That horrible horrible moment....

[McRod]

...when you realise theres smoke belching out of your dashboard.

Familair to anyone?.

Happened to me on Saturday afternoon in a car park at ASDA (Walmart) in Govan, Glasgow.

The day started nicely enough, so took out my `89 Cab for a spin up to Inverary in the Argyle region of Scotland. This was the first real run of the new year after having been garaged for the last 7 months.

As we get further towards Loch lomond from Glasgow, the heaven opened and the Cab gets it`s first feel of rain for years.

The hot air de-mister worked nicely and kept my windows perfectly clear.

On the way home, we decided to quickly drop into ASDA a Govan to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. I found a spot (200 yards from any other car !!), parked her up and Karen ran off to the store.

After a few moments, the windows began to steam up, as you would expect, so i turned on the engine and began adjusting the vent levers on the dashboard so it would blow maximum air onto the screen and door glass. Whilst doing this, i must have moved the cold air fan switch to the on position.

A few seconds went by and i briefly caught a smell of that electrical/plastic meltic type of smoke. It seemed to pass but then i noticed some smoke coming from the exterior vent where the scuttle panel meets to bonnet. Then all of a sudden the car fills up with this smoke.

That feeling of dredd was horrible. I was convinced she was about to go up in flames. I lept out the car and looked around for some kind of vessel that could hold water, all the time cursing myself for not having a fire extinguisher in the car.

Within a matter of 30 seconds, the smoke stopped and i lifted the bonnet and had a look behind the carpet covering the cold air intake fan. There was no visible damage, Just that horrible burning smell.

After a few minutes i decided to turn on the ignition and see if still worked. Dash lit up normally and the car started perfectly as you would imagine a P-car would.

I turned off the engine a left the ignition on and reluctantly moved the cold air intake switch to postion 1 again. Nothing happened. It seemed dead.

I was quietly relieved that it never came on as this helped my theory that the motor had somehow burned itself out. What still doesnn`t sit well with me is the fact it decided to put on a smokeshow rather than just pop a fuse.

I haven`t had any time since Saturday to strip the motor out. i`ll hopefully attend to that this coming weekend.

My question is, based on the symptoms you have read, would anyone agree or disagree that this problem was due to the cold air intake fan burning out and is it a fairly easy operation for an intermediate skilled mechanic like myself to change over. I`m alos curious as to whether or not there is anything i should check, whilst the fan motor is out, that might have contributed to the problem?.

Thanks in advance guys.

Rod

[scottb]

Good advertisement for having a fire extinguisher on board.

[AirCooledExcellence]

Hi Rod,

Yes I reckon it's the fresh air fan burned out, quite common I think.

I put a new one in mine, the motor alone is about £40. It's a good couple of hours work and it's a bit of a PITA, make sure you take photo's of all the vent connections before you start ripping it apart!

Oh yeah another tip, there is a plastic shroud that you will have to remove from the old motor and fit to the new one. Make sure you fit this shroud the correct way round to the new motor, I got it wrong and wasted another couple of hours wondering why it wouldn't go back together!

Cheers,

Tim.

[Glasgow 911SC]

Hi Rod,
Like Tim says , make a note of where all the pull cables on the fresh air flapper box go. A few photos would be ideal. I managed the swapover so the job can't be that hard.

[McRod]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Glad to hear it ain`t too difficult a job. Looking forward to it now that you`ve given me a little bit of confidence.

Would it be more cost effective to buy this part at my local Porsche dealership here in Scotland or via Pelican parts?.

My toolbox is also pretty basic so hopefully there ain`t any surprises there .

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciated as always.

Rod.

p.s. Chris. Been hard going supporting Rangers this year but keep the faith. We`ll be back, because we`re Rangers.

[AirCooledExcellence]

Rob,

Try www.type-911.co.uk or www.berlyn-services.co.uk

Cheers,

Tim.

[McRod]

Thanks Tim

Rod

[masraum]

Personally I think it's about time for all of the fans in the late 80's cars to start going bad. I have either replaced or will need to replace everyfan in my car in the last 3 years. I've replaced the A/C evaporator fan, the two footwell fans, and the engine compartment fan (this weekend), the fresh air fan makes a little noise if I turn it on (don't really need to usually).

I have seen lots of other 3.2L guys talking about replacing various fans in the last couple of years as well.

[john walker's workshop]

carreras have footwell fans under the carpets on each side. they commonly burn up and fill the car with smoke. they usually have been making screeching noises for a while beforehand. pull the carpeted side panels and have a look at the top of them, where the armature lives (lived).