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Nate and I talked about that Stan. I recommended against it. I lived out that way for 4 years, and it is hard to imagine how truly remote it all is, unless you've spent time there. It would be a dice roll that I would not take.
Nate has a replacement alternator coming from a guy who I had hooked up through my old PCA region contact. I reached out to my old mates, and they got a hold of a guy over near Nate, and those two hooked up. The power of social media cannot be overstated! (Facebook in that case)
Hey guys. Well it's been quite an ordeal to this point. But things are looking up hopefully starting tomorrow.
To recap the whole situation I was heading out to Spokane from Seattle and the car was running great. Keep in mind this is probably only the 10th drive I had on the car since I've got running about a month ago. Just got the car aligned the day before, AC was working, had the tunes going, got on some quiet black highway asphalt and being my first 928 on a long road trip this thing felt awesome. I decided to stop in Spokane and visit a couple other PNW Rennlisters over there, Thomas (supercedar) and Bill. Was nice catch up with those guys and I hung out for about an hour.
Afterwards got in the car headed out of Spokane and for whatever reason didn't pay attention to the voltmeter until I was about 50 miles out of town. That's when I saw that it was little bit under 12 volts. On the trip out to Spokane it was either around 13.5V with no accessories on or maybe 12.6 with AC and running lights. This is where I made my mistake. I should have just turned around at that point and headed back to Spokane where I would have had access to a lot of services. But I convinced myself that it was because the weather was so hot and maybe I just needed drive a little bit and let it cool down as it was getting later in the day. Big mistake.
As I was heading up into the mountains of Idaho and into Montana the voltage kept getting lower and lower and I knew the writing was on the wall. About 4 miles into Montana just pass Lookout Pass the lights on the instrument panel starting to flicker and at that point was able to get it to a rest stop. It was around 5:30 p.m. Knowing I could not fix the car at that point I decided utilize my "Premier" AAA membership and have the car towed into Missoula. Having no cell service at this rest stop I had to use a pay phone. Can't believe they actually still have those things but thank God they do. I was able to get AAA to start the tow call. They initally told me that it was going to take 3 hours to get someone there. I followed up about an hour later they said that they couldn't come out and get me because I had a Porsche and it was too low and the small town shop they called didn't have one. Finally after some more talking to them and another hour later I was told that they wouldn't be able to get me at all that night because I was in a remote area and all the AAA truck drivers had reached their driving quotas for the day. Since I needed to get another hundred miles east into Missoula that would put them over their alloted daily driving hours. My only option was to have them try the dispatch again at 9 am the next day.
So I was left with a choice either to stay with the car which would that point would have put me over 18 hours at that rest stop. Or I could leave the car there and they would come and pick it up without me and then bring it down to Missoula. Fortunately my cousin was visiting a friend yesterday. Her and her friend were able to run out and get me. Of course when I say "run out" it was a 3 hour round trip for them. By the time they got me and we got into Missoula it was pushing 2 in the morning. They didn't have a place lined up to stay that night cuz they weren't planning to be there all day however I decided no big deal I would just get us a couple of hotel rooms. We pulled into the Best Western and the parking lot was cram packed and my cousin's friend mentioned that there was going to be a marathon the next day (today) in Missoula and that was probably why. Well to be brief the entire lot of 41 hotels in Missoula were all booked solid. We ended up getting lucky and were able to crash at a friend of my cousin's freind's basement. By that time it was very late and we're all pretty tired.
So today I spent most of the day talking with people on options I had thanks to Ed''s (linderpat) incredible efforts to start getting a chain of Porsche guys to help me out. I got calls from about at least a dozen people from all over Montana and other places with advice on where to go and what to do here in Missoula. Being sunday no shops are open. I called all of the auto parts stores in town and none of them had a compatible alternator in stock. It would take a week for them to get one.
At the end of the day the best options I got from the all of the help calls I received was to call a place in town here tomorrow morning called Auto Electric which rebuilds alternators. Hopefully they'll be able to either rebuild the one that's in the car or put another unit in that's equivalent and make it work. If so I'd be on my way sometime tomorrow. If not one of the guys that helped out through Ed's efforts named Dave Cooley is coming through town on Tuesday morning on his way to Porsche parade in Spokane. He has an spare 928 alternator that he's going to hook me up with. I will be able to that point have a shop put it on for me. So with any luck I'll be on the road either to Monday or Tuesday and be able to make it to PVGP provided nothing else goes wrong on the car, knock my head on wood.
I can't say enough about Ed's effort and everybody involved and their willingness to help out a guy who they barely know or don't know at all. It says a ton about the Porsche community and it's incredibly encouraging that people care as much to help a guy out bound by the love of these type of cars.
As for the car, it finally did arrive today around pm at the Motel I'm staying at. Fortunately all in one piece as you can see. Oh and that's my rental car beside it. My cousin had to head back home and the only rental car company opened on Sunday in Missoula was Hertz and they nothing cheap available so I went to UHaul. Can't beat $19.95 per day when you are in a pinch. Finally with the marathon crowd leaving I was able to get a room where among other things I could charge the 928''s barrerya with a new aquire HF battery charger. This way I can at least drive around town to the auto shops.
Here's a link to my similar ordeal when I bought Blumaxx many years ago - I got stuck in SD with an alternator issue that turned out to be something very simple. Linky: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...th-dakota.html
Well Nate, at least you'll have some awesome stories to tell your Grandchildren. I would add some biker gangs and blizzard conditions to the stories though!
Nate, not sure if you got my PM or not...about the steel jack. But, since you have some down time...do you think you can run home and get it...that is...if you still have it.
But, seriously...hope you get the charging system working soon...and we see you in a few days.
Today I was able to find a shop called Import Palace here in town that was able to fit me in tomorrow. The owner/mechanic John has been working on Porsches since 1975. He works on mostly air cooled stuff buy had worked on 928s and is not unfamiliar with their quirks. That being said, changin an alternator is an easy job. Dave will be dropping off the alternator tomorrow around 10am and I'll head straight to John's shop. He has his '76 930 there which I am very interested in seeing.
I am going to have him look into an oil leak I am having as well. I lost about a quarter qt in the 600 miles since I got it on the road. Colin found some leaking from the cam tower seals which is part of it, but there is also a leak from the bottom side. The car left about 2 foot long 2 inch wide stain on the flat bed on its 100 mile tow. Colin sealed the pan with loctite 512 I believe and has never had one leak so that is probably not the issue. He also pointed out that the oil level in the sump is lower than the mating line between the pan and block. So leaking statically when the car is flat from that location is not possible. He pointed out that the return tube is below the oil level line and he did re seal that as well but that may be a possibility. Either way I'll see if John can determine where the leak is originating from.
Depending on the prognosis I'll make a decision to either return back to Seattle or lead foot it to Pittsburgh starting tomorrow. I'm 50/50 now.
Nate I hope You continue on to Pittsburgh, thru Mpls. I'll be watching for You. There's plenty of help here if You need it. I think Stan had a great idea if You couldn't find an alternator.
Good news, bad news. Got the spare alterlternator from Dave this morning and the shop got it installed and it works. They also replaced the alt belt because the old one was cracking.
Bad news is the reason the old one failed was because it was filled with oil from a left front oil pan leak. This failure happened in under 700 miles since the old alternator was installed. So unfortunately I'll be heading back to Seattle hoping I get there all the way before the same thing happens again.
Bummed not to be able to be at this awesome event and meet all of you who I've interacted with on this forum. But this experience has reinforced how great the Porsche and specifically 928 community is. Thanks for all the help and advice and have a great time at the show!
07-09-2017, 09:50 PM
