944 Key

[Dano944]

I bought a new OEM ignition key blank from Pelican, and when I went to the locksmith, it needed a special key cutter because it was steel instead of brass. It didn’t occur to me why that was until recently when, after simply inserting the key into to ignition (without turning on the car), the accessories would work (radio). Is a steel key unique to the 944, or do other Porsche models share it?

[J1NX3D]

I'm not sure about the your question but I've heard of this happening before.

The lock components, etc, are actually VW/Audi. I had a brand new key blank cut off a database and not off my old worn key. My key profile was one of about 12 and was listed under VW keys 1975-1996 IIRC.

[Monkey Wrench]

if you have the blank and a bit of time I bet it would be possible to simply copy the profile onto the new key with a file. check with a caliper and go slow and be careful not to file the original key?

I think if it's unlocked you can also pull the lock apart and file the tumblers if necessary. I'm not suggesting you do that because why mess with that, but Ive done that successfully on door locks of other cars. just stick the key in the spool thing and then file the key or the tumblers until they dont protrude with the key inserted. Maybe there is something different about this one but I'd expect you can do that in a pinch, or a locksmith could. once you get the spool out it's pretty self explanatory.

if you dont want to mess with it I'd see a different locksmith and not some wallmart key center or something like that. I find it hard to imagine a real journeyman locksmith would get stuck just because it's iron.

on a normal grindstone I dont like grinding aluminum much because it plugs the wheel , you can re true the wheel to clean it though. maybe the key grinders are not a stone but something else like a cutter of some sort and maybe that part isn't supposed to be used on iron.

even without the key cutting machine, can't a locksmith simply use a file to copy it? I can see them wanting a little extra but it doesn't seem like it should be a huge issue. making the blank might take a milling machine to cut the slots right, but you have that so it should just be a matter of copying the key's profile unless its weird or I'm missing something obvious here.

[TheSecondChris]

quit before you get more frustrated. I couldn't find anyone to cut the steel key but the locksmith probably has something similar that they will cut for you.

[Jfrahm]

It's a common VW/Audi key blank so getting a brass spare is not too hard.
If you want to use a Porsche lighted key head you can call around to find someone who will cut the mild steel blanks or maybe use keys4classics. Chances are there is a locksmith who can cut your blank, maybe look for one that does high-security stuff like safes and fancy padlocks.

[originalowner]

Might be steel so it doesn't sheer off opening the rear hatch. (Just joking, but kinda not joking.)

[Dano944]

Sorry guys. I wasn’t clear. I bought a new key blank and had it cut. No problem. My question was why it was steel, and was that specific to the 944? Thanks. Sorry for the confusion.

[Monkey Wrench]

the 85 944 that I just got has two steel keys. I believe they are original they do have a logo on the black plastic part.

I have two related questions :
- on mine, just a few inches to the rear of the door lock there is a second lock. He said it's for the alarm. Is this an original thing or something that was added?

- I can pull the sunroof right out by getting my fingers under it , should it lock? would this normally lock electrically at the same time as the car door is locked?

[originalowner]

Originally Posted by Monkey Wrench

I have two related questions :
- on mine, just a few inches to the rear of the door lock there is a second lock. He said it's for the alarm. Is this an original thing or something that was added?

- I can pull the sunroof right out by getting my fingers under it , should it lock? would this normally lock electrically at the same time as the car door is locked?

A) That is the factory alarm. It uses a different key than the ignition.

B) The sunroof does not lock with the alarm or doors. The sunroof motor drives the lifters into three positions: Open, Closed, and Unlocked. Yours is all the way to the unlocked position. Clark's Garage has a section on sunroof troubleshooting, including manually moving the motor. You should at least move yours to the closed position so your roof is secured. You can troubleshoot it later.

[Dano944]

Well, mine is a 1983 and I don’t have that extra lock behind the door. I believe tat a was an option for the alarm, which may explain why my father-in-law installed a Cliffor alarm, which disintegrated from old age. I’m not sure about your sunroof, but mine is totally manual. I flip the rear latches, and I can prop the rear open. Or, flip the front latches too, and remove the entire sunroof.

[Monkey Wrench]

thanks originalowner, your comments helped clear that up.

mine is an 85 and sunroof is electric. it's sluggish so are the windows but maybe the battery is half dead. ill plan to clean and grease the moving parts and check the clark's garage site.

