What is this bell-looking thing?

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

Hi everyone. I'm new here and very much a 944 Newb. I just bought a 1988 Porsche 944 N/A last week and have learned alot just by reading this board.
This morning I was looking around the engine compartment and noticed something odd. There's that bell looking thing (with a little bit of blue paint on top of it) and a brown wire that goes to no where. It looks like it just a ground wire. When I noticed it, it seemed to be attached to the top of the bell thing and fell off. Before I reattach it, I just wanted to find out what it was and if indeed that's where it belongