Near perfection..

[jac912]

To my joy and surprise my '67 is running to near perfection as a daily driver (no rain! , no rain!). Just a couple of issues.
Turn signals. Mine will auto return only after a very sharp corner. They usually just continue to blink as if I'm an oblivious octogenarian in a Buick. Is this normal? Should there be a clicker or beeper connected or shall I add one?
Next, Highway driving is less fun than backroads and I notice if I cruise at over 3300 rpm (stock ratio 5 spd ) the oil heats up to about 2/3 or 3/4 gauge which may be too hot. With temperature at that level I get some crackling detonation sounds when climbing or accelerating. At low temperature with the same 93 octane gas it sounds great. Really great. The question is ... is it normal for my engine to heat up significantly more at say 3600 than cruising nicely say at 3000 rpm? I've wondered about effecient air flow pulled by the fan and lack of duct work . And the detonation ... a sign of preignition or postignition or fuel mix?
Any tips... thanks all for participating
Jim in Ma.

[912s]

Jim,

My '67 does the same thing with the blinkers. I haven't looked to see if it's normal (doubt it) or not as I've spent most of my time doing mechanical repairs/upgrades to make it a daily driver.

As for the oil heating up, I can say that mine with a 4 speed cruising the highway turning 4500 rpm doesn't do that. Assuming all of your tin work is in place and their isn't some hugh mouse condo blocking your cooler I would check the generator belt to make sure it isn't slipping. Just a thought, good luck.

[Green 912]

Have you checked the oil cooler? I t is not at all uncommon for it to get clogged up with a mix of dirt, dust, little leaves, spider webs, mouse fur, whatever, all glued on with oil mist. The downside is to check and clean it you need to pull/ lower the motor to get the doghouse off.

Tinware. As 912s pointed out, is ALL the tin in place? If not, the motor will recycle “used” hot air.

Timing. What distributor are you using and what is your fully advanced timing setting? Incorrect timing can lead to hot running and worse. You mentioned knocking. What is the compression ratio? Knocking can come from being too hot and it can also be part of the cause. Hot running and knocking on 93, I would check timing.

Mixture. What carbs and what jets are you using? Good running on the idle and advancement but overheating when high speed running or W.O.T. might indicate the main jets are too small and the motor is running too lean. This is not good! I have a 2.4L type 4 from a friends 914 in my workshop with #4 piston holed. The entire center of the piston is melted out. Looking through the sparkplug hole, you can see the rod and wrist pin. Lasted maybe 8 laps at the track.

[C. Clark]

Hello,
I'm glad your having fun with the car. I've also wondered about the oil temp, with my 69 the temp guage usually runs a little over half way, If I stress the engine, climbing hills, curvey roads etc. it get perhaps 2/3 at the most extreme. I have read others here mention the redline and my guage does not have a redline per say, it does have a thicker line in the higher temp zone of the guage. I always assumed that was the redline.
Also a lots depends on the weather with mine, hotter days, hotter oil temp. I don't have the cracking knocking you mentioned though.
Happy motoring,
Chas.

[bob tilton]

hey jim,
you will need to dig into the steering column to deal with your turn signal. there are "fingers" on both sides that need to catch in order to turn them off. they sort of look like scissor blades. i had the same thing happen to me. these fingers need to be bent back into position. good luck.
bob
68L

[cgarr]

"Green" may have it regarding your temp. When mine was running up hot I pulled the shroud and found the oil cooler full of the sound proofing material and in the cylinder fins, the stuff was breaking off and getting sucked thru the fan. I just took out the two bolts on the back mount and lowered the engine so to remove the shroud, still not easy but it did work. Now it always runs about 1/4 to 1/3 on the gauge around town but did get it up to almost redline but had to drive it about 20 miles nonstop at about 5900 = 105

Craig

[Dieselfitter]

jim, my 69 912 5 speed the turn signal also doesnt return. I find myself keeping my hand on it until turn is complete, but still blinkin away the next time .
also mine makes the crackling noise at 3/4 to full throttle all gears, all speeds more at lower rpm. Im thinking its either exhaust leaking at center connection or exhaust resonance? I have checked everything I can think of. I dont seem to be lacking power just the low tone crackling. Anyone else figured this one out yet?

[bmwloco]

My 912 turn signals don't return either - for a reason! They weren't designed to do so.

When you park, if you leave the run signal in the left or right position, the lights will stay on. Why? Safety. It's also a dandy way to drain the battery

So...it's an old german thing. They don't self return. Just another reason to love 912's.

[chickybok]

Hi

Just to be awkward! My turn signals return as soon as the wheel has been turned more than a 1/4 and back again.

Also the flasher relay makes an audible pinging sound which alerts me that the indicators are still operating.

I'm sure this is standard?

David (aka Chickybok)
1966 912

[Duke]

My 69 turn signals have always cancelled out when the wheel starts returning to the center position. If yours does not, perhaps someone removed the wheel or replaced the original wheel & did not replace the cancel piece or placed it in the wrong position.

[jac912]

Ok lads.. thanks for the input. I'll dig into the steering column ASAP and look at adjusting the directional returns. Probably will add a beeper to the system though ... I'm not an octogenarian yet but I am "on top of the hill". I'll borrow a timing light to investigate advance. Don't know which distrib I have there are no visible markings, although I suspect it was installed backwards or 180 degrees off ..don't ask!

[Langers]

For those of you concerned about oil temps and overheating your engine, a CHT (cylinder head temperature) gauge might be a good idea. CHT rises a lot more quickly under load than oil temp.

Have I done any damage?

[jac912]

Fixed the directionals easily enough by removing center steering wheel cover (wheel still attached) and bending the fingers with a screwdriver. They now return after most any turn as well as any new vehicle. They do not "ping" as the signal relay was not designed to.
Haven't experimented further with the temperature situation. I suspect it is a bit of all the above. Clogged fins, timing, mixture.
Car really is running super at all speeds with only side effect the advancing temp when cruising at over 3500 rpm on warm days. I'll experiment more in cold weather.
Thanks for the input.