OK. I'll check with the Honda dealer down the street. See you Saturday.

 

I strongly all that are considering going, TO JUST DO IT! I was very glad I went to the last So Cal TB/WP gathering, even though i was there 14 plus hours. Was great to meet other members and get to learn some great information from others that have BTDT!

Have fun!

 

Bill just called me after trying 20 minutes to find Ron's place... Turns out there is an error in his address.

It's actually a side street of North San Pedro, called Hobson Street.

If you google for 190 Hobson St, San Jose, CA 95110 you'll find it.

Or click here:
http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en...5&om=1&iwloc=A

 

It was great to meet Bill, Ron, Nicole, and Dan (Foz) and watch Bill's amazing hands and knowledge base go into action. There are things Bill has forgotten that I have never learned! When you finish and lower the car, please let me and everyone else know how Carl's liftpoint jack adapter works. Bill PM me so we can catch up and I can get the adapter back.

Cheers,

 

It was nice to see you guys! I just ate too much pizza...

 

If you weren't there folks, you REALLY missed the show. What magnificence and what grace under pressure. The maestro Mr. Bill Ball led the show with his skill and adeptness. And as the "old" timing belt was exposed, the consensus was that we should put the whole assemby back together and go enjoy the rest of the bright sunny day in the park. The old belt and cam gears appeared to be close to new with only 54,000 miles on them. Well, reason prevailed and we decided to go ahead with observance of Porsche Law: change at 60,000 whether it needs it or not. And a good decision it was too, for the tensioner appeared to be in near death mode. A quick call to Nicole's Parts Delivery Service and a replacement part was transported from Devek. The show would continue, rain or shine.

And then the moment arrived for the grand finale:
Crank 'er up Bill directed. Ron obliged and quickly the smiles turned to frowns all around as a terrible noise deafened the surrounding neighborhood, and the engine was quickly shut down. The fan shroud was installed incorrectly. A quick R&R and the scratching noise was gone.........but replaced by an even more ominous sound of something rubbing. Heads were down all around in disbelief. Even the police observers were disheartened. (I just threw that bit of BS in for effect). The sun was setting and everyone was weary. But the noise would not go away, and the temperature gauge was going up, up and up.....
Ron knew he was not going to be driving his machine home tonight.

An agreement was reached to lock up the machine for the next couple of weeks and come back and tear it all apart again in search of the noise and apparent water leak from the new water pump that was not pumping a damned thing. And besides, not enough pizza was left for dinner.

So tune in here in two weeks for a continuing saga of the story of weird noises and even stranger water leaks when the participants will seek to uncover the causes and liberate the Porsche 928 beast from its temporary home in the garage.

 

CRAP, you guys didnt finish!

Is this a problem that came about only after the timing belt replacement. I believe one of the two 928 Bob and Keith did a few months back had some water leak issues as well. Thats unfortunate to hear some extra, unwelcomed noise though. Sorry to hear....let us all know what it was when you find it...

 

Uh, that is unfortunate to hear! A water pump that does not pump... Did the new one have a plastic or metal impeller? New or rebuilt? Is it scraping on the block?

 

Yup, we couldn't finish. It was dark and we were tired and there was no sense in staying to track down the water leak and noise. Hopefully they are both from one source, which we all voted was the "new" water pump. We went to pains to insure a good sealing surface on the block, so it is a mystery, but no water is being pumped through the engine, but some is being pumped into the atmosphere and the temperature rises sharply. I can't spare the time for another two weeks so it will sit in the garage waiting for a resolution. Maybe it is the water pump considering the SoCal experience lately. The noise goes away with increasing revs and returns at idle. Sounds like something is rubbing against something else. Ugly. #$@&!!**#@$%@!! There. That felt good to say that. Now I feel better.

What Andre said about Bill's experience is true. I had Pirtle's post and was planning to follow it step by step, but Bill just forged ahead as I tried to anticipate what to do next. What an education at Ball TB/WP Academy.
I doubt any mistakes were made as Bill knows his stuff with this subject. A report shall follow the next episode, but I really suspect a faulty part.

