A New 911 Owner

[NilesS]

Until three weeks ago, I had no notion of purchasing a 911. Then a friend called to say he knew of a 1982 911 Targa SC with 78,000 miles for sale. One drive in it was all that it took. As newcomer to 911s, I have to say that I am really taken by the simple elegance of the car -- no bells and whistles to speak of, just a great car to drive.

The PPI revealed a couple of minor issues that I am going to get straightened out, but I do have a couple of questions.

The front and the rear driver's side parking lights' fuse keeps blowing. I read one thread on here that suggests simply pulling the bulb on one end and testing the circuit to see if the fuse blows again to learn which end of the car your short is on. And working from there. Any other suggestions for sorting this problem out?

Also, the car has not had the chain tensioner upgrade. I've read the posts here on the issue, but I have talked with three mechanics about it -- the mechanic who did the PPI , the mechanic who has maintained the car at Monaco Motors in the San Fernando Valley, and another Porsche mechanic here in town -- and all three have advised against it. So now I am more than a little confused.

Thanks. This forum has been a great source of info.

[kstylianos]

Welcome to the board. You will find lots of valuable information and wise, friendly people.

I'm curious what the mechanics reasoning against installing the carrera tensioners was? Maybe you have the safety collars which will prevent the tensioner from falling completely if one were to fail. If one tensioner were to fail (and it's more of a when rather than if) w/o the safety collar, their goes your engine...NO JOKE. So I'm just curious why they advised against it.

The carrera chain tensioners are oil fed, rather than just spring loaded and are considered very reliable. There is a reason Porsche designed new tensioners. The parts/kit cost about $350 and the labor is a good 8 hours of your (or someone else's) time.

BTW: I bought mine w/o a pop off valve or tensioners. At the time, I did not know about Pelican or other Porsche related boards. At least you got a PPI

[RANDY P]

Welcome -

Start with the basics, remove the bulbs and clean all the sockets all around the car - unless the wiring been hacked up, probably just a corrosion problem.

Start with all the bulbs removed, then add them one by one till you've cooked the fuse. But, by the time you're done cleaning and checking sockets the problem should be gone.

good luck

rjp

[thrown_hammer]

Awhile back on Rennlist there was some debate that adding the pressure fed tensioners without upgrading you oil pump could cause oil starvation. If I remember it was a rather heated disscussion.
I think most would say install them. I put them on my '75 and never looked back.

[Tim Walsh]

First of all Welcome to the board! You'll find all sorta of experience here and you'll probably make alot of new friends since you're in SoCal. There are a bunch of active P-car owners over there.

I would install the Oil tentioners, it's a good upgrade and I don't think that they use so much oil that they'll cause oil starvation. If the oil tentioners aren't a good idea in your book I would at least use the saftey collars as a broken tentioner is major $$$

Also about the electrical gremlin, I would remove all the bulbs on the curuit and clean the sockets and insert them one by one watching for a blown fuse. That should isolate the short.

[Jdub]

Welcome! And as the mechanic who came out to look at my Porsche SC said to me "You got a good 'un."

You do need the oil-fed tensioners. This is a plus on resell.

The bulbs are a bit of a pain. Go around the car and take off each lens cover, dropping them in warm soapy water to soak. VERY CAREFULLY wipe clean the silver finish inside the bulb buckets as it comes off or dulls just looking at it sideways. Warm water and a soft cotten towel here.

As mentioned above, put in each bulb and see what's what. I would recommend you go ahead an purchase new bulbs all the way around, of the same manufacturer. Jahn, Phillips, or similar are good bets here. Also, take a paper clip and turn it 90degrees at one end, about a 1/4 max. Use this to pull the center tab in the depths of each bulb socket where this tab doesn't put tension on the bulb (that is, the tab has worn in and no longer presses against the center of the bulb nicely).

