jwarner6

Greetings.

I will share with you now the story of my most recent automotive purchase / challenge. It will be long and hopefully somewhat entertaining. I've worked on quite a few different vehicles during the last several decades including numerous Audis and VWs. So I'm quite familiar with their idiosyncrasies and annoying habits. I'm a long time Vanagon owner so frustration is something I'm fairly comfortable with. My daily driver is an '89 VW Cabby. This is my first Porsche.

At the time I bought this 69k '82 automatic beauty it was covered in splattered mud and would only start with ether and idle if fed ether long enough to get it warm. Any attempt to open the throttle would kill it instantly. Numerous vacuum leaks were evident and assumed. The body (under the mud) was obviously in great shape and the underside was very clean. It had new tires and wheels. Everything else was a mess. I bought it for $1000 knowing it likely didn't have many serious mechanical issues that I couldn't deal with and that I would be spending a lot of time sorting out the rest. It came with the complete factory manuals and original wheels.

Here's what was wrong:

- Almost none of the interior electricals worked. No lights, no gauges, no windows, etc.
- The interior was a dried out disaster. The PO had attempted to have the driver's seat dyed and it's not even the right color. The shrinkage of the leather on the passenger seat base was like nothing I have ever seen and one of the rear seats was missing a hunk of leather from what looks like a chemical spill.
- 1" of water on the passenger side floor from what I'm assuming are clogged sunroof drains. The car was perfectly dry when I first looked at it but we had a major thunderstorm roll through the night before I picked it up. Just my luck.
- Bad vacuum lines were evident everywhere although the large ones for the most part looked okay.
- Major oil leak.
- HVAC blows hot when it decides to do anything.
- headlights wouldn't come up.
- Sunroof stuck shut.
- The body had obviously not been washed for several years.
- Some missing interior bits and broken door panels etc.

So that should give you a pretty good idea of what I started with. I was told that the original owner went to drive it a couple years ago and it wouldn't start. So he immediately went out and bought a new 350Z and let the 928 sit outside. Somewhere along the way he must have started feeling guilty and started buying some parts for it. It came with a new pan gasket, temperature sender (not temp II), fuel filter, and other goodies in a box. That was nice.

So here's what I've done so far in nearly chronological order:

- Stripped out the interior except for the front seats.
- Washed the exterior and applied a quick coat of black wax.
- Fiddled with various interior controls while car was idling. Now windows, door locks, radio, headlights and some other things are working. Typical Porsche, Audi VW. Still no dash lights or gauges to speak of. Tach and MPG gauge sort of work.
- Checked timing belt and it actually looks new (surprise surprise). I found greasy finger prints on those pages in the manual.
- Drained the tank and installed new fuel filter.
- Replaced the small vacuum lines and some of the larger ones as needed.
- Discovered that the throttle body mount was broken away from the valley and the AFM was not connected to it anymore. Thought that was the big one but apparently it wasn't enough.
- Tested the AFM and other sensors. All tested okay except for the Thermo Time Switch.
- Installed new Bosch Copper plugs (not platinum!)
- Traced the cold start problem to the thermo time switch and bypassed it. Please refer to my recent post on testing the TTS if you have any thoughts or interest there. Car now starts and will continue to run after warmed up.
- Bought a used engine and assorted goodies for $150. Stripped it down to the long block, cleaned it, lubed it and sealed it. Quite a handy piece of reference art sitting on the engine stand.
- Tested the fuel injection for flow, pressure and leak down. Flow is great, pressure is on the money. Leak down is inconsistent. Sometimes it will hold pressure for quite a while, other time it drops off immediately. I'm assuming a flaky check valve. I'm also assuming some clogged injectors.
- Cleaned up plug wires, coated them in moisture sealer and rerouted them with seperators to avoid grounding. Night time test for fire flies under the hood produced a few before this. Need to do test again now but really need to get a new wire set.
- Cleaned up cap and rotor contacts.
- Cleaned all fuse connections and fuse ends, relay blades and fuel injection ground. Cleaned all fuel injection harness connectors except for the ones on the injectors themselves. Just found the grounds behind the fuse panel and need to clean them too plus others.
- Tested OXS and was amazed to find .05 volts at idle. Even forcing the engine to flood out by mashing the AFM flap only produced .8 volts.
- Checked the AFM idle bypass screw and found it all the way out. It's now at two turns.
- Replaced the OXS. Now it idles at .15 to .2 volts and still doesn't seem to be going open circuit. My guess is the computer sees that value and says no way.
- Checked again for more vacuum leaks and found some at the brake booster. Replaced the booster seal and some hoses. Also, eyeballed some cloth hoses on the vacuum line to the transmission so I removed the line from the plenum and closed the hole. Checked for leaks at carbon canister Y. All leak testing was done with ether.
- Initial testing of the idle switch showed it to be working but performance results with occasional sudden death when coming off throttle had me checking it again. Found it to be closed most of the time now. Needs repaired or replaced. Somebody tell me if I'm wrong but I believe it's supposed to be open at idle and closed with pressure on the pedal. If it's stuck closed it shouldn't be a problem right now correct?
- Installed a new temperature sender and temp II.
- While replacing the OXS I investigated the oil leaks. I'm seeing it in several places. Around the oil pressure switch maybe, the pan gasket for sure it seems, and there's oil all over the bottom half of the bell housing. I haven't seen it yet but appears to be loosing a lot of oil under pressure. I'm guessing the rear main seal is shot. If someone could provide a play by play for getting to the seal that would be helpful as I haven't seen one yet. The heads do not appear to be leaking.
- Lubed HVAC check valve. Now HVAC is getting vacuum.

