ca993twin

At Willow Springs track on Saturday, I had two warning lights come on... the brake booster light is intermittant (on solid now), and the brake pad wear light is on solid. I puulled one wheel to make sure that my new pads were still OK, and they appear to have lots of life left. I'll pull all the wheels this weekend. I also checked my brake fluid reservoir, and its full. Any other easy things I can check?

911/Q45

The brake pad sensors often melt during track use causing the light to come on. Sometimes it goes off again after cooling, but I guess you didn't get lucky Steve.

ca993twin

Are the brake pad sensors "built into" the pads? (will the problem go away with a new set of pads?) Can I eliminate the light by unplugging the sensor wires and tying them out of the way? What do you do with those sensors?

On the "booster" light... is my accumulator going out? How big a job is that? Shall I do that 1997 "quiet" update at the same time? Does the clutch get involved in this? I never checked my clutch fluid level. Where is that resovoir located?

911/Q45

The sensors are separate from the pads and plug into a hole on the outside center of the pads. Are you sure they used sensors when they replaced your pads? You can jump the wires to the sensors and that should keep the light out, but it's possible that this was done and then the jump fell apart. I leave the sensors connected and they have only activated when the pads were thin enough to warrant replacement. Accumulator failure could cause your booster light, but the brake fluid should go down quite a bit if it fails. The accumulator shouldn't be a big replacement deal, but be sure to depressurize the system before removing it(accumulator failure would probably do that for you). As long as you've done that much, I'd go for the "quiet pump" update too. The clutch isn't involved, it's on the power steering hydraulic circuit, with a backup manual circuit. There is a small reservior in the trunk in front of the driver for the manual circuit. The power clutch function feeds off the power steering pump reservior near the oil dipstick. Both use Pentosin hydraulic fluid.

ca993twin

Don, Thanks for the tips. Viperbob reinstalled the sensors when he changed my pads, so either something got snagged, or they got melted (but I'm not that hard on brakes, especially since its Willow Springs). These are factory stock pads.

On the accumulator... let me ask this question in a more direct, ahhh doofus way... how much are the parts and labor if someone who actually knows which end of a screwdriver to hold is doing the work... that description lets me out.

911/Q45

Parts would be about $200, including the quiet kit. A decent wrench should get it done in 2 hours.

boostid

Steve;

Last December, after months of my clutch pedal getting harder and harder to push when cold starting, I had my local dealer "fix" the problem. The clutch was very very diffucult to push in to start car, but after starting the car, it was fine. It didn't matter how long the car had been off. The tab for the fix was:

Remove and Install Trans/Engine for access and install new clutch slave cylinder, ABS Check valve & Accumulator.

12 hrs labor $1026.00
993-116-237-52 Clutch Slave Cyl $ 551.07
993-314-166-00 Pressure Accumulator $ 93.28
993-314-180-00 Pressure Cntrl Valve $ 204.98
000-043-203-33 ORMD - Pentosin Fluid $ 14.05
TOTAL $1889.38

This was with my 10% PCA Discount on parts

Hope this helps.

By the way, I saw your car at Fontana on the Saturday for the POC Tribute to Lemans. I tried to find you, but couldn't. I also have a 993 TT Arena/Cashmere with 19" RUFS, Recaro SRDs, PSS9 with RS Sways. Sorry we couldn't meet. Maybe at another event.

Good Luck with the Acccumulator;

Hal Olson
97TT Arena/Cashmere, PSS9s, RS Swaybars, SRDs

ca993twin

Hal,

I saw your "twin" parked by the fence. Georgous. Those 19" Ruf wheels are terrific. I llooked closely at your paint finish, and as nice as mine is, yours is nicer. Did I also see your car at the German Car Fest in Ventura last year? Thanks for the information. All I have to say is yipes.

Oh... the brake pressure warning light went off on its own. I think it was "healed" by a laying on of curse words. A liberal dose.

boostid

Steve;

Couldn't make Ventura last year. Definitely want to attend this year. It would be great to meet you and other Rennlisters.

Re: Paint. Paint is still pretty good except for front bumper rock carnage. Will get a respray on it sometime in the next year. Car is a 97 with 33k miles.

Next time something goes wrong with my car, I'll drive up so you can curse at it. It won't listen to me. But then again, I usually end up apologizing when directing "bad" words at the TT. I'm whipped.

Hal

ca993twin

I took a serious look at the brake pads, and they are crispy critters. It sure looks like they got seriously overheated and melted the wear sensors. So what do I do now? Buy new sensors? Bypass the sensors? Get more "serious" (squeaky) brake pads which can handle the heat better? Will that even help the sensors?

My booster light is back on full time again. Who has that DIY kit that puts a little square of black electrical tape over the light?

911/Q45

Brake cooling should do the trick, S type ducts with hoses pointing at the inside of the rotor. I've had real good luck with the stock pads and the sensors on the track and no squeaks on the street. Aftermarket harder pads probably don't have the spot for the sensors, so you'd have to bypass them and put up with the squeaking. More track experience will probably cause you to use less braking and they'll stay cooler and last longer. You can pull out the bulb and get rid of the booster light, but since brakes can be kind of important, you might want to get them fixed!

ca993twin

Don,

Thanks... I've already got the S ducts, but not the duct work to get the air to the brakes. You're are certainly right about more track time... I'm so used to driving the Cobra at Willow, I wasn't really taking advantage of the Porsche. I was braking too early and too hard for turn one, and then just kind of crept through it... the extra straightaway speed of the Porsche made my eyes plenty wide, heading into turn one. Still got a decent lap time, considering it was my first track day with the Porsche. But I know I've left 2 or 3 seconds out there...

mooty

steve, i would bypass the brk sensors.
you are fast enough on track and certainly exp. enough to know to check your pads periodically. so just pull the sensors and be done with it.