jred42

I recently purchased an '88 turbo S. The car was found on a property that was sold at auctions, so the dealer I bought it from knew very little about the car's history/maintenance. Due to this, I parked the car after a brief period of time until I did the timing belts and water pump. In the process of putting the new pump on today, I noticed that I didn't have the additional thermostat mentioned in the Clarks Garage instructions. Upon further investigation, I found that the plastic nozzle didn't even have a hole all the way through it. I assuming that this means that someone mistakenly replaced the original nozzle with a block off plate for an NA 944.

My questions are:

1. Can I just drill the block off plate, install a thermostat, and go on my merry way.

2. Where exactly does the additional thermostat go? I've been looking for a good picture of it, but I haven't been able to find much.

3. What additional parts am I going to need? I have found the turbo thermostat and its seal on Pelican Parts. Is there a clip that holds this in or does it just sit inside the plastic housing?

4. What other problems might this have caused? I have driven the car about 400 miles, but I have no idea how much the PO drove the car in this condition. There was some wiggle to the water pump shaft and it spins very freely, so I suspect it has some miles on it. I have noticed that my electric water pump has been leaking pretty significantly. Probably due to it being run in dead-headed so long.

Thanks in advanced for the help.

onspeed

Yes, drill the block off plate. There's only 1 version of water pumps for 944's IIRC, and the installer is supposed to drill the plate if it's going on a turbo car. The thermostat goes right behind where the block off plate is. I don't think there's any circlip holding in the turbo t-stat, just an oring that goes on the block off plate.

Might reduce the life span of the turbo if it's been like that for too long. And possibly the aux. water pump. There's a temperature sensor on the turbo which activates the pump when it gets too hot, so I would think that the pump has been trying to do the job of the main water pump.

My car had the same issue for about 25,000 miles. Never noticed anything unusual from the turbo though. No shaft play or excessive oil consumption or etc when I removed it.

jred42

Would it cause any problems to run the car for a few days without the thermostat while I wait for the part?

onspeed

probably not. I think there's a number of people who don't even put a thermostat in for the small turbo passage, and they don't have issues

mtnman82

I didn't know there is supposed to be a thermostat right behind the block off plate...! I drilled the block off out when I replaced my pump, but have been running without that thermostat for years now.

I've recently run into a very odd problem where the car will boil over (spew out the overflow) a few minutes after I park it after Ive run the car hard. If I just put around and don't get on boost too much it doesn't happen. I wouldn't think this would have anything to do with running without the turbo thermostat, unless I'm not thinking about something ... ???

onspeed

make sure your cap is pressurizing to 16 psi