So after all that and some other things I've probably forgot. Then engine will start with the Thermo Time Switch bypassed and will idle pretty nicely. It finally revs pretty well after fixing the brake booster leak and sealing off the line to the transmission. I'm finally seeing numbers at the OXS that are starting to almost make sense. I've seen it moving from .22 to .54 at best. When attempting to apply throttle it's fairly smooth provided you don't mash it but it will still stumble occasionally when you get up into the mid RPM range like it's either still running too lean (which it appears it still is) or like the spark is shorting out. When it's not exhibiting this behavior, it sounds great for a few moments at a time. It also could still be another vacuum leak but i'm not finding it.

So, notwithstanding all the cosmetic things I still need to do, here's my current to-do list:

- Fix the idle switch.
- Clean the rest of the grounds.
- Replace the fuel pump check valve.
- Find more vacuum leaks.
- Adjust the AFM in car.
- Solve the Thermo Time Switch riddle. Please see other post.
- Check plug wires for arcing.
- Check / replace injectors (NO NO NO!!!).
- Diagnose and repair oil leaks.
- Replace non metal AT vacuum lines front and rear.
- Get gauges working. Tach sometimes doesn't seem to be showing correct number. Fuel and Water temp are pegged at the top (voltage regulator?). Oil and Alt are pegged at the bottom.

Well thanks for hanging in there if you managed to make it this far. If you have any thoughts on any of this mess, I'd sure appreciate your input. Any future postings regarding this car should be mercifully shorter now that I've gotten most of it out of the way.



Thanks again.

Jeff





PS. How do you like the drapes I made in my Avator picture?

kevinod

Sounds like you've been busy Jeff! It looks well! I have a similar issue on my fuel gauge when I have the sidelights on (but when I switch to main beam it goes back down) but there's a loose ground wire (hanging down in driver's footwell) I need to put back into it's connector, so hopefully once that's in place it'll be better.

pcar928fan

WOW! You have done a LOT OF WORK! Nice to have an engine out of the car for reference! Hope some others will chime in to help you finish up! It sounds like you can really see the light at the end of the tunnel now!

Keep us posted on the progress and the results as well as the culprits!

Best!

Ketchmi

The wheels and tires were worth your purchase price alone! Good job bringing it back.

jwarner6

No doubt about the wheels and tires. It was a no brainer in my book. It's what we call in my neck of the woods "a free car".

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I'll try to keep this thread updated and if any of you have a known good thermo time switch you could test for me I'd sure appreciate it.

Another thing I've seen on the dash is the high beam indicator light is always lit and changes in intensity if I switch on the high beams.

soontobered84

A man after my own heart. Good for you.
Lots of good Karma there!
Your shark is probably smiling at you.
Keep up the good work

jwarner6

I'm trying to keep its eyes covered while I work on it. I figure, like a bird or a horse and assorted other animals, a shark might best be kept calm by covering its eyes. I surely don't want to get bit!

Thanks!

LightStriker

You sure know how to make a shark happy.

Alan

Oh.... I think you've already been bitten!

Cleaned up very nicely outside - sounds like you need a whole new interior though.

Seems you have been making great methodical progress - the only way to go... its going to be a lot of fun. You have already tackled & resolved issues that many owners struggle with for months...

Alan

Dean_Fuller

Looks great but....we need more pics!!!

jwarner6

Thanks. I could stand to be a bit happier but I'm getting there slow but sure. With the emphasis on slow apparently. I'd sure be a whole lot happier if I could actually drive it off my property once. It's getting close.

jwarner6

A whole new interior for sure. I've already decide that since this one is toast I'm going Can Can Red! What'dya think?



Here's another picture.

Dean_Fuller

You REALLY should become a paying member on Rennlist. The you can search the classifieds for used parts and such. Its the best few bucks you'll ever spend on her.

BC

The AFM may have the coating on the internal wiper sensor pad worn off. You would need to get the black cover off the AFM and have a look.

Replace the fuel pump, check valve, and filter (didn't see that in your replaced list) and then go after the injectors. They are hooked into the round steel fuel rail with little rubber pipes. The injector itself is not a normal one, but I did find some in ebay. If you don't want new, then get these cleaned and tested.

The spark control is a solid state box in on the passenger fender, and it DOES NOT like being 30 years old. Or even 26 in your car. It could be cutting out.

VERY SMALL bolts are used to ground the injection system, and the better they are grounded (to the cam covers) the better off you will be.

Speak to write to Ken (Porken) about the L-ject system. He knew it inside and out by the time he had removed EVERYTHING from it that was not needed for the car to run.

BC

Why don't you re-ring and put new bearings in that nice used engine and plop that in in one fell swoop? That would really be a time saver over this oil leak chasing you are preparing for.

At the same time, simply get a few good used parts to replace the ones that are bad on the engine.