Friday night I started up the car in the office parking lot for my drive home, turned on the headlights, and they didn't pop up! Tried the switch a few times and the headlights lit up just fine, but didn't budge. I found that with high beams on, the driving lights actually provided good visibility, and since my commute is only five miles on low speed roads, I just drove home that way. Even passed a cop car going the other direction and they didn't notice.

Yesterday morning I went out to the garage to debug the problem, figuring it was going to be a fuse or relay. First I opened the hood and saw this. What's wrong with this picture?

 

Lucky the motor didn't drive the arm into the radiator!

Those e-clips are prone to failing/falling off - although its a little odd that both ends came off at the same time.

 

at the bottom of the radiator is the missing piece minus the cir-clips. I bought a bunch of cir-clips for like $2.00 so I would always have some spares.

 

I safety wired mine.

 

There's a thread here someplace that supports replacement of the E-clips with some safety retainers used more commonly on some gear selector systems. I'm pretty sure that Roger is carrying those parts. A phone call to him will confirm.

For those playing along at home, a more typical failure scenario includes just one end (the upper end) coming off the pin, allowing the arm to fall back against the radiator/condenser. The motor gets cycled by the unknowing owner, and the arm buries itself in the condenser and maybe the radiator. Ouch! All that for a couple dollars worth of clips and a couple washers. Checking for the presence of both of the clips is a very regular part of the routine under-hood inspection protocol. If you do need to replace, lube the shaft and be sure to replace any missing washers.

 

Clips that retain the lower timing belt guide (near crank drive gear) are superior to originals so that is one option

 

I guess I lucked out then - no sign of radiator or condenser damage. No sign of the original clips or washers either. I wonder how long they've been missing? Somehow I missed the advice to check them.

Anyway I was able to fix the problem yesterday with some E-clips and washers from my Griot's Garage four drawer "Master Assortment" (which I bought nine years ago for working on my Mustang and have used countless times since). I also applied some white grease to the shafts. Took the wife out for dinner last night and everything worked perfectly.

 

For info the headlight motor has a manual wheel under the rubber boot so you can as needed raise the headlights not that it would have worked in this case !

 

I have never checked mine either but will next time the hood is up. I have never heard of it being a common failure before. That is what is so great about this place. You learn something new everyday.

 

I ran into a Shark owner within a week of buying my car. We BS'd for a few minutes and he started pointing out problem areas to keep an eye on... The first thing he did was pop the hood to look for the missing clip... and guess what, it was gone. It was purely a matter of time before it came apart and pushed through my radiator. He just happened to have a spare clip with him... Whew!!! Bought the man dinner right there on the spot!!! Cant say enough good thing about the Porsche community and the 928 guys!!

 

I couldn't find the post, but I think someone used these from Mcmaster- Carr-
http://www.mcmaster.com/#cad-2d/94824a400/=l0wiz3

 

Edit: ^^^ Yes, those.

I have had one clip fall off but the link stayed in place. The circlips are more secure, but I am with Dr. Bob on the safety clips. They are used on the 928 A/T shift lever (p/n N 012 644 1), and also available from McMaster for about $5 for ten. Get Roger to toss a couple in with your next order and save some shipping.

The original E-clips are not secure, the rotation of the shaft will twist them off if the moon is right.

McMaster catalog page: http://www.mcmaster.com/#94824A400
Technical drawing: http://www.mcmaster.com/#cad-2d/94824a400/=l0w9hy
A previous thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...ml#post8707532

 

I am putting the clips on my to do list , thanks guys for the info