SeanD

I drove my '95 993 to dinner tonight and noticed that the gauge all the way the the left (PLEASE excuse my ignorance, as I am still waiting for the dealer to find and send me the owners manual...grrrr)that has the fuel gauge on the left and the oil pressure gauge???? on the right. I know the other oil gauge is oil temp... anyway:

The above mentioned gauge is going all over the place. While driving it was at the bottom in the red, then settled in the middle then jumped to the top, then the bottom again. What's going on? The car at on point stalled, but I can't be sure if I did it on accident... I don't think so. I just got this car, it passed PPI, but I don't know enough about it since I don't have all the paperwork yet.

Am I in real danger here? The car ran fine on the way to dinner and back later on without an stalls or funny noises or RPM drops.. nothing.

Should I have it towed to a mechanic to be safe? There is a good one in Orlando, but it will cost lots of $$ to get it towed there I think.

OK, enough worry. Can someone tell me what this means?

Sean

Terry Adams

There are 3 oil gauges, from L to R: level, temp and pressure. The leftmost oil level gauge is only fairly accurate when the car is warmed up, and idling on a level surface. When driving, as you noticed, it jumps all over the place. The best way to check oil level is via the dipstick.

SeanD

Thanks Terry,

OK I'm running, no sprinting out the door to the garage now to check on this.

Sean

Pete911air

Sean,
If it is an early 1995-993 have you engine wiring harness checked.

Pete.

SeanD

OK Whew! I checked the oil level and it is full. I had the oil changed before I bought it and I was worried that they screwed something up!

So the oil level gauge jumping around is normal? I wonder why I didn't notice this before? Hmmm.

Thanks for the post Terry.

OK, so what should I look for on the wiring harness to see if it needs to be replaced? I checked EJ's P-Car site, but I'm stil not sure where to look exactly?

I feel so dumb. Ask me anything about a BMW E31 850 and I can tell you.. I'm used to reading everything in advance and don;t like learning this way.

TIA

Sean

Tim 95 993 Pasadena

Some early 993s have had wiring harness problems. There is a wiring harness on the left side of the engine compartment that rests on top of the block. This harness can get very hot and in some cases the insulation can deteriorate and crack. This could possibly cause a short and some serious damage. When I had my 30K service done, my mechanic said the metal clamp on the end of the harness can get very hot and melt the insulation.
He removed the clamp. It's better to be safe than sorry.

dwe8922

Tim, where is the clamp? Does it hold the harness in place? I am going to check my harness when I pull the engine to fix my clutch problem.

Jimmy

Sean,
If it was only the oil level gauge, I wouldn't worry about it at all especially you checked it via the dipstick already. Regarding the stalling, I guess it is a separate issue unrelated to the oil level gauge reading. Please take a look at www.msroadrace.com for diagrams of the wiring harness Pete and Tim mentioned.

Carmen

Sean,
It's probably the oil level gauge bouncing around when you stop and go. It should stay at lowest level when actually driving, may move a bit when shifting. As for stalling, you probably just messed up clutching.
Slow down, take a breather, enjoy the car, and just start observing a the little quirks you'll soon learn to luv and hate.
You'll receive a lot of feed back from this site, much of it very valuable, take it all in stride. I have learned a great deal.

Good luck , enjoy...
Carmen
95 993 Cab

SeanD

Thanks for all the help. I can relax a bit now.

I visually inspected the wiring harness and it looks OK, but I will take it in to be looked at anyway. Should get the paperwork soon so I'll look and see if its been done.

I'm sure there will be more questions soon, as I'm going to spend some time detailing an going through the car this weekend.

One thing I noticed was that ALL the screws in the rear seat area were loose. Strange. I only checked due to a loud squeeking coming from the back, inside the car. I pulled down the seats and saw the back area had every screw loose. I went through with a power screwdriver and tightened every screw that was visable. Most all were loose. Maybe from when the guy was working on the battery drain problem, or possibly just over the last 6 years with such a firm suspension they worked loose?

Sean

[ 06-27-2001: Message edited by: SeanD ]

[ 06-27-2001: Message edited by: SeanD ]

hn

How early is this. Mine has the production date of 12/94. Should i worry?

Tim 95 993 Pasadena

The harness can be traced from the fuse panel thru an "accordian like" rubber cover down to the intake manifold. The clamp is at the end of the harness and bolts to the top of the intake manifold. A 5mm allen wrench (I think) will loosen the bolt and the clamp can then be removed. The allen bolt should be replaced back into the manifold. My mechanic said the clamp can really get hot and it was a good idea to remove it. He also mentioned that all the '95 993s could potentially have this problem...Hope this helps....