Robert Coats

In a previous thread I was concerned about the steering rack in my ’91 C4 going bad. On Saturday, I took <a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/cgi-bin/rennforums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=004884" target="_blank">Ade's advice from this thread</a>to flush and refill the power steering fluid. Since the entire system only holds one liter of fluid, I figured the easy way would be to drain the reservoir, fill it, run the engine and turn the wheel a few times back and forth, then repeat. I got a small hand pump and a gallon of fluid, and started the process. After six or seven cycles, I took the car out for a quick drive.

Success! The fluid change restored the “feel” quite nicely! No more drag or effort required. Everything felt great until I heard the noise, and almost all my warning lights came on at the same time. Not good. I was nearly in the driveway at home, and had good oil pressure, so I backed the car up into the garage.

Opened the engine lid and saw the fan belt was missing, the alternator belt was shredded, and there was clumps of blue cloth all over the back of the engine compartment. Wait a minute…didn’t I have a blue show towel back there…crap…it must have gotten hung up in the belts/fan!

30 minutes later, I was at Jill Ellis Porsche’s parts counter and walked off with two new belts and that special splined holder tool. The pulleys, shims and such came off easily, and even the A/C compressor was simple to move and get its belt out of the way. I used a small block of wood to hold the special tool in place. The most difficult part was cleaning out all the bits of cloth and broken belt.

Car started up and ran fine with the new belts. It’s all good now, except I still need to go ahead and replace the split/cracked boots on the power steering rack. I’m just happy I don’t have to replace the rack right now!

-1 gallon of PS fluid $6.00
-1 hand pump $12.05
-2 belts $20.00
-1 special tool $23.00

In return, I got:
-Steering that works MUCH better
-New belts
-A new cool Porsche tool
-More knowledge of my car
-A reminder to ALWAYS check for loose tools, parts, etc. before operating the car/engine!

BrokeAss

Thanks for sharing Robert!
That sounds like one of MY DIY jobs! Well intentioned, usually lacking in execution - but always educational.

P.S. - There's a <a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=010217" target="_blank">great post</a> in the 993 forum about Bozo's misadventures while changing his tranny fluid. Guaranteed to make you

Bill Gregory

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica"><strong>30 minutes later, I was at Jill Ellis Porsche’s parts counter and walked off with two new belts and that special splined holder tool.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Robert,

Glad changing the power steering fluid worked. If you have the factory manual, I believe there is a procedure in there to ensure you get all the air out of the system after replacing the fluid. If you need that, send me a note.

What splined holder tool did you pick up?

Cupcar#12

I once left a screw driver in the fan pully well of my 1969 912 - after changing the fan belt. (If you have worked on a 356/912 motor you know why you need it)
So we turned it on and reved the motor and smoke started pouring out of the engine compartment -
The Handle of the Sears screw driver was on Fire! I quickly pulled it out (burning myself) and quenched it in my victory drink.
I still have that screw driver in my 356 tool kit - as a reminder.
check your work twice!!!

Ruairidh

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by C4 Guy:
<strong>Thanks for sharing Robert!
That sounds like one of MY DIY jobs! Well intentioned, usually lacking in execution - but always educational.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">You have also just described my DIY life too!!!! <img border="0" alt="[hiha]" title="" src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" />

horst

I once reversed #6 + #5 plug wires. Wondered why the car ran like crap...The horrible thing is all the stuff I tested as being a possible cause before I found the problem.

SPIKES

Reminds me of a friend. he used to modify 930 turbos and work on cars all the time. after he was finished this one job he took the car for a test drive. on his drive he noticed that more than usual people were waving at him and he just waved back. got back home and found the lead light trailing about 10 feet behind the car in shreds.

another friend had a flat tire and stopped to change it. he pulled out the spare and took of the flat wheel. when he was finished he turned to look for the flat wheel and it was GONE. long story short he found it about a mile away as it had run down a steep bank through some houses missing cars and pedestrians etc.
anyway he found it and was our "DOM KOPTH" club member of the year.

as my dad taught me ..do not p...s in the wind and watch your spare when on a slope.

CHEERS

John Boggiano

Thanks for sharing!

I once rigged up some tubing to refill the gearbox oil in my old X1/9 (those were the days - &lt;SIGH&gt.

The end of the tube kept collapsing, so I pushed a plastic ring into the end to hold it open.

Job done, when I pulled out the tube, the ring was gone! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />

Hope the new owner didn't have a problem!

Look, I was young, OK?!

Roly Baldwin

I now feel much better about leaving the oil cap off my friend's car.

Syd B.

Nothing to do with cars, but once I was installing a door bell which required feeding the wire down through the wall to the fuse box in the basement. Somehow, I crossed the wires in the process and every time the furnace came on, the doorbell went off. For hours, I thought it was the damn kids in the neighbourhood playing games on me.

robmug

Hmmm...I had an Astra GTE (actually pretty good) which broke down on an elevated section of the M25 (interesting to note how much these elevated sections sway!) with steam out of the bonnet. How can this be, I thought, I only changed to water pump yesterday...opened the bonnet to find the radiator cap sitting on top of the fuse box...

John Boggiano

Thanks for that, Syd.

I'm off to bed now and that has lifted my spirits after a lousy day very considerably!

<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Robert Coats

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Bill Gregory:
<strong>I believe there is a procedure in there to ensure you get all the air out of the system after replacing the fluid. If you need that, send me a note.

What splined holder tool did you pick up?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yes, I found the procedure, but there was nothing in it about how to drain the system, just how to bleed.

Here's the tool I got from Porsche (999.571.052.02.) that is used to hold the inner (alternator?) shaft, so the outer hex nut can be loosened/tightened. It fit and worked great; I think it is a 12-point spline.

<img src="http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcoats/porsche/tool.jpg" alt=" - " />

Not sure what the flat-tip end is used for...anybody know?

mattinmatsuyama

one of my fist cars was a Carrola DX, great wee car, anyways it got a flat and I changed the tire, and when I was doing that got talking to a friend. The next day i drove to work and there were terrible noises and vibrations. I asked a friend who knew more about cars than I did and he took it for a spin. He came back looking ashen faced and asked me to come and look, here was the wheel I had changed with 3 of the nuts missing and the 4th only half on . . . . . . . my nickname at work for a while was wheelnut.

Bill Gregory

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica"><strong>Here's the tool I got from Porsche (999.571.052.02.) that is used to hold the inner (alternator?) shaft, so the outer hex nut can be loosened/tightened. It fit and worked great</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Yup, that looks like it would do the trick. Guess I've used an allen hex wrench to hold it...that tool looks like it should be in the standard tool pouch! Thanks for posting the picture.