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Hi! 1987 Porsche 928 has come aboard!

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Old 03-13-2010, 06:05 AM
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Vitalssj
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Default Hi! 1987 Porsche 928 has come aboard!

Hey Everyone! My Girl owns a 1987 Porsche 928 S4. There are some things that have to be fixed on it, But other than that it handles like a dream. Never driven a car like it before. You can see my car in some of those pictures as well. The GTO and Porsche are driving buddies. Its amazing how so many people have no clue what the 928 is lol.

Everywhere we go... "What kind of car is that?" lmao.

The 928 has 7.5" hollow Carrera rims in the front and 10" in the back. Running 235s in the front and 265s in the back. Looking to upgrade to 285-295s for the rear next summer. i believe she is running a half inch spacer in the rear.

Now for some of the problems... The Big one...
The headlights will come up and go on when you turn the **** on the dashboard. Turn the **** off and the headlights go off but wont go back down.... Have to manually turn the **** in the engine bay to bring the headlights back down.... What gives? lol

Looks to be a leak somewhere in the coolant system, Either the radiator or the plastic elbow on the passenger side of the engine compartment.

The electrical system is a complete nightmare.... Never have i ever worked on such a electrical catastrophe... Somewhere there is a short where the rear half of the dome lights don't work... Even with all the schematics of the car. And i mean i have the schematics to everything on this car.... I cant find this short for crap. Another thing, It likes to keep the door lights on even with the doors closed.... i was thinking maybe the short could be in the door panels....
But then why wouldn't the rear half of the dome lights not work....

Oh well thats just some of the problems. Other than that the car drives perfect.... 105k on the engine and shes still running strong. Interior flawless. and the A4 shifts perfectly.

Hope to be apart of a good looking community













Old 03-13-2010, 06:24 AM
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Nicole
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Welcome to rennlist, and congratulations - to your girlfriend. She seems to have good taste...

As to the interior lights - have you checked, if they get power? Quite often, these interior light fixtures buckle, break, or cause shorts, which can cause them to blow the instrument cluster fuse or cause other trouble.

As to the lights in the doors staying on - have you tried both on positions of their switches? One keeps them on permanently, the other turns them off after the doors have been shut.

The headlights - I have no idea what causes this. BUT: You need to make sure thhhe c-clip on the mechanism's arm is secured properly - otherwise that arm can spin into the radiator and do very expensive damage.

Best of luck, and don't forget to read the sticky post for new visitors - lots of information there.
Old 03-13-2010, 07:04 AM
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Vitalssj
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Wow that's scary... Nicole is my Girlfriends name LOL

Yep the interior lights receive power

Ive put the door lights onto the on position off position and the "when door closes they go off" position. They only shut off on the off position.

Yep ive checked the C-clip. They are still on securely.

Whats weird is that before the rear half of the dome lights decided to not come on, One of the wires inside the circuit board decided to fry because of a pre-existing short. That short didn't allow the reverse lights to come on, Interior lights to come on and the instrument cluster lights to come on (PRND) Also the mirrors did not work.

It also would pop fuse #24 i believe. I cut the wire and it didn't pop fuse #24 again. But Now like i said the door interior lights wont go off until they are on the off position and the rear half dome lights wont work. And sometimes the radio cuts off.

Ive read that Fuse#24 draws 7.5 amps. When i hook up my meter to it, it says 12-13 amps.

This short is somewhere....
Old 03-13-2010, 07:08 AM
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Wow that's a nice car. Welcome aboard!
Old 03-13-2010, 07:15 AM
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Vitalssj
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Thanks!!
Old 03-13-2010, 07:21 AM
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blitz928
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Originally Posted by Vitalssj
Wow that's scary... Nicole is my Girlfriends name LOL

Yep the interior lights receive power

Ive put the door lights onto the on position off position and the "when door closes they go off" position. They only shut off on the off position.

Yep ive checked the C-clip. They are still on securely.

Whats weird is that before the rear half of the dome lights decided to not come on, One of the wires inside the circuit board decided to fry because of a pre-existing short. That short didn't allow the reverse lights to come on, Interior lights to come on and the instrument cluster lights to come on (PRND) Also the mirrors did not work.

It also would pop fuse #24 i believe. I cut the wire and it didn't pop fuse #24 again. But Now like i said the door interior lights wont go off until they are on the off position and the rear half dome lights wont work. And sometimes the radio cuts off.

