Pop-off adventure

BlueSkyJaunte · 07-12-2002, 07:59 AM

My wife, my buddy, and I got into the 911 last night to go out for dinner up in Phoenix. Since it was an "ozone alert day" I had carpooled with my coworker to work, so the 911 had sat for about 24 hours since its last trip. I would guess the temperature in the garage was 100 degrees F.

I fired it up (it caught right away, as it always does). Suddenly the engine went "CHUG!", tried to keep running, then died. I cranked it for a little while, but it wouldn't catch. Thinking I had suddenly re-developed my old fuel pressure problem, I went under the lid to lift up the pressure plate and get some fuel into the system. To my surprise, when I took off the airbox cover, I found the pop-off valve lying in the bottom of the airbox about six inches to the right of its mounting hole. "Well!" says I, "That explains the problem!" I jammed it back into place, and the car fired right up. We went out to eat and upon our return I epoxied it back into place.

Fired it up again this morning; no problems. Drove to work.

I always thought backfiring on startup like this was a problem in cold / wet weather??? What gives?

Chuck Moreland · 07-12-2002, 08:11 AM

This is a pretty common problem with these things coming un-glued. It's happened to me and others on the board.

Seems the glue normally breaks away from the pop valve, not the air box. The material the pop valve is made from is very smooth and is not a good glueing surface.

Someone suggested roughing it up a bit with fine sandpaper before applying the glue. I haven't tried it but it sounds like a good idea.