Yogii

StormTrooper-
Nice story and nice car. I kind of wish my Midnight Blue Metallic 968 was a little less Midnight and a little more Blue.

-Yogii
AKA 968 Virgin

Paul Waterloo

Nothing goes in the bottom hole, or there was nothing on my car.

Yogii

Paul,

Do you know where all those oil droplets are coming from?

-Yogii
AKA 968 Virgin

Paul Waterloo

I never figured it out because I never went in there, but pretty sure it was from the front main seal.

jeff968

Storm,

They did worse. Check out this story.

StormTrooper

So, that is kinda funny. Im an ol' Audi guy, I have had 4 UrQuattro's and currently own the nicest one of the bunch. But anyone that knows a bit about those cars will not be surprised by the factory faux pa's as the UrQuattro was a hand built low volume car. ...also with a very tight knit underground community. There are pages and pages of information out there on the weird mistakes and things left in the cars back then. Difference was they were in production between 1980 and 1991 with 11,000 cars build worldwide. So you'd think there could be some real attention to detail right? Nope. I would have assumed by the mid 90's Porsche would have had their game in order.

Yogii

Jeff,

What a great story! Maybe Porsche could "document" it in a Certificate of Authenticity? That would be really funny....

-Yogii
AKA 968 Virgin

Dino V

Beautiful 968 and great story! Enjoy!

StormTrooper

So here's an interesting one.

I drove the car down to the hangar for summer storage and about 2/3 of the way there I noticed the voltmeter was pegged high. I was able to shut the car down and coast down the pass to within a mile of my place. I drove the car that last mile and parked it.

I left for my 2 weeks in Germany / Austria and visited the cars last this weekend and figured I'd poke around the 968 to see if there was anything besides the 'obvious' voltage regulator.

What I noticed is that after sitting two weeks+ I switched on the key and as I did, the voltmeter pegged high without even starting the car. I thought this was a bit weird since I'd only expect to find dormant battery voltage of ~12-13V rather than off the top end of the gauge.

Anyone seen this one before? Still a voltage regulator?

Paul Waterloo

I have seen the voltmeter pegged high with a car I looked at in New Mexico. It was just a cluster issue, not a voltage issue. Put a volt meter on the battery while it's running and I'm sure you'll see that it's normal. Go to about 1:20 in the following video:

Jfrahm

My black car did this, bad voltage regulator and no alternator cooling hose or bonnet.
The HVAC fan would speed up and slow down based on throttle position (thus voltage). Lately I have started using the Huco regulators and they have been good so far although not all are still made in Germany. You can get one for a Merc that is 14,5v but unless the battery is in the trunk that might be a little tough on the battery.

spanky

Very nice 968!!
Congrts!!!

Eyeman

Weird, my midnight blue coupe did that recently also. At first I thought it was just trying to catch up my discharged battery. I charged the battery better, no help. My high mileage 968 has never done this. It must just be common to nice 968s, especially Midnight blue ones.

StormTrooper

Hey guys, much appreciated.

I'll bring a volt meter down there and check the alternator output. It seems likely to be in the cluster as the gauge pegs hi without even starting the car - as soon as you turn the key the needle slams. Im pretty sure the battery isn't holding a 16-18v charge after a few weeks in between starts.

StormTrooper

I visited the car over the weekend, armed with my multimeter I did a few checks.
With the car off the battery voltage was about 12.3v after sitting a week
I switched the ignition to ON and with systems powered the voltage was 12.1v
I tested at both the battery and at the rear of the alternator
I started the car and voltage at both locations was a consistent 13.8v

SO - it looks like the car is charging properly and the in-dash gauge is just whacked

Result: I got to take it for a ride!