Greets! New Porsche 944 owner!

[nutless_neo]

Hello fellow gear heads

I recently purchased an 84 944 and it's a pretty straight car but needs some TLC. I am new to Porsches but in no way new to cars. I've been building and racing them as a hobby for 25 years. I started out working for Bob Norwood in Dallas, Tx - if anyone knows who he is. But since then, I've mainly been messing about with import tuners and not so much the euro cars. So this is my first Porsche and I love it but I've got some - hopefully - minor issues to contend with.

Driving it home - a good 50 miles - from the seller's house, it ran hot with the temp gauge reaching up to 3/4 or higher before the fans would kick on and the temp would go down but sometimes at at high speeds, it just didn't get any lower than 3/4. Well, I finally had to stop for gas and popped the hood and low and behold, there was what seemed to be no water in the reservoir!! So, I added some water and went on my way, but the temp didn't change at all. I got the car from a Porsche mechanic and he said he did some valve work to it and added fresh oil days before I got a hold of it - so I'm sure he would have noticed if there were a head gasket leak. I also noticed that the temp gauge seemed to be a bit "sticky" and may not be reading correctly. The car runs beautifully and the engine purrs so smoothly, I was very impressed with it. It has no issues starting or idling. I already plan on replacing all the sensors, switches, thermostat and gauges for the cooling system to see if this takes care of the problem. I just wanted to see if there was anything else I should look for?

Thanks!!

Michael

p.s. - I LOVE owning a PORSCHE!

[thekidd]

Hmmm, I'm not the most knowledgeable person here, but, I have read that where the temp sensors gets its reading, there can be an air pocket in the cooling system there in the cam tower area.You should jack the ass end of the car up and flush the system, and refill. Or just refill with the cars back jacked up. And the are different thermo switches (drivers side on the top of the radiator- 2 wires) this reads the temp. of the coolant so it can kick the fans on at a certain temp. Mine used to a little hot, just below the 3/4 mark, and got a lower switch, and now my fans come on just above the 1/2 mark. Hope this helps.
Also, the Porsche 944 "bible"- www.clarks-garage.con

[mueller944s2]

Because Porsche's use real temperature gauges and not the ones programmed to stay in the middle, you'll see a lot of fluctuation. It's fairly normal for the temperature to creep up and then come back down, Clarks-Garage will tell you that. But it's not supposed to stay at 3/4. If the expansion tank was empty of coolant then you may have an air bubble, or if the people who last changed it didn't know then they might have done it wrong. Take off the cap on the expansion tank, rip a little hole in the paper towel and put it over the tank, you're gonna blow through it. Then take a 12mm wrench to the bleeder valve, open it a little, and blow through the tank with your mouth. Keep doing this until you don't hear air anymore (of course adding coolant the whole time). Once you just get coolant then start the engine and let it idle for a little bit, take it for drives while continuing to bleed it, but no longer with your mouth, open the valve and rev it slightly via the engine bay. You'll want to put the front of the car on ramps so that the bleeder valve area is the high point since air rises. Also try cleaning the contacts for the gauges. If all this fails you might want to get the system pressure checked for slight leaks, or you may have a bad thermostat.

[Slam]

On the early cars, if the gauge sticks and lags or jumps often it means an air pocket. If the gauge reads high (as you're describing) usually the issue is a bad ground. One thing that really helps is to add a ground straight from the battery to the engine, usually one of the intake mani bolts is a good point. The stock ground goes from the batt to the firewall and from there to the engine - not the best setup.

[PDX-944]

i just bought my 84 944 last week as well! so congrats to you also, its fun so far isnt it?

my gauge when i hit the freeway goes to 3/4 or just above as well. other driving seems to keep it around half or a little above.
my fans however do kick on at 1/2, so ive been reading either too hot a thermostat, or this bleeding issue. my gauge doesnt stick or jump at all while driving, however:

try this, or maybe someone else can tell me -
watch the temp gauge, with your heater fan off. now turn it to level 1, now 2, now 3, now 4 (which is the highest). with each click, does your temp gauge jump up a little bit? that makes me curious about the previously mentioned grounding problem also

[xsbank]

Is the rear supposed to be raised? I thought it was the front and you have to have the heater selected full on.
Do a quick search and you will get all the things to look for in a new purchase: belts immediately, water pump and rollers, heater valve, oil leaks that drip on your engine mounts, fuel hoses, rubber clutch, brakes, wheel bearings, shocks that are 25+, vacuum hoses replace, cheap plugs, rotor and expensive wires, filters, fluids, shifter bushings plus anything else neglected over the years. Bear in mind, all or most of the rubber will have perished by now, especially in the heat of Dallas.

[thekidd]

Sorry, ass end up to drain the coolant out, front up to get rid of any air pockets, or the way mentioned above

[nutless_neo]

Wow! Cool. Thanks so much for all the info. Very helpful. I will definitely follow those suggestions as well as changing out all the sensors and thermostat. It can't hurt

I have yet to be able to drive it since getting it home because I'm in the middle of changing out the shocks and struts. Little did i realize - even though I should have - that the fronts only require changing out the strut cartridge - ugh - so I researched it and it seems that I can do this with a table vise and a pipe wrench? Total shade tree mechanics, I know, but if it works - it works.

[PDX-944]

its okay, yesterday i purchased new wheel bearings ready to replace one corner that felt really loose when in the air - but not noisy. little did i know all i had to do was tighten down one nut to retighten the bearing. this is a learn as we go thing