tom_993

Apparently enough people have filed complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that they are now taking a look at the problem. I just got a call from Frank Booris, who is in charge of the investigation. He is going to ship me a mailing label so that I can ship my old harness to him. He is going to take samples of it for analysis. He is also going to get a new harness from Porsche and do some comparisons. I’ll keep the board up to date if and when I hear anything, but remember, this is the federal government we are dealing with.

In the meantime, Frank asked for any help he can get. If you’ve had this problem, file a complaint with the NHTSA. You can do this at the website listed below, or you can call (888) 327-4236. It only takes about five minutes. Frank asked that anyone who files a complaint to list his name and number, that way it will go directly to him. Or, you can call Frank at (800) 986-9678 x68089. If you still have your old harness, Frank might ask for it. He’ll send you a postage paid shipping label. All you have to do is box it up and stick the label on the box. He’ll even return it if you ask.

Thanks for your time. Hopefully we’ll get some resolution on this.

NHTSA Complaint Form

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Tom - That is great news. What happened to Steve Chin who was working on it at NHTSA?

E. J.

tom_993

Hi E.J.,
I don't know why, but Steve Chan is off the case and Frank is now on it. Frank inherited all of Steve's info, and mentioned his name in the phone call, but I don't know any more than that. Give Frank a call, I'm sure he'd be glad to hear from you.

Tom

tom_993

Hello again,
Frank just called again. He wanted to know if anyone has had to replace any related component along with the harness, e.g. the alternator, etc. I am not aware of anyone that had to do this. If you did, shoot me off an e-mail or reply to this thread and let me know (or call Frank).

Tom

Anir

Tom,

I wasn't able to find a summary of this wiring harness issue in the archives, and would appreciate a short recap.

I've been experiencing "gremlins" involving my radio, CD changer, and turbo boost gauge lately. They may or may not have anything to do with a harness problem, and I plan to spend some time with my manuals tonight to see if I can chase down the possibilities.

Thanks!

tom_993

Anir,
Sometimes the harness problem does cause gremlins; I know I had them. You can find good info about the issue on E.J.'s web site (see the link on his post, go to the DIY section) or the discussion on the old board, here:

Original harness thread

Tom

Anir

Thank you, Tom. I'll investigate my problems a bit further and report back.

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Anir, you can be sure the harness is not your problem. It was only on early 95 cars. I am sure your car is not affected. I guess you need to look elsewhere?

E. J.

Anir

EJ and Tom,

Ran and I are obviously suffering from a similar "gremlin". Here's a summary of our problem:

Lately, the boost gauge seems to "stick" open at about 0.2 bar. During even mild acceleration, the boost will swing up more quickly than normal - at times when the boost would have been zero in the past. Then, even after letting my foot off the gas, it will only slowly come down. After decreasing, it tends to hover at 0.2 bar for quite some time before returning to zero. And occasionally, it will even briefly read 3.0 bar! All these changes result in no noticeable "seat of the pants" boost.

The problem only occurs occasionally, and seems more prominent during stop and go driving. Sustained high speed and fast acceleration driving seems to reduce the problem. We have never seen readings from 0.9 to 2.9 bar, but both have seen the 3.0 bar.

Ran's car has been tested by the Porsche dealer, who found no obvious problem. A faulting sensor, maybe?

Another funny electrical gremlin (for me only) has been my stereo (radio or CD) working for a few seconds after starting, then freezing, then turning off. The device then starts to turn on and off every few seconds, with no sound from the speakers. Initially, this was an occasional problem, but it's now been four weeks since my stereo has worked at all. The detachable faceplate contacts are in good shape and don't seem to be involved. Could my turbo boost and stereo gremlins be related?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Anir,

A shot in the dark: my brother in law has a volvo 850 and when the alternator went bad, it burned every lightbulb in the car out; I guess it was a hell of a voltage spike. I am talking about EVERY lightbulb - glove box, interior, exterior etc...

The only thing I can think of is that your car is somehow getting voltage fluctuations and that is causing the erratic electrical component behavior. I would at least get it tested before it really hurts any electrical components. Then again, I am certainly not a mechanic and maybe you had it checked last week for all I know and then I did nothing but wasted everyone's time. You never know.

Just thought of this: did you both put the orange Optima battery in? Maybe that is not really compatible like we think. Don't think that makes any sense, but see paragraph above...

An easy way to check the harness is to look at the wire leading to the injector on the rear left side. It should be readily visable (once you remove that huge intercooler ) . Check for cracks and splits in the wire insulation at the point where it goes inside the actual connector (and you can't see the wire anymore). See pic here:




Let me know what you think of my armchair mechanicing

E. J.

Anir

EJ, I mentioned this to my wife yesterday. I'm not sure why the Orange top battery wouldn't be compatible, but it's certainly a possibility. Strangely, the car seems very slightly more difficult to turn over at start-up since installing the Orange Top. The battery cable connections are good, so I've wondered about my jerry-rigging using the battery disconnect switch.

The Optima Orange Top has the following characteristics:

- 830 CCA at 0 degrees F
- 1050 CCA at 32 degrees F
- About 1100 CCA at 80 degrees F
- 9.6 kW battery power
- 0.0030 ohms internal resistance
- Capacity (C/20 rate) - Amp Hours 56

The original battery is a Moll Kamina 57069 (Porsche 999.611.070.00). It reads "12V 70Ah 340A". Moll's website is http://www.moll-batterien.de/news_porsche.html , but it's all in German so I'm pretty lost. I only speak the universal German language: "Porsche", and even not that very well it seems.

Any electrical engineers (or just smart gearheads) in the audience who can compare the Optima Orange top favorably or not to the stock battery? Is EJ on to something?

E. J. - 993 Alumni

What about the alternator Anir?

Also, I wonder if your not losing voltage by using the disconnect switch. You know an easy way to check this and either find the problem or eliminate it from your list? Put back the old one in or if was dead, borrow Greg's or Jerry's for a day and see if the prob goes away. Just make sure you don't use the disconnect switch on the stock battery.

E. J.

Anir

Sheet 6 in the electrical diagram section of the 993TT factory manual details the "charge air pressure sensor". It reads from 0 bar (5 - 13 Ohms) to 0.9 bar (117 - 129 Ohms), and relays information to the "Central Informer" (part of the onboard computer).

Has anyone seen a charge air pressure sensor go bad? Does anyone know where it is physically located in the engine bay? I can't seem to find it in the turbocharger section in the manual.

Thanks again.