Finally, on the front signal/running light buckets, there is a ground point that is molded into the side of the bulb socket - easy to miss as you disassemble so that you are unsure there that darn ground wire goes then you hook everything back up. If you can, before pulling the front ones apart, reach in the back and clean the harness that goes into the bucket. Wipe some armor all on it and carefully overfeed the harness into the bucket. This will give you some slack on the inside and you won't be pulling wires under tension. You'll see what I mean - it is easier than I explain!

Tell us more about your car. Fuchs? Sport seats, tail?

John

[n8marx]

In regards to the parking light fuse blowing out. Try this: Under your engine lid there should be a light for the engine compartment. Disconnect the wires running to it and see if you are still blowing fuses. My '86 Carrera was blowing the same fuse as yours is and the drivers side lights were the only ones affected. I had reversed the wires when I reinstalled the light after having the engine lid off. If this works the problem is in your engine compartment light.

A search of this board turned up a thread showing that the engine lid light is on the same circuit and will short it out if the wires are reversed.

Welcome aboard. General concensus around here is that you need the tensioner upgrade. Think about it as cheap insurance. Post some pictures for us to enjoy.
Mark

[weber92037]

Welcome. You might also try a 2-5 amp circuit breaker at each light (after removing the bulbs) and see which one pops the circuit breaker. That way you won't burn out the fuses as you diagnose. If you can't find one, I will be happy to lend you one. I'm in San Diego and can mail. Chuck.

[nostatic]

I've done a lot of reading concerning the chain tensioners. The general consensus is that you should do them, and some feel that replacing them is a regular maintenance issue (50K miles I believe was tossed around). I did in informal poll here and found that while the old tensioners can collapse, most people did not experience catastrophic failure. Evidently the sound when they collapse is pretty evident, and if you shut down destruction of the engine doesn't have to happen.

That being said, I'm coming up on 50K miles, and I'll be upgrading to Carrera tensioners.

[Porschephanatic]

Welcome. Please post some pics. My wrench agrees w/ nostatic. Catatrophe is not inevitable, and tensioner guards give me some peace of mind.

[autobonrun]

The majority on the board feel that the pressure fed upgrade is the way to go. Looking at the technical benefits, it makes sense. My opinion is that you need to do something. Either do the upgrade or add the mechanical stops to your existing tensioners. If you do go into this section of the engine, a third option which I like better is to replace the stock type with new stock type and the mechanical stops. After all, those in your car are now over 20 years old.

I decided to go with the mechanical stops when my car had 68,000 miles. I now have 204,000 miles. The stops are to prevent catastrophic failure. Both solutions are a form of insurance. I choose not to spend that much for insurance. Just a different opinion from the majority here.

When another repair causes me to go into the engine, I'll replace the old tensioners with the same original type and with a new set of mechanical stops. If I get another 24 years out of the next set, that's acceptable to me.

[cstreit]

I use the pressure fed tensioners in my street car as good insurance.

However, in the race car I do not. The mechanical ones get replaced often enough that I am not worried. I DO use the saver clamps on these though...

IMHO. Street car - Get 'em Track car - ???

[Rob McKibbon]

Welcome to Porsche ownership and the Pelican Parts BBS.

You can consider yourself lucky to be aboard the BBS, as I was not that fortunate before purchasing. There are some great guys and gals on this board and the information is awesome - incredible.

Good questions to start with; I'm no expert, so I won't comment, however I have taken this boards advise for my own car and oil tensioners, pop-off valves, new head studs and inserts are all underway.

Post a picture when you can - we'd love to see your ride. If you need help posting a picture do a search or just ask - there's always lots of help here!

Welcome again and Good Luck with your Pcar

[NilesS]

Thanks for all of the advice and the welcome. After reading through these, the car is off to the shop tomorrow -- and I am off on a week long business trip, a happy coincidence -- for the tensioners upgrade, a major service, and a few other odd and ends. The car checked out great in the PPI, but I am suspicious of the care the PO gave (the distributor cap and rotor showed considable wear, for instance), so before anything else, I thought I ought to do the major service. And since there is clearly no benefit to waiting for what is an inevitiable upgrade -- we will do it all at once.

Thanks, again.