 

The new one was metal. I hope the rubbing was not the impeller rubbing on the block. But the pump was fresh. Why would it fail instantly? Weird. The truth is we really don't know what is causing both concerns. Possibly there are two separate issues here. Bummer. Well, it's back to the energizer rabbit for awhile.

 

Ron,

Wash, rinse, repeat next week?

 

It's sure acting like a non-pumping pump. The car heats up very quickly and the hoses never fill. It did take the usual amount of coolant, so I believe the t-stat opened and radiator filled, but the hoses never got the turgidity you usually feel, and the block just got very, very hot while the radiator hoses didn't.

The "new" rebuilt WP had a metal impeller. The bearing felt stiff, I thought like a new bearing.

There is an odd rubbing noise, not metallic, but like a belt rub. As Ron mentioned, the noise is not heard once you rev the engine above idle. Looking through the TB cover vent holes shows the belt rotating normally. The noise is rather diffuse, and we didn't have anything to use as a stethoscope.

The water leak actually appeared just to be flush splatter that was in the valley that boiled over vigorously when the engine heated up. It almost completely evaporated and I didn't see anything new on the second run. The gasket edges that we can see look fine. There was no leak at the front, as you would expect with a bad seal. I don't think there is actually any leak.

Foz suggested we run with the center cover off. I think that would help us to track down the source of the noise. And we need to determine if there is no flow from the pump. If the impeller is loose, of course, it is a bad idea to run the engine, but I don't hear anything like what I would expect from metal impeller against block.

The new tensioner roller seemed to have a grinding noise when we spun it initially after installation. It felt tight and smooth. The noise went away. Maybe something lodged between it and the arm. However, the noise tracks to that area, although it also tracks to other areas - like I said, diffuse.

Even though Ron's old belt had been on for 54K miles, you could still read the lettering on the backside, the belt was not glazed, had no cracking and looked unworn. The cam gears looked brand new. Same with the crank and oil pump gear. The belt was on the loose end of the Kempf tool window. When we removed the rebuilt water pump and turned it over, it looked brand new. The bearing was tight but not as stiff as a new bearing. I would have been tempted to leave everything alone, but we know the rules.

 

Ron:

You didn't leave your toothbrush lying on the oil pump gear after you brushed off the debris???

The noise is loudest down there.

 

No, I had just finished lunch and used it to brush my teeth. A little greasy though......

Naw, only kidding. I put it back with the other brushes by the tool desk. I think I did. Maybe there is something down there that went unnoticed, but that wouldn't explain the rapid heat rise. Both fans were funtioning and it still rose way over normal. I tend to agree that the noise was rubbing rather than a bearing noise. In fact the noise the air pump made prior to failure was a whining screeching sound, and was nothing like the noise tonight.

Andre, I can't do it again next weekend because that is World Vegetarian Day. The faithful will gather in San Francisco to celebrate. Since I am one of the faithful, well...you understand. The weekend following next weekend is planned for a repeat. I may need a shrink if I don't drive my machine soon though. I get nervous and irritable and mean, even. Maybe I could get my six back together by then. Ha! Ha! I wish.

 

Just to put a few words of my own in:

Bill is a timing belt replacing MACHINE! He blasted through a job that would have made me a bit queasy with its scope. Not to mention I learned a ton today. I highly recommend attending one of these TB/WP parties for any new 928 owner. And the man has NO FEAR! He was underneath a running car on an incline, supported by two tiny jackstands, with a broken Park gear, with 2-by-4's for wheel chocks WHILE waving a stethescope next to the clutch fan and in-between 3 V-belts! It kept scraping up against pullies and belts when he was trying to locate the source of the noise, and any minute I kept expecting it to get sucked up into the pullies and shot out the top of the engine. But he was cool as a cucumber and nothing bad happened.



p.s. Ron, don't forget to order the new check valve for the next round of the battle...