mattylan

1982 928 auto

I have just been on a tour of Europe across to Prague and then down to Stuttgart to the factory and museum ( highly recommended particularly the factory tour) and then headed over to my cousins in the Dourdogne for a few days. Unfortunately having come off the motorway I hit a traffic jam and whilst moving off there was a distinct "pop" and the engine died. I lifted the hood to see curls of smoke coming out of ( or past) the right hand air intake. Thought I might have popped a hose, but no fluids leaking at all underneath the car. Managed to push the car to the side of the road and when the breakdown truck came it became apparent that as soon as D was selected the engine note dropped and trying to move the car forward or backwards results in the engine dying completely without revving it stupidly. It is being flat bedded to a Porsche dealer in Dijon today and I was flown home yesterday. Anyone any bright ideas to put forward...the dealer certainly won't want to get his floors covered in the oil girl's fluids, abd I don't fancy an "assessment charge" of 6 hours at 150 Euro's an hour so if I could point them in the right direction it would help immensely!
Auto trans fluid was probably about a cm higher that the max marker on the fluid container but no obvious leaks to the system

Thanks for your help as always

mike77

Sounds like you had a nice trip before it all went wrong. I was in Prague last year for a stag do, great city.

I can't offer any insight into the problem but am wondering how you plan to get it back home when it is fixed? If you are going to get it shipped back might it not be an idea to get it done now and sent to your local indy who is probably more favourably priced.

Mike

MainePorsche

mattylan,
What happened to the engine rpm if/when you put it in Reverse ? I'm assuming from what you said the engine rpm good when transmission un-engaged in Park/Neutral.

oaros

Not at all pertinent to the problem at hand, but I have always got my cars recovered when they broke down abroad. If you have European recovery, could you not have it taken to your local garage?

Best of luck, I have a clue what it feels like - I once get stranded in Yugoslavia with broken half shaft.

mattylan

RPM drops and engine dies in reverse also, but difficult to gauge rocking back and forth in the dealers small garage as to how much gas is needed to keep the engine lit ( normally on can just feather to the throttle and the car trundles forward or back smoothly. There was no way I was willing to risk taking the car onto the open road again for it to die unceremoniously!!

I would also be interested in peoples take on the "pop" I heard when it stopped working, as discussed my first thought was that a hose had burst because of the noise but there was smoke / steam coming from the right hand air intake ( or from beneath it drifting past the front) but no fluids lost....once I had pushed it to the side I tried to restart it and got smoke / steam rising from underneath the air box, panic set in a little and I was edging towards the fire extinguisher!!

The recovery people have been great, but repair of the car is down to me if at all possible and they have said they will fly me back out to pick up the car if necessary. As you say Mike77, flatbedding it back to the UK to my indi garage makes much more financial sense to me than letting a fully fledged Porsche dealer spend hours on a car that they probably haven't seen in their workshops for years! but until there is a diagnosis I am stumped.

Anyway thanks for all your comments, driving it round half of Europe has been a pleasure and privilege ( despite the car suffering from magic heater syndrome, got quite fruity in the cab without the window down) I received nothing but positive comments and gestures until the moment I broke down on the roundabout, at which point I had 600 horns go off in unison!!

mattylan

Apologies for the delay in clarifying the outcome.

Car was dropped off at Porsche Dealer in Dijon where she remained for two weeks until I chased the insurers.

They rang to advise that "due to incorrect paperwork" the car had not been looked at ( my guess is that the mechanics took one look at this battle scarred, dirty old car that they didn't recognize and thought not likely" )

Insurers then offered to return car to UK at their cost ( told you they were good)

Car was returned by flatbed and dropped off.

I jumped in and turned the key, started first time, selected reverse, off she went, selected D, and away we go!!

Running fine, with no hesitation etc.

I think she just got a bit tired and fancied a 5 week holiday in France!!!

Whatever, a happy outcome for me!

Mrmerlin

from the info provided, the pop has me a bit concerned,
did the pop feel like it came from under the hood or from the rear of the car?

I would inspect and /or replace the heater control valve and short hose,
inspect the outlet on the head to see if maybe it has separated.

Replace the coolant bottle cap with a factory part.

Replace the rear cam tower gaskets,
Roger has nice silicone gaskets, do both sides.

Remove the left/right side timing covers, inspect the timing marks and the belt condition.

Inspect the coil wire and the green wire for condition,
if the ignition wires are very old replace them .
Same for the green wire.


Under the car check the bell housing and front and rear pinch bolts , see if maybe a TT bearing has migrated use a copat down the tube to find the locations
Drive shaft pinch bolts get torqued to 66 ft/lbs with a drop of blue loctite.
Also check crank end play.

Check the trans mounts,
you should be able to fit a thumb between the X member and the bottom of the trans.

Check the motor mounts see how low the pan is sitting compared to the front cross member,
it should be flush with the pan

auzivision

Pop, die, smoke, nothing dripping down under... would restart but died in gear... let sit, shipped home, and all is well.

Could it be bad gas or water in the system causing it to sputter and die... maybe, but doesn't explain smoke.

Could it be you popped the heater valve or hose... maybe, but that doesn't explain dying and most like a splash would have made to the ground.

Guessing smoke/steam was cause by some fluid being spritzed on a hot exhaust manifold. Choices are Oil, Coolant, Fuel, ATF, or brake fluid. Trying to figure out which one would caused pop and engine kill is tricky.

Maybe pop was a back fire that blew off crank case vent return hose spilling some oil in the process. Then it would start or run right warm because of unmetered air leak that isn't as pronounced when cold... or something like that.

If it were me, I wouldn't drive it to far from home until resolved by trying to replicate conditions and symptoms in or near garage. First check every hose you can find to make sure they aren't leaking, clean up anything messy down under the air box, and fire the engine without air box and look really close for leaks, let it get completely warmed up too.

Mrmerlin

before you drive the car inspect the parts I have suggested,
the pinch bolts could be very loose and thus cause further damage by driving.