Makmov

depends on how bad it is, I would kind of suspect the fan too, if its noisy and blows fuses.

Could be a shorted wire, but it should not take much to turn the fan if it's got drag on it that could do it.

a fan is about $650 to $1000 and 4hrs to install.

IIRC the 30 amp fuse TSB was for the rear blower.

alexjc4

Aha! Good point, in that case I agree with all the sensible folks above

Rocket Rob

Yes, exactly. If you have a squeaky fan, then we may have found the fault.

9oneone

In thinking this through and troubleshooting with you guys, that sounds like it could be a reasonable problem/fix. Annoyingly, the indie shop in PA did not bring this up at all in PPI or after I brought the car back 45 mins after leaving for New York. I called him today and explained what happened and he suggested turning off CCU (and all other power in car), putting a 30A fuse in front fusebox location #1 and THEN turning on CCU.

Considering that that indie is 10 hrs. away, there's not much I can do about it now, but the thought of being out of pocket another $1,000-$1,500 two days after getting my first Pcar is definitely not what I was hoping for.

@Makmov: although, if I look at www.vertexauto.com, why wouldn't the heater blower motor ($199) be the only part that I need? http://www.vertexauto.com/SubCategor...20Related.aspx

Makmov

IIRC you need to modify one of the housings, since there is a left and a right fan and they are different.

Other than that, as long as the housing are okay and the cage is okay and nothing breaks taking it apart then you could probably do it that way.

9oneone

Thank you. Would it be a bad move to run a 30A fuse in location #1 until I can get this work done?

Makmov

I wouldn't unless you are very clear on the consequences.

9oneone

Makmov: Roger that. Thanks.

9oneone

Thanks to everyone for your help throughout my search, PPI, purchase and dealing with AC issue. So as it turns out, I went to my local indie with the car today and explained what happened with the fuses blowing and CCU issues. Of course we put in a proper 25A fuse and of course everything worked fine (for 20 minutes). I'm away for the weekend, but will be driving her a bunch next week, so lets see what happens. Good sign though that indie wasn't ready to replace anything quite yet

My life as a Porsche owner now begins!

9oneone

OK, so I thought you guys would be "entertained" by what my local Pcar mechanic found out after I brought my newly purchased 964 to him. The first thing I caught...when I pulled up the carpet in the trunk to get to the fuses, was that that the bolts to the strut tower were all loose...3 of the 4 were not even hand tightened. Loose!! I naturally asked him to keep the car and look everything over for me to tell me what else the PPI missed. I waited nervously until 5:15 tonight when he finally called me with the report:
-The 6 bolts that attach the axle were also only hand tightened. Apparently, when the CV boots were replaced, the mechanic never bothered to tighten them back up. (So I drove 600 miles, some pretty hard, on a car with a totally loose strut mount and axle. Nice.)
-Around the axle was gobs of grease, requiring Mike the indie to use 4 cans of parts cleaner to clean it up.
-The boot on the right side of steering rack was torn. $125 P&L Getting done now.
-The front shocks are dead...totally dead.. Original shocks from the factory on them. $1,300-$1,500 P&L. Shop said I can wait a bit on this, but am not so sure how long.
-Tires that supposedly had 60% life left, have maybe 25%.
-Front sway bar links need to be replaced in next year. $400 P&L
-Front brake pads and rotors which PPI said had >60% left are more like 25%. Need to redo end of summer $800 P&L

Besides the blatant negligence of not tightening up bolts (!), I really thought the PPI should have showed me the state of the front shocks, brakes, tires and sway bar links. I will call the shop in Pittsburg to let them know about this especially since I think people can get seriously harmed. As far as recourse with the shop or the previous owner, I guess I'm pretty much out of luck on that, or? Just wish that I knew about this stuff before buying so I could have negotiated with it. Arghh.

On the plus side, my mechanic up here said the clutch felt great, the engine pulls strong and he doesn't see any leaks that he's concerned with. That's the silver lining...well, and I own a beautiful car that may just cost me some more $$ than I anticipated. And oh, the AC is working fine now

I will admit that I felt like a bit of an idiot after having read all the books, looked at a dozen+ cars, read tons of posts, etc.. Caveat emptor.

Off to dinner now to lick my wounds...

dkcaims

Overall seems minor, but certainly annoying.
Just a few months after purchasing my car last August, I dumped 12k into it. All necessary repairs and all done my tech.
No, it's not a Toyota, it's much more fun !!!

Makmov

It's a use car, a used Porsche!

All sounds pretty normal to me.

Yeah those drop down links are a pretty penny.

Time for H&Rs and Bilsteins.

Hell I would do both sides for 125. I must be too cheap.

Tricky bastard axle bolts, yeah, if you don't do it just right they come loose.

I don't under stand the strut bolts being loose, those don't come loose by themselves usually.

If the fronts are dead the rears are absolutely toast. all the weight and all the heat back there kills them way before the fronts.

The other shop is probably just going to tell you to pound sand.

I had to put some money in mine when I got it, too, and the PO had $7500.00 in receipts with in the 10 months before I purchased it, and it was checked out by a Porsche friend of mine. HOWEVER, I have no complaints whatsoever.

Books and reading is all well and fine, a good starting place, but it's not a substitution for experience, which only comes with time.


I am sure you did fine. You'll get over it.

9oneone

I did do fine, I was just under this impression that PPI would tell me what needs to get done and I'd have a clear picture. I am getting over it already and will have my tech do all the work that needs getting done so the car is "how it should be".

The bolts were loose on the strut tower because it was lowered to change the cv boots.

I'm learning and I can't wait to have it all sorted out!!

Makmov

Yeah, that is unfortunate whoever did the PPI didn't do a good job.

I seems to be the same problem all over. It is really are to find good techs to work on any cars muchless a Porsche. Few and very far between.

Bearclaw

Man, this story gets told again and again. It's an odd paradox, of course the best advice is to get a PPI - but I'm not sure that a bad PPI is better than none at all. It's great if you're lucky enough to get an honest shop and a competent tech. But the bad ones range from sloppy to negligent to downright fraudulent.
I guess a lot of shops figure, a long-distance customer is never going to be a repeat customer, so for the couple hours' labor (barely enough to get interested), why bother? Sad but true.
They're certainly not concerned about bad word-of-mouth. They really don't give a damn. And any mention of info offered from internet forums to those shops gets an icy sneer.