Tuesday's progress on the Project 959 (Oct 16th)...

[Wayne 962]

First off, thanks to everyone who helped me identify the small window regulator spring holder that I was inquiring about in this thread:

Need help identifying a part that fell out of my 959 door...

I did some further inspection, and it appears that I have a later-style regulator with an improved version of that clip. It's very difficult to see in there, but I saw it turning around. So, I will assume that this clip is from a faulty regulator that was replaced at some time previous. The window works great, and I don't really like to mess with windows, since they can take a lot of adjustment to get right. There is an upgrade available for this "pivot" piece, made by Weltmeister, that I will be adding to our catalog shortly (thought it was in there). Sure, I'd like to sell more regulators, but this piece seems to be the ticket to fix the older worn out ones instead. It's really not a great design anyways...

Friday night, after meeting up with the gang and Grady, I went to go lock the car, and the lock cylinder came out in my hand! I've seen this before, it happens when the screw on the end of the lock falls off. Well, then I tried to close the door, and it wouldn't close! I hadn't seen that before, and those two mechanisms are completely separate, so this had me confused as to why the lock and door mechanism would both stop working simultaneously. It turns out that the end pieces of the door handle fell off and got lodged into the door latch mechanism, causing it to jam. I fished one out on Monday (yesterday), and then the 2nd piece today. I will have to go to the hardware store to find the proper metric machine screw - these are not available separately from Porsche (we have a great hardware store down the street that has all of this specialty hardware - you don't even need to drive there, it's within waking distance). I recommend putting some red Loctite on this screw - it has a tendency to come out after 20 years of use. Hopefully when I put the whole thing together, the power locks will start working again (they aren't working properly now). I think the mechanisms need some greasing too - we'll do that tomorrow.

Took off the driver's side panel, of course, to get to the driver's side door handle (see the Project in the 101 Projects book). It's been a while since I've been working on one of my cars, I forgot how much fun this could be. Plus, with the 959, it's not the same old stuff again and again, there's lots of new and unique stuff on the car to explore at every turn. Unfortunately, I had to take off the passenger side door panel again (only takes about 5 minutes) because I wasn't exactly sure how the door handle hardware was supposed to go together (had to look in there to see what I needed to do for the door on the opposite side). I was missing a piece (that made it not work properly), and I couldn't for the life of me find it. So, I loosened everything up in the driver's side door, and then felt around in there for about 10 minutes. Finally, I pushed on something, and it felt loose. Sure enough, it was the top end piece of the door handle that had fallen into the mechanism (the 2nd piece that had done this). I tell you, it's very tricky to find this in there - you can't see anything, and all of the parts look like they belong in there, even if they are wedged inside the mechanism. I still haven't found the small screw that holds everything together, but something tells me it fell out a long time ago, and is long gone (or the people who painted the car didn't put it back in correctly).

Yesterday I went to Radio Shack and bought a mess of parts to create my own 959 diagnostic code reader. It's a really simple device with four switches and a lamp. Trouble is, you need to know how to hook it up to the diagnostic port of the car correctly. I'm in the process of figuring this out with the help of a few friends who have this coveted information (sometimes people are cautious to share). Either way, I'll eventually figure it out, and once I have that tool setup and running, I'll be able to diagnose what's wrong with the turbo boost system. I'm quite excited about working on this, as it's unique to the car. The instructions in the factory workshop manuals are sparse, but very clear. I'll have to test each component according to the procedures in the manual and see what the problem is. I'm also hoping for some advanced clues from the dianostic code reader.

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

Here's that spring clip holder from the window regulator. As mentioned previously, I checked, and my current regulator on the driver's side already has a spring clip holder in place. So, this must be left over from a previous faulty window regulator.



Here's the driver side door handle. I found it interesting that this one appears to be maroon. I don't think that the car originally had a maroon interior, but the one on the other side is black (if I recall correctly). I'm guessing that since they only made a handful of cars each month, and all of the interiors were covered leather, that they grabbed what handles they had off the shelf, and covered those. The door panels all seem original, but definitely handmade, like the old days...



Here's a shot of the driver's side door panel. I'm going to replace the door switch retainers, and install the moisture barrier to protect the door panels in case the car gets wet.



Odd overspray. I'm not sure how this happened when they repainted the car. Still, it's sloppy. This is covered by the door pockets, so I will probably just leave it - I don't want to attempt a cleaning on a door panel and accidentally damage it somehow. All of this stuff is original, and no longer available. Either way, sloppy job from the paint shop.



Here's a photo of the inside of the driver's side door handle. As you can see, I'm missing some stuff at the end of the door handle (compare to the next few photos). Washers were also missing on the door handle screws (I put them back in), more sloppiness from the paint shop. There's a wire there in the photo that is not plugged into anything - I'm not sure what that is, or where it goes. I have the electrical diagrams next to me, when I'm done annotating these photos, I will look it up.



It's obvious that there's been some significant work done inside the door. More sloppiness - the late-style Porsche parts sticker is still on this replacement harness/actuator.



Here's a photo of the door handle removed. The pieces fell into the mechanism visible in the lower part of the photo here. As you can see from this camera angle, it's very tough to see in there...