I make comparisons to Volvo because I have more experience wiht that. I found that with some of the window motors what happens is they have magnets that are stuck to the case of the motor. i have seen the same with the wiper motor. when I actually got them apart the fix was easy, I just needed to clean and epoxy the magnet back to it's outer casing. What happened was the motor turned but with the magnet stuck to the armature causing the motor to run but labor and run very slowly.

if you find a slow motor you can open it up and see if that's happening with other motors like this. my headlights won't open but I'll wait and have a better look at that too. I assume switching on the lights should open them. the ones below the bumper do work.


I spent a couple hours searching to try to find an OEM repair manual, there were a lot of sites with popups and wanted credit cards and such. eventually I hit on a european site with a name that included "garage" and it wasn't clark's garage. I found some helpful stuff . the haines book I have but it's pretty limited. I found some old posts where people were searching for it and I think a moderator had intervened with the posting of the link. not trying to create problems for anyone but I doubt if Porsche benefits by limiting access to old literature that actually helps people keep these older ones on the road.

searching lots of pages sometimes leads me to one that is a malicious site so I dont know what to say except it's out there.

im not sure what is an option and what isnt; but mine is a couple years newer so maybe they went electric or offered it as an option. I prefer cranks on old cars, less trouble but of course , unless you want to take apart a car for the parts, you have what you have. I pulled all the wiring from an 88 volvo and was surprised how much was unnecessary relating to power windows power locks etc. without all that there is less to go wrong.

I have a frined who was struggling financially and trying to get his acura working, he tried everythign he knew,, well after 2 months of struggling and taking the bus , turned out the key and the immobilizer were causing his no start issue, he had finally gone to a mechanic and then he said but we can't work on the immobilizer you have to go to a dealer. I felt it was one of many instances where overcomplication killed the car. he bought a different car. one reason I like this car is it's new enough to have some features but it wasn't at the stage where we are now where the dealer has so much control over repairs that it became an economic burden to the consumer that bought the product. I can see fixing most things myself. Ill try my best anyway.

[Dano944]

I bought the Haines manual too, but for what I need to do, it’s useless. Nothing about changing the window washer reservoir, nothing about changing the hood-release cable, nothing about replacing the hood/hatch struts and more, which were all the things I needed to do. Anywwys, I like looking at the Haines manual and thank my lucky stars thst I don’t need to drop the trans-axle or rebuild the motor.

[djnolan]

I spent a couple hours searching to try to find an OEM repair manual,

Monkey Wrench: Check out Clark's Garage Home Page, better than any factory manual...

[Monkey Wrench]

yes definitely, This is a great resource as well and it seems quite focused upon the real things I'll need to look at. My headlights won't open and there was a great electrical explanation , and I need to do my belts. I didn't expect there would be tricks to remove the distributor cap and that was well explained as well. very helpful, thanks.

[Dano944]

Originally Posted by Monkey Wrench

yes definitely, This is a great resource as well and it seems quite focused upon the real things I'll need to look at. My headlights won't open and there was a great electrical explanation , and I need to do my belts. I didn't expect there would be tricks to remove the distributor cap and that was well explained as well. very helpful, thanks.

Re. Your headlights, try a few simple things. First, on the passenger’s side, there is module that plugs into the top of the headlight motor. Delicately unplug the module and spray carb cleaner into the contacts, then after it dries, spray a bit of WD40. Secondly, spray WD40 in and around all the moving linkage of the headlight motor shaft and all the linkage attached to the headlights. Use the manual knob on top of the headlight motor to open and close the headlights a bit to unstick the linkage. Hopefully that helps.

[dme]

Originally Posted by originalowner

Might be steel so it doesn't sheer off opening the rear hatch. (Just joking, but kinda not joking.)

I hold my breath every time.

[Dano944]

Originally Posted by dme

I hold my breath every time.

Me too. Aside from being difficult to get to the lock, under the wing, I hope like hell the key won’t bend or break when I unlock the hatch, and I breath a sigh of relief when the hatch pops open.

[Monkey Wrench]

I suppose one could replace the gas struts with motorized linear actuators. Then the hatch could open slow and steady and hold in any position. maybe the motors would be kind of in the way. if they lifted from just one side that might not work so well..

[originalowner]

Originally Posted by Monkey Wrench

I suppose one could replace the gas struts with motorized linear actuators. Then the hatch could open slow and steady and hold in any position. maybe the motors would be kind of in the way. if they lifted from just one side that might not work so well..

They make them with position feedback, so an appropriate control circuit could keep both sides perfectly aligned while going up and down, and halt if it detects a side not functioning correctly in order to prevent twisting. Kind of a big project just to replace the gas struts though.

[89-944NA]

Back to your original question about your key blank, all Porsches used steel keys at one point in time, not sure when they started using brass, but it was after 1989.