Living with a Porsche 944

A dry day in the middle of winter can only mean one thing. A last blast in the 944. Here's to 2011.

I like simple cost effective solutions to common problems. Such as the sunroof leak common to these old Porsches. I had my sunroof drains cleared last year when I bought the 944 and for the most part only experienced water ingress through the sunroof in very heavy showers - just like the ones we had the past week. As my '44 leads a privileged life in a warm, cozy garage this is not something I worry to much about. As a precaution I had begun to investigate replacement sunroof seals, and if you've ever done that you may agree that the Porsche items are over-priced IMO so I was looking into alternatives, particularly from VW. I compared a number of different profiles to that on my 944 and concluded that while the inner seal was easy to obtain for very little money per meter, the profile of the outer seal had no alternative that I could easily source. While I prodded around the sunroof opening I began to wonder just how the water was making it's way in, over the lip and ...

When your 944 is going on 25 the MOT feels a little like a lottery. However I'm really pleased that "The Hoff", as my 944 has become to be known as, passed without one advisory! My friendly tester proved once again that having the test done at a garage known personally by you has it's benefits: he noticed that the front drivers side spring had become poorly seated on the strut and promptly corrected it FOC. Had he not it would have been a fail for sure. My '44 is going wonderfully and I'm enjoying it immensely.

In my quest to tighten up the handling on the 944, I bought a new Needle Bearing from Porsche in an attempt to eliminate the fore-aft play in the steering at the top universal joint. The part number for the replacement is 477.419.059 and costs £88.86 posted from an OPC. Nothing like the effort required to actually remove the old one... I began the process by reading section 48 of Porsche Workshop manual. It appeared a simple enough process but two things bothered me: firstly, it required a chisel to remove a shear bolt (which in my limited experience never "shear"; and secondly a drill to remove two screws from the ignition lock. I was bothered because a quick look under the dashboard made it quite obvious that whoever had written the manual hadn't performed this task - well not without a dashboard in place that's for sure. I was bothered before I'd even started. Furthermore, the manual doesn't detail the replacement of this bearing at all - just the rem...

It's been an interesting and somewhat confusing week with the 944. Some severe clutch slip coincided with my wife driving the car... I'm not saying that my Lovely is to blame, but there has been no sign of the clutch going up until this point. I've been hesitant to drive the last few days as the clutch may just be the most expensive part to replace besides the engine! However I was out and about today and there's no sign of clutch slip. Granted I didn't tackle the traffic on the school run as before - I used a different route avoiding the slow climb up a hill. So all seems well for now and hopefully I'll not need to fork out for that anytime soon.

Tucked away in North Devon I found this intriguing garage. A fairly tasty selection of old Porsche cars scattered about, including some in various states of restoration. How about some lovely 911s? Or an old 944 or 928? There can't be many garages like this about, but clearly these chaps have cornered the market in this neck of the English woods. Can you see the vintage 911 racer stuffed into the corner beneath the 944 getting a full rear end rebuild? Cool.

I dropped my 944 of at my friendly local garage this morning for them to adjust the rear trailing blade and fit a new wheel bearing to the NS rear wheel. Hopefully all will go well. I found this procedure on the web that shows just how the trailing arm can be adjusted to effect a 20-25mm drop on the rear of the 944 without reindexing the torsion bars - which is a major job best avoided I'm told. I had tried to have the bolts undone when I had my tyres changed recently but the impact wrench at the tyre shop couldn't budge them, and as I don't have a torch to heat them up I figure it best be left with people who do. Thankfully these chaps have a penchant for restoring classics themselves so my 944 should be in good hands. With that done I'll be ready to lower the front by fitting new springs. Not many 944 owners like the idea of lowering their car but I think with the 16" Turbo alloys slightly tucked under the arches it will be a marked improvement in the stan...

Seeing as though it was a bit cooler today I decided to fit the new radiator that's been sitting in my conservatory annoying my wife. My old radiator had developed a slow leak from the left side and with it being summer I was seeing a larger and larger pool of coolant under the car after each drive. When I fitted the new radiator fan recently I had tried to see if I could spot the leak but the only recourse was to fit another. It's a fairly straight forward job and took a little over an hour to do. I find the best way to drain the radiator is by removing the lower hose from the water pump side. The drain plug is in a fiddly position - pull that hose and it's a matter of moments and the engine is empty of coolant. Then it's just a matter of removing the other hoses and fan switch connector, loosening the two top bolts (watch out for the rubber grommits when you pull the rad out) and sliding the radiator out from under the car. Simples. I have found in the past that...