Here's the opposite (passenger) side. You can see the additional pieces of hardware attached to the passenger side door handle. I had to take the door panel off to see what the driver's side was supposed to look like. Again, it's very similar to the Carrera stuff, but since this is a 959, and things are very prototype-ish, I wanted to make sure and confirm.




Here's the door handle, lock cylinder, and the two pieces that fell into the door latch mechanism. IMPORTANT: DO NOT REMOVE THE KEY WHEN YOU HAVE IT IN THE LOCK CYLINDER LIKE THIS. The pins will come flying out, and you will lose the springs and the locations of the pins. I took one of these from an original 914-6 to a locksmith, and his assistant was there, and I handed it to her, and said "Don't Pull out..." but by the time I got to the word pull, she had already pulled out the key, and everything went flying. My fault for thinking she knew what she was doing.

[Wayne 962]

Here are two photos of the diagnostic box that I made. It's a simple device that just consists of a lamp, two push butttons, and a momentary on/off toggle switch. The instructions on how to use this are in the Porsche 959 factory workshop manual. I'm still waiting for confirmation from a few different sources on how to hook this up properly to the car - I'd hate to make a mistake and fry the ECU or something silly like that.

[Wayne 962]

I can't think of what those two wires would go to in the door, the electrical diagrams don't have a big section called "DOOR" where everything is listed - it's sortof scattered all over the place. Any suggestions?

-Wayne

[Nutmeg911]

Is the car equipped with a central locking system? could it be for that ?

[slodave]

Wayne, is the stereo plug with your key a key fob or does it do something?

[Wayne 962]

Yes, it has the central locking system, but that appears to be hooked up and working with other wires. Seems to only be in the driver's side door too...

-Wayne

[Gogar]

Is it a leftover from the factory alarm "in the door" key?

[87coupe]

Wiring for a factory alarm - the ones with the key in the door jam?

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by slodave

Wayne, is the stereo plug with your key a key fob or does it do something?

Great question - you tell me please! It came with car, I have no idea what it does, but it has a little light on the end of it. Looks like something from a very primitive alarm, but I really have no idea. I haven't messed with the aftermarket alarm system, nor do I really intend to. I may remove it some day, but for now, it's not getting in the way...

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by 87coupe

Wiring for a factory alarm - the ones with the key in the door jam?

That's a very smart guess. The wiring diagrams do have a factory alarm system on them. There's no keyhole in the door though. Hmm, wasn't the key for the factory alarm in the body though, not the door?

-Wayne

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

That's a very smart guess. The wiring diagrams do have a factory alarm system on them. There's no keyhole in the door though. Hmm, wasn't the key for the factory alarm in the body though, not the door?

-Wayne

Wayne, if there is no keyhole, you should have a black plug in the door towards the top. The factory alarm was act/deact thru the door.

Dave

[slodave]

Factory alarm plug circled in yellow - no, it is not a 959 arena red door

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by slodave

Factory alarm plug circled in yellow - no, it is not a 959 arena red door

Cool, I believe that plug is there. I think I'm thinking of the 944 alarms. Some late 1980s Porsche had a keyhole on the body of the door jamb, I think. Or maybe it was the BMWs. Man, too much information to remember.

So, if your car has that plug there, does it have an extra harness inside? Have you looked previously?

-Wayne

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

So, if your car has that plug there, does it have an extra harness inside? Have you looked previously?

-Wayne

Sorry, I have been in there a number of times, but never paid attention. I would be happy to take the panel off and look for you.

Dave

[Wayne 962]

Okay, the electrical diagrams say the wires should be grey and brown for the lock switch. I didn't get a good photo of the wires tonight, but I'm fairly confident that they were grey and brown, which makes perfect sense. Mystery solved, no need to think about it any more.

Thanks!

-Wayne

[saintz]

Wayne

My 1989 ROW has the exact same key, it has a small silver Porsche badge set into the opposite side of the button that operates the light, My car is fitted with a factory alarm that seems to work automatically (e.g. pop the engine cover but don't open it up, lock the door then open the engine cover and the horn located near the steering rack goes off and resets when you turn the ignition on).

There is no after market alarm items on the car, only a factory module.

My Drivers door (left hand door) does not and never has had a key or separate hole as shown in slodave's photo.

I asked about this in an old post because I had never heard of this set up and no one had an answer back then either.

interesting stuff, I'd love to know the answer to this one as well.

Mark

[drnhoffmann]

Hi

can anybody tell me where i can buy this diagnostic box?? or who build tis box?

norbert

[daepp]

I think Wayne, the owner of Pelican, built that diagnostic tool. You might try contacting him.

[80sCarsAreBest]

I was just discussing 959s over lunch (what else is there to talk about) and the mystery box capable of diagnosing whatever ails a 959 was mentioned. Now, after lunch, I should be doing something productive but I find myself googling "Porsche 959 diagnostics box" and came across this old post.

Did you ever get your home-brew solution to work Wayne? If yes, would you be willing to share you expertise? Is this box as capable as I think it is? Does it iron shirts as well?