gregC2

I was changing one of my sidemarker bulbs in the rear (passenger side) tail light housing recently. When I pulled the assembly out a little to get the bulb out, I noticed some rubber tubing on the side of the assembly, towards the center of the car. Is that hooked up to anything else, or is it some kind of passive moisture drying type thing? Mine is not attached to anything. I think there's some tubing that goes to the center reflector and was wondering if this is hooked into that somehow.
thanks.

jimq

It plugs into a niple on the center light. That goes to the same place the Distribuiter hose goes. Moves air in the light fixture. All 3 back lights are hooked together.

Marc Shaw

As Jim said, it hooks to the hose off the rear blower in the left of the engine compartment. It helps to remove moisture from inside the rear lights so they don't get condensation in them (and judging by the amount of condensation in one of my rear lights, it works very well ).

Marc

Smokin

It also doubles as an aerator for the small fish!

gregC2

I finally decided to fix this; I took out the rear tail light assembly, saw that the end that connects to the center reflector had split. Cut it off, then had to pull the rear reflector out (what, 3 screws holds it in?). Finally found I had to raise the reflector; the bottom of the reflector has a couple downward hooks to it; soon as I got it out, I hooked up the hose from the tail light and reassembled. Much to my surprise, something I did actually worked!! Thanks for the help. Now on to replacing the engine lid shocks (I did a search and though there are plenty of "hits" for front hood replacement of shocks, there's not much for engine lid replacement; found one for a 993; are the ends, farthest in, the same sort of attachment for a 964?).
thanks, all

greg

Smokin

Greg... The front shocks are the ones giving me a fit! I replaced the rears in about 10 minutes... It was very easy. I think p-car.com has a tutorial.

Hambisa

The first DIY I attempted after I bought my 964 was to replace the engine lid shocks. Getting the dead ones out wasn't difficult, taking great care not to drop any pins or clips in the process. I installed the new right side one fairly easily, despite scrapes and bruises to my left arm as I contorted it to get the pin and clip inserted. Always attach the body end first, then the lid end. After much agony trying to insert the pin on the right side, barely being able to get my fingertips on the mounting bracket, I gave up before I irretrievably dropped something into those dark nether regions of the engine compartment. Sheepishly, I had to ask my specialist to install the shock on my next visit, and had to pay an exhorbitant charge for the job, to boot! I should have saved the right shock for later use, anyway, as one alone was quite strong enough to lift and hold the deck lid. With two new shocks I now have to pull the deck lid release with my left hand while stretching bak with my right hand to stop the lid from flying up and slamming against the hinges, so I think I'm going to remove one of them again.
In the last week I had to remove the rear auxiliary blower twice after the bearings went, so now I know that it is an easy ten minute R & R which will give ready access to the mounting bracket for the right deck lid shock.
By the way, once in a blue moon, even I get a lucky break. After hearing the awful coffee-grinder racket of the blower motor bearings gone south and getting confirmation from my specialist, he informed me that list price for a replacement assembly is $550 (er.., excuse me, I only want a blower motor, not a new engine!) Best price I could find online was $435, but there, on e-Bay, was one for sale, closing the following day with no bids and starting price of $50! Unbelievably, I won it for $51 and received it by FedEx a few days later. It turned out to be from a 993 (which is what you get now if you order a new one) and the casing was cracked from accident damage, so I tossed that as I only wanted the motor and squirrel cage which spun smoothly and quietly. Fifteen minutes later it was installed and running -- no more coffee grinder back there, making me think the DMF is throwing chunks, or worse!

Chris M.

When changing engine lid shocks you can make it easier on yourself if you take off the airbox, blower motor, etc. Also I just read somewhere (maybe the latest Panorama) about some engine lid shocks with a lifetime guarantee. I want to say they're around $30 each instead of $14 but if you never had to do it again it'd be worth it. My car has had at least 3 sets according to records.

c

jdodson

You did well on your blower motor. When the bearing went bad in mine, the fan became wedged and the resulting electrical spike rippled through the system and burned out all the smaller heating control motors in the cabin. I beleive there were two or three of them. The result was a $1,000 hit.

ga2ryc

I just finished my front and rear hood struts, I laid an old white towel in the rear underneath the struts to catch the errant dropped clip(only one!), I read somewhere that someone suggested using plastic, i used the towel because anything dropped wouldn't bounce off the towel like it would plastic.
On the fronts, i would highly recommend a mechanics mirror so you can see where you need to go for the bottom socket.
As far as lifetime struts, I got mine fromZims Auto technic here in the D/FW area, if they fail they'll replace them for no charge, i'll still have to reinstall them, but after figuring it out, it won't be so bad the second time around.

jimq

I have replaced them on all 3 of my 911's over the years. It is still bad the next time and the time after that