Thankfully I managed to fix the issue with my sunroof today! After reading all posts and web pages again & again, that I could find regarding the sunroof, I came to the conclusion that I'd spend the morning with my son's help fine tuning the "adjusting screw and locknut" to eliminate it from the equation, before I tried to trouble shoot relays and micro-switches. I had my son sit in the cabin, finger on the button. I backed off the adjusting screw until the motor just whirred. I then started to thread in the adjusting screw little bit by little bit until it engaged - this was less than a quarter turn at a time. Turn screw, push button, turn screw push button etc etc etc until the motor pushed the roof up. Then I turned the locknut - the first few times it the motor went back to whirring. I tightened it up and back it off until the sunroof was working as before. So as it turns out that adjusting screw & locknut need minute adjustments to set the slip cl...

Not withstanding Englands first game in the World Cup this evening, I think I will tackle my sunroof issue today. It won't go up - only down. I've had lots of advice regarding this anamoly, which only started after I'd removed the sunroof a couple of months ago to soak up the first of the summer sunshine. Don't you just hate it when things work perfectly then all of a sudden don't - without any obvious reason? Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it quickly.

My fan was grumbling. Squeeling sometimes. Not my idea of a cool fan at all. It was time the fan got replaced with an eBay special for £38. I couldn't resist it at that price considering new ones are a fair whack over £250. Sure it's a flyer but this is what keeping a 24 year old 944 on the road is all about when you're on a budget! I like it when big boxes arrive at my front door - especially when they contain parts for my 944. As there was some nice sunshine today I decided to open said box and install the contents: a new fan for my aging radiator (which I think is going to need to be replaced soon). Removing the radiator fan is a fairly straight forward process: 1> remove the undertray front bolts so that it flaps down; 2> undo the four 10mm bolts on the fan shroud; 3> unplug the fan cord; 4> slide the fan assembly out from under the car; 5> slide the replacement into the engine bay from below, bolt it in and connect the plug. I'll head out ...

Cruising along the motorway this morning my 944 experienced a rapid let down! The offside rear tyre punctured and flatted incredibly quickly whilst round a long left hand bend. At first all I heard was a buzzing sound usually associated with a tyre making contact with the wheel arch. Futhermore it was only buzzing when making adjustment to the steering wheel - which made me think that one of my arch liners had come loose. Thankfully I was able to make a hasty route to the hard shoulder through the traffic. Upon inspection of the front wheels and arches I saw nothing amiss, but walking to the rear I saw the culprit: a completely flat, yet intact rear tyre! I was amazed. Losing all tyre pressure at speed so rapidly had not seriously effected the car. I would have thought that the 944 would have snaked & squirmed about on that bend, but the converse was true. Thankfully this puncture didn't end in an armco! Changing a wheel on the shoulder with back to the traffic is not a pleasa...

After receiving the full set of bushes from Guildford OPC I decided this afternoon to take advantage of the slightly cooler weather and get under the car again. After jacking up both sides of the 944 I set about loosening the droplink bolts after removing the front wheels. Access is good and a breaker bar came in handy getting those bolts to budge. There's no chance of getting them off with a standard ratchet that's for sure. I found that after removing the droplink from the driver side control arm (wishbone) I needed to use a  jack to raise the wishbone on the other side in order to get enough space between the strut and bolt to loosen it with the 17mm socket. Once all the bolts were removed the anti-roll bar just drops out from under the car. It took a few taps with the hammer to get the old bushes to budge and quite some muscle to remove them from the ARB. I started to get worried about installing the new ones, them being significantly more compact to the eye than th...

With a clear diary and sunny skies I decided that I would tackle my front brakes - the Pagid discs and Girling pads have been taunting me from my workbench for a week now. Thankfully removing the two 19mm bolts that hold on the caliper was an easy task - probably in part to the overhaul I did on the calipers back in October when I bought that car. What I learned after the first wheel was that it was easier to remove the pads before the caliper was off. This way it was easier to push back the piston using the old brake pad instead of the edge of the new disc. I'd also like to point out that the Haynes manual is completely useless - when it comes to my 1986 model. It didn't even make mention of the fact that the rotor was behind the hub; and that the hub-rotor assembly should be removed as a whole and then separated. I learned the hard way on the first hub. You have been forewarned and redirected to Clark's Garage for more accurate instructions. The dirt and muck that ...