Ive read that Fuse#24 draws 7.5 amps. When i hook up my meter to it, it says 12-13 amps.

This short is somewhere....

The short is usually originating at the rear hatch light. That was the exact problem I had with mine. The harness is along the passenger side door sill from the fuse panel to the 3rd brake light. You really should pull that entire harness and inspect it. If it's messing with your taillights. You may have some wires melted together. I ended up replacing my entire harness, but if it's not too bad you can probably just make the necessary repairs to the damaged wiring.

Don't put the fuse, #24 back in until you sort it out, Don't just start cutting wires either, Pull the hatch light out and I guarantee you'll see some melted stuff in there.
Old 03-13-2010, 07:21 AM
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Nicole
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Funny! We are not the only "Nicoles" owning Porsche 928 S4 models...

These interior light fixtures are notorious for causing trouble. They do all kinds of things - typically started by buckling from the heat of the bulb. Next they don't make proper contact where they should, and/or make contact where they should not.

I'm on my third fixture in the front (between the visors); the others were always turned off to save battery power. Since I switched to LEDs, I have all lights turned-on, and haven't had a problem since. LEDs stay relatively cool, and therefore don't soften and buckle the fixture.

If I were you, I would take the only remaining fixture that works (front), and try it in place of the two others in the hatch. That should tell you, if those are bad fixtures, or if there is any wiring or fuse problem.

PS: Matt's was faster with his post... Great suggestions from him!
Old 03-13-2010, 07:28 AM
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The lower hatch reciever has a springloaded door-jam type switch. Lots of times the lubricant from the hatch reciever leaks down into the switch. As part of interior lights refurb, I've been starting by removing and cleaning that switch, plus its two companions located in the door jams. There is a tutorial by Dwayne that describes some of this process. Its pretty easy. Watch your fingers, though, the hatch release motor, at least on the 84-6 cars, is strong enough to do some serious work.

You will have power to the interior light fixtures anyway, even if these switches are dirty. They actually are switched grounds that complete the circuit, not switched postives.
Old 03-13-2010, 07:34 AM
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Vitalssj
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Ive pulled all the fixtures out and they all look perfect. EXCEPT for the front one... God that one was horrible. I had to use electric tape and tape off all the wires separately. **** was melted on the front one.

Although the front light fixture receives less amps then the ones in the back.

Ill have to check that harness then... I remember hitting the passenger side door because something didn't work, and then it worked after that.... I have to try and remember lol

Hmm i gotta check the switch on the hatch....
Old 03-13-2010, 07:40 AM
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Here's a picture I lifted from Dwayne's post which covers the door switches.

Hatch switch is similar.

I like to actually disassemble them all the way, prying them apart, including the soldered wire, and do a good dremel wire brush job on all of it. The contact area is tapered and just about impossible to clean otherwise.
Attached Images  

Last edited by Landseer; 03-13-2010 at 08:44 AM.
Old 03-13-2010, 07:47 AM
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Vitalssj
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ohh i see what you are talking about now! wow that's nasty looking lol
Old 03-13-2010, 08:19 AM
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Nicole
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Originally Posted by Vitalssj
Ive pulled all the fixtures out and they all look perfect. EXCEPT for the front one... God that one was horrible. I had to use electric tape and tape off all the wires separately. **** was melted on the front one.
Hold them next to each other - chances are the front one is deformed from the heat. If that's the case, you might want to replace it.
Old 03-13-2010, 11:42 AM
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Mike B
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Now for some of the problems... The Big one...
The headlights will come up and go on when you turn the **** on the dashboard. Turn the **** off and the headlights go off but wont go back down.... Have to manually turn the **** in the engine bay to bring the headlights back down.... What gives? lol
I had the same problem. It turned out to be a faulty headlight switch. It could be the relay but I would start at the headlight switch...it's cheaper.
Old 03-13-2010, 02:16 PM
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Vitalssj
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Yep the relay was actually already replaced. Does the headlight switch just pop off or is there a certain way to take it off?
And can i jump it to make sure it is the switch?

Btw im not sure if you guys can see it in the first picture, But when she had the car repainted she took those side plastic moldings off. Completely shaved

Last edited by Vitalssj; 03-13-2010 at 02:36 PM.
Old 03-13-2010, 03:17 PM
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jeff spahn
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shaved is good


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