I think the high was 84, but the bar barely went over half between the 170 and the 190 mark. This evening driving about 20-30 minutes it stayed a tick over 170 the entire time. All of my test drive today was pushing trying to make it heat, but could not get the needle close to where it was before.

My next test will be going up Fancy Gap Mt on I77, or going up Pilot MT state park on a hot day. Both have steep grades, and coming down Fancy Gap has some twisties. I may do both just for fun and testing.

Summery of my findings. Cap of wrong pressure 18psi. none sealed level sensor, and in-operable pusher fan.

Image is of the highest temperature I seen today.

FredR

Good to see you have made positive progress. The cooling system has little excess capacity for even a stock motor so stick a power adder on and thus one cannot expect the modified system to work if the components are less than spot on.

I did a lot of work on my cooling system in part to evaluate whether I could fit something like your kit that would handle our summer temps over here. I concluded that it probably could up to about 37C ambient but not at 44C. My solution?- purchased the Cayenne Turbo S!

Compromise is always best!

Carl Fausett

Looks right. That's within the range where our supercharged cars tend to run. So glad we could help you out. Now go for a nice drive!