A passenger pointed out to me that they thought I had exhaust fumes making their way into my cabin. So as a matter of course I decided to tighten up the hatch latch pins. Which would have been simple if they weren't rusted solid. I have a new set on the way from Porscheapart due to one shearing off! To be on the safe side I also dropped the car round my local garage - who fitted the new fuel line in November - for a fuel line check. Thankfully the whole fuel line delivery system is A- ok. We'll see what the new hatch pins bring about.

There's certainly never a dull moment with a 24 year old classic. After doing such a great job on the service and fully enjoying the effects of new found oomph, I notice I now have a small puddle of coolant under the radiator. A quick call to Porsche and a few searches on the net reveal a rather expensive bit to replace at upwards of £200 all the way to £360 from an OPC. This is not what this mechanic ordered! I guess I'll need to take a closer to look at the newly fitted temp sensor I installed in the radiator last week and make sure the pipes are securely attached. I would much rather spend that money on an upgrade of some kind!

After a good cuppa it was time to do the oil change and air filter replacement. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as I'd hoped to begin with as the oil filter is a rather difficult thing to remove - if you don't have the correct tools. After discovering the the oil drain plug is a 15mm nut, followed by a trip into Machine Mart to purchase one as my socket set was of course missing this vital tool. I then discovered much to my chagrin that the oil filter removal tool that I planned to use, the kind with the chain, was too cumbersome to use in such a compact space and it wouldn't budge the oil filter at all. The only solution was a clever multi-sizing contraption from Halfords that clamps on the end of the filter much like a socket - as seen below attached to the end of the extension - a clever bit of kit: Once removed, the rest of the oil change went without incident or challenge. I decided to remove the airbox so as to clean the connections on the temperature sens...

Today was the day to tackle the ignition service. I knew the car had an ill-fitting distributor cap, and having checked the plugs a couple months back I knew they were past their best too by now. Furthermore, JM Garage had pointed out that the leads were past their best also. Essentially the whole shebang had to be changed, and in my pursuit of recovering all my BHP this was a vital service to perform on my 944 at 200,584 miles. It didn't take a genius to see that the condition of the existing parts was appalling. Since my last inspection of these bits & bobs at the onset of winter, the dizzy was now very loose and the rotor had obviously been smacking the sides of the distributor cap as it flopped around. Both had visible signs of damage! The new Beru on the left and old Bosch Distributor Cap on the right - just look at the damage and dirt inside that dizzy: Take a look at that knackered rotor on the left - the striking edge has been bent back from hitting the ignition p...

Apparently the Porsche 944 has a characteristic whine to the rear mounted gearbox in the transaxle. I've always wondered if an oil change in the gearbox would make a difference to mine. Searching through my service history didn't reveal any receipts for gear box oil changes in the last 10 years - which was quite disturbing. The chaps at Opie Oils have an extensive range of oils on offer, plus a 10% discount for members of the various forums/clubs on top of their already very good prices, and if you contact them they'll recommend a good oil for your car. I selected a Castrol TAF-X for manual gearboxes and set about getting ready to do the oil change. (This blog post gave me the confidence to do this myself - thanks!) On the left of the gearbox under the back of the car you'll find two 17mm hex bolts. The top is the filler access and the bottom the drain plug. You don't need to raise the car like I did but it makes access a little easier. As you can see from the ...

Boxes of goodies have arrived from various sources to tackle a number of servicing jobs this weekend. Castrol Oil for the engine and gearbox: Mahle filters for the air and oil: Pagid discs, Lucas Girling pads, Beru Dizzy and Rotor, plus Bosch plugs: Let's get to it.

Since I bought my 944 the temperature guage has danced about. It was disconcerting but I'd randomly stop and check under the bonnet for signs of overheating and it's all been well. On Monday morning I discovered a dead 944 in my garage. No sign of life. When connecting the jumper cables the fan started up without the car even running. An obvious problem and pointing to the temerature switch sensor on the radiator as the cause. This little £6 brass switch on the back of the radiator and below the top inlet pipe tells the fan to switch on and off. It had failed on ON and ran the fan till the battery was kaput. It's very easy to replace this temp switch from underneath the engine bay. Just disconnect the two spade connectors; use a flat wrench to untighten; and quickly remove and replace with the new switch before you get covered in coolant. I did position a catch bowl below the radiator but there was hardly any lost due to a swift hand! The fan is now working perfec...

You'd think that after giving my 944 a wash, wax & polish on Saturday, followed by a short blast through the countryside yesterday, that it'd be on my side today. We it was dead this morning. Not even the slightest signs of life. After jumper lead were connected the fan immediately turned on! Before the car had even been started. So the fan must have run since the drive yesterday until the battery had been drained. It turns out that other 944 owners have experienced this before, and the culprit has been the radiator temperature switch. So I'll order one today and see if that sorts the issue out. In the meantime I've gone and bought a battery charger so I can fire the 944 up tomorrow morning.

When I bought my 944 the passenger door locking pin was missing. This meant having to lock & unlock the door with the key. This afternoon I removed the door card and thankfully found the locking pin & arm laying in the bottom of the door. It was easy to reattach and refit the door card to complete the job. All done. Simples. I also discovered that my door speakers have already been upgraded at some point to Alpine units. What is apparent though is that there must be some broken wiring in the driverside door jam causing the hissing & poor audio. That's next on the list to fix.

With the sun beaming in the new season under volcanic Britain; it seemed a good time to try out the roofless option. Ok so it's semi topless driving but boy does the exhaust sound good from through the hole in the roof!

Today may be April Fools Day but passing 200,000 miles in my '86 944 is no joke!

I didn't love the Teledials at first but admittedly I've really come to adore them since the first photoshoot I did with my 944. They do look gorgeous especially when waxed. However, my one desire was for larger diameter wheels though (my son kept encouraging me to go for eighteens LOL), and after months of searching I've managed to nab some 16" Teledials from an '86 Turbo. The bonus being that the tyres on my fifteens were needing replacement and the sixteens came with some great Nankangs, albeit with some refurb work required on the fronts. The biggest difference between the wheels is that the lovely deep dish of the Teledials is, well, slightly less deep dish on the sixteens surprisingly - as you can see below. The sixteens are on the right in the second shot. It's a compromise I think I can live with though. The new wheels are shod with 225/55 tyres which are a little bigger than the 195/65's they replace, but tyrebible show them as only bein...

Well I popped the bonnet and fitted the new relay for the fan, then took the 944 for a good countryside drive - which included a guiness for St. Patricks day. Arriving home I left the car on idle with the bonnet open so I could see the fan running. And thankfully after a couple minutes off it went. Relief. If I'd just accepted the quote on the assumption that the fan was dead then I'd be almost £250 out of pocket. As it is this relay cost a paltry £37 delivered overnight from the guys at German Sports Cars. Incidently it's important to note that some 944s have only a single fan such as mine. The relay for the dual fan cars is about £125.

One of the items that Jon's Garage pointed out in their extensive check was that the engine fan was not engaging. That's a serious problem if I get stuck in traffic. Now that the sun is out and temps are in the mid-teens, it's easier to get stuck into this issue. James, the chap who did my inspection, suspected that the fan was seized. I've been spraying GT85 of the motor for the last week or so in the hopes it would free up. While it's certainly stiff I hadn't been convinced it was kaput. New ones are a couple hundred quid, and used ones far less off eBay. I'm far more concerned with overheating on the school run. Firstly, I noticed that a fuse had gone in position 15, thankfully I had a replacement to hand. The next test was to see if the relay was in fact switching the fan on. Connecting a test bulb to the wiring harness and running the engine didn't yield any results. Which meant I was going to have to pull the fan out and power it directly to t...

It's not often that I'm down Christchurch way. But seeing as though Jon Mitchell's famed garage is here it seemed like a good enough reason to visit. Jon offers a comprehensive inspection of your Porsche. So while they're giving my 944 a thorough going over I've taken the short walk into town. I must say that Christchurch, Dorset that is, is quite an amazing place to spend a couple of hours. If you've not been to Jon's or this quaint, characterful old town then now's the time to book in. Especially on a glorious late winters day such as this. The stroll around the canal in the shadow of the cathedral has posed a few photo ops, and I hope to return more aptly armed in future. So while I enjoy my freshly brewed coffee my feet ready themselves for the walk back to JMG and a useful list of things to guide the next moves on my beloved 944.

The one common issue with the Porsche 944 is a leaking sunroof, so much so that many seek out a rare model without a sunroof. This is due primarily to the obvious fact that seals don't last forever, therefore water ingress into the cabin is a common complaint. What's more alarming than damp footwell carpets is the cost of a new sunroof seal from some suppliers. However, solving this issue may not be as expensive as replacing all the seals in every aperture! When I collected my Porsche on that sunny autumn day back in October, I was surprised that there was some condensation gathering on the windows - which is also how I found out that my heater wasn't working correctly (see my other post in that regard). I remember back to my university days and a friends Mark I Golf that leaked into the passenger footwell from the wind screen causing the windows to mist up terribly. A very common issue with that particular car in the eighties. My 944 had a mildly damp passenger footwell c...

The first Saturday of the month is breakfast morning with a few mates. It's always a good laugh and we move it around. Of course I was taking the 944 to Chichester on this trip. I was expecting a good fry up but I wasn't expecting two full size passengers to join me on a back road jaunt to work up an appetite. They parked the Lexus and announced they were going to squeeze in - well one of them at least - the crazy canuck who volunteered for the back seat! If you've seen the back seat in any Porsche coupe you'll know that it's really only suited to kids or bottles of NOS. Mine look mint for sure but I wouldn't want to travel back there. The things people do to drive in a Porsche eh?

I say the first real drive, because today was the first time I drove the 944 with all the jobs done. There was no nagging thought about what needed to be fixed next to get her running just right. Today it was pure joy to go driving. The back roads of West Sussex hide some real gems. Tiny villages. Stunning countryside vistas. I relished the solitude and thrived on the prowess of this now 24 year old car. This was our delayed birthday drive together and it was a celebration of sorts. It was almost as if she was loving this as much as I having been brought back from the beginnings of near neglect to something of her former glory. This 944 was built to be driven. And I'm loving it more and more. This is why I've forgone a newer, warrantied heap of tin & plastic with "sculptured lines" and marketing hype. I don't want to settle for blandness. Life's too short for miles per gallon and NCAP ratings. I want to drive something iconic, that puts a smile on my face ...

I can't believe it's taken this long to track down a 130mm x M10 shoulder bolt! But I found a pair on eBay and they've arrived in first class post. Great service from Spalding Fasteners . Refitting the alternator with the correct length bolt was a great relief. The best I'd found was a 120mm M10 from B&Q but I could just see this alternator ripping off and shredding my engine bay. So I am glad I waited and found the correct bolt. And I have a spare. It was a little like Haynes say "refitting is the reversal of removal" but with almost zero degree temps in my garage - my little blower heater keeping the ice age at bay - it was a fiddly affair. I'd left the tension arm bolt in place to have the correct tension on the belt when refitted - the problem of course was then getting the alternator to line up with the fixing bolt. In the end I used a little ingenuity and pushed it up into place with the trolley jack from MachineMart as recommended by Car Mechan...

Right. Finally there was a break in the snow and I got to collect my alternator from Power Components. It seems almost criminal that some companies are charging almost as much for a replacement voltage regulator as Roger is for rebuilding the whole alternator - with new bearings too! It just goes to show - I could be spending a heck of a lot of money getting this 944 on the road if I wasn't prepared to get my hands cold & dirty, and make a few phone calls. It's also great to know that there are people like Roger at Power Components in the world who don't feel the need to rip people off. The bracket is off the alternator but the pivot bolt is seized in the bracket. So I popped round a local garage who have a hydraulic press and they've pushed it out, as well as drilling out the pivot bolt hole so a replacement will fit easily. £25 well spent I'd say. So far I haven't found a bolt to use. It's 130mm x M10 shoulder bolt. Neither Porsche nor VW (it's the...

It's freezing cold all over England. I'm sure you've seen the pics. It's the ice age in my garage - not the best of times to get the alternator out for it's rebuild. To make matters worse I think I may have just botched this whole rebuild idea by breaking the pivot bolt. The head just sheered off completely, requiring the removal of the whole alternator bracket with the alternator attached. Thankfully there was a bracket to remove or it would be game over. Hopefully Roger from Power Components can sort this for me - if he can get to work in all this snow!