polecat702

The idiot engineer that designed the A/C system suction side charging port under the radiator hose, should have been castrated. I have small hands and mine are torn up trying to get the cap off the service port. WTF?

FredR

Joe,

I have the SPAL twin fan setup that is way narrower than the stock fan kit and it is still a PITA getting to that thing. The good thing about my fans is that the way they are installed I can have the fan module out in a less than a minute- then access to the port is very easy.

Trying to do what you want to do and having to do so with the motor hot is outrageous. They could have routed an extension and placed the adapter in front of the radiator relatively easy. I figure they put it were they did because they wanted the ac technician to think about what he was doing so as to avoid getting the connectors confused and thus hooking up the gauge set the wrong way round. With the advent of 134a and the introduction of different quick fit connectors that particular concern was eliminated.

Either way, even where it is, they can still be connected the wrong way round with stock adapters once your knuckles are skinned and your hands burnt to a crisp.

Bill Ball

Then real fun part is getting the charge hose off the suction port after charging it. Either wait until it cools down or wear a welder's glove.

buccicone

If doing a 134 retrofit get a 90 degree fitting and aim it toward the driver’ side. Of coarse you have to drain coolant and remove top radiator hose initially.

merchauser

mike, does that completely eliminate the problem? is there a way to relocate the port altogether?

worf928

If you really don’t like the location of the low-side port, you can always buy a GTS fuel cooler. It has an r134a-size low-side port.

Pick your poison.

merchauser

that sounds that a great solution; is that plug and play? leave old fitting in place?

FredR

Interesting- only last night as I was buttoning up things I thought to myself why did they not put the LP charge fitting at that location! Porsche probably got a lot of pissed off agents asking them to do this- that or maybe they figured there was no room to add the fitting and get the quick fit connector on.

928NOOBIE

Cause no one ever got a 2nd degree burn while working on these cars......whiners

dr bob

Filling is done with liquid, by weight, while the engine is off and cold. No need to work on that fitting at all while the engine is hot.


Plus all service will be done by the Porsche dealers. These cars are way too modern and complicated for a dentist's wife to work on.


^^^ I'd believe the dealer service stuff if it weren't for the factory-installed leaks that were shipped as extra-cost accessory 'features' with my car. PO's stack of service receipts includes dozens of "check for leaks. No leaks found. Evacuate and recharge" service invoices. At $225 minimum per episode, several times a year, for the nine years he owned the car. I was in awe of all the receipts for dealer service work he'd had done, until I dug into the details and built a full service history. It was hardly a tough decision to reseal the system completely and convert to R-134a less than 6 months (and two recharges with R12) into my stewardship period. That effort was 21 years ago this month. Time flies with cold AC!

polecat702

Gentlemen, sometimes I think some of this bad design stuff is cause they lost two world wars, it's revenge. As an engineer myself, I know that a lot of designs are for ease of assembly on the line. You'd think they would have considered warranty work. Some of this stuff defies logic!

worf928

Our Macan is at the dealer for CPO warranty work. One of two timing chain covers is leaking. 30-ish aluminum torque-plus-angle bolts are used. Of course one of them snapped due to cycle fatigue and thus the leak.

It’s an engine out service. I saw the engine and transmission on the engine lift with the ‘hollow body’ on the two post above it. I should have taken a picture.

Imagine all of the 928 engine bay contents, transaxle and cats, mechanically compacted until they fit in a space with half the volume of the 928’s engine bay with 1/3 of that compacted lump under the windshield.

That’s a long way of saying: Complaining about working on a 928? You have no idea how good you have it.

Kevin in Atlanta

Now imagine it's not CPO....

Speedtoys

Dave:

My kid says "Yup, wait until you need these..."

worf928

LOL! Yup!! That's exactly it. Look at the catalytic converters. Imagine replacing those with the engine in.

I sure hope for the sake of the owner, that the chain cover fasteners are getting replaced WYIAT.

The BIG issue with the newer Porsches is that many routine operations require the PIWIS laptop to complete by-the-book.

While I, theoretically, could have the capability - if not, perhaps, the desire - to do this on our Macan, I'm not going to be in a position to have my own PIWIS.

So, unless the after-market reverse engineers what's really going on with the PIWIS, Dealer Service is required.