Need help repairing 86 911 DME relay

Marined · Marined's Garage

I have a 1986 911 Carrera Cabriolet. Yesterday, I was driving down the road when the entire car just stopped. It would turn over strongly, but not even begin to start.

I spoke to the local Porsche dealership and they said it could be the DME relay. Est repair cost $130, two other shops quoted $150 & $200.

I found the part for $25 and need to get some instructions on how to repair it myself.

It is under the driver's seat, right? Do I unbolt the seat and it is easy as pulling out the old and inserting the new?

Thank you for any help you may provide.

Ed

midlife · 12-23-2009, 03:51 PM

You should be able to get to it by sliding the seat all the way forward.

rusnak · 12-23-2009, 03:54 PM

It depends on the type of seat (standard vs sport). Either way, it's not hard to remove the seat. The dme relay socket is held on with a 10mm nut. It's a 15 minute job.

dshepp806 · dshepp806's Garage

Remove the retainer nut,..extract the relay,..I usually coat the male contacts with ProGold or something similar ,..then insert the relay.

Best,

NewfieMZ3 · NewfieMZ3's Garage

This is a very easy fix as mentioned above, 10 mins, buy a spare one and keep in your tool kit with your spare belt.

pozee · 12-23-2009, 04:54 PM

Ed,

First off, unless you have run the diagnostics, you can't really be sure it's the relay. It could be one of the flywheel sensors or even the cht sensor.

It may very well be the DME relay and in that case it's fairly easy to replace. Disconnect the battery to be on the safe side and then as others have stated, push the seat all the way forward, reach in from behind and disconnect the harness to the relay by gently pulling on it. Then push the seat all the way back and unbolt the relay from the front.

If it's not the relay, at least you will have a spare now.

Do yourself a favor and invest in Wayne's book as well as the Bentley for your car.

Good luck.