DaveW

ARRRGHHH!!! Sometimes I hate these cars, they are SO ungrateful! The 928 S2 5spd that I had rescued from it's PO earlier in the week has just had a stroke and expired.

And of course it did it in the most awkward and dangerous place possible. I was heading to the airport on the fast lane of an busy 10 lane motorway bridge. One second everything was fine, the next second all the warning lights come on like a christmas tree, the washers and wipers take on a life of their own and smoke starts to pour from the passenger footwell where the electrical board is located. I had no chance of getting across 5 lanes to the side so I took the only other option I had which was to crash a few cones and pull into one of the service access gaps on the central reservation.

We are about 5 seconds on now. When I pulled to a stop (ABS was still working!) I switched the ignition off but the engine did not cut out! So I rush to disconnect the battery only to find no tools in the tray! on my other 928, the auto, I have a fire extinguisher and toolkit and medikit to hand but as I have had this car less than a week I have nothing in place (not a mistake I will make again). After about 30 sec the engine stalled by itself. The smoke stopped without developing into a full fire. Quiet.

The recovery by the police and the RAC (a UK motoring organisation) was quick and efficient. And the police were kind enough to drive my passenger to the airport , in time to catch his flight! The car has been delivered to my porsche dealer.

What I think happened was the passenger was pushing with his feet on the board that covers the electrics. This must have caused a short that caused the whole drama. I expect that everything electronic that could be fried is. I will get word on Tuesday.

It's at times like this that going over to the dark side and just making the monthly payments on a shiny new boxter becomes more appealing, Imagine - no more random hemoraging of the bank account into these ungrateful beasts - bliss!. The only problem with this is that you end up with a boxter rather than a 928

Down but not out.

DaveW

Dozman

Have to tell the pssengers, No matter how much they they think they can use the imaginery air brakes, they can't! No good , they don't work.

Sorry to hear about the loss. Any idea on the amount of damage? It sounds severe enough they might total it

John D.
'85 928 Auto, Black

DaveW

Thanks for the sympathy! You are right about the phantom brakes.... maybe we should fit dual controls to our cars to make others feel more involved in the driving experience.

The porsche garage is going to have a look at the car on tuesday as it's a local holiday on monday.

I have had a look myself and materialy it does not look too bad. there's melted/burnt insulation on 4 wires at the site of the short but this is limited to within a couple of inches. But judging from the amount of smoke that came from the area there is probably more extensive damage out of sight. And anyway the worst is going to be the damage to the electronics. I will find out on Tues...

Anyway at worst I still have a rolling set of parts to do a 5spd conversion to the auto! <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Cheers
DaveW

DaveW

Ok i'm more rational now.

I've just had first word from the garage - they think it's worth fixing. The short started at the point that the CD head unit had been spliced into the loom (worth checking the integrity of your connections). The damage is mostly through the bulkhead along the engine harness, which has a lot of wires melted together or exposed. This is being replaced.

Until this is done they won't be able to check the function of the control units. So the repair is going to have to proceed in stages. It's a bit like a poker game - raising the stakes each time round.

Luckily the 928 benevolent fund is fairly full at the moment as I had been planning on getting various goodies from Devek, but it's a bit of a dissapointment to have it used up in this way.

DaveW

WallyP

We see a LOT of electrical problems due to poor installation of stereo and alarm systems.

"The short started at the point that the CD
head unit had been spliced into the loom (worth checking the integrity of your connections)."

Also might be worth checking the integrity and competence of your installer. If the CD system had been installed using a proper fuse hook-up, the damage would have been a blown fuse.

Eric Dvorak

When I worked for Circuit City as an installer (about 15 years ago) it was policy to solder and electric tape all splices even when the equipment we were installing came with scotch locks, bullet or spade connectors, including speakers. I will even use heat shink tubing on a connection if it's within a door or area that moves.

dr bob

I suspect that a lot of the problems are related to "where" and "into what wire" a splice is made. In a car with as much expensive resident electronics as the later 928's have, it is close to suicide just doing the wire jab with the test lamp to find power.

I'm also sure that there are unused relay positions in the car that have '15' and '30' circuits available, although the Hans and Fritz Electrical Guru Group often places the board fuses after the relay in their 928 designs. So any tap into the board has to include a check to make sure that the wiring is tapped downstream of a system fuse.


There's a lot more to a stereo installation than most folks appreciate. Frankly, going to a Circuit City, Best Buy, or other mass-market retailer is a crapshoot as far as getting a good installer. Some are great, some are 'new', some just don't really care about quality. Most are under a lot of time pressure, and may need separate economic stimulation to get a careful, safe installation.

So, it pays to interview the installer to make sure that the talent is up to the complexity of the car, and that there's a willingness to do it right.

My limited experience.

Brad

Hey Dr. Bob, can you recommend any good car stereo places in the LA area? Thanks...

DaveW

Progress report: - that's the engine wiring loom replaced (it took the guys 3 days!) and the car is running again, which is a good thing. but it's really flat and lifeless with no power which is a bad thing.

So the garage is going to give the engine a service as they think the valve timing may be out (maybe something to do with the propane fuel conversion?), so I think i'll get the timing belt changed at the same time. One of the other things they want to try is to swap in the ECU's from the other car (handy having 2 x 86's) to see if that has a positive effect.

Cheers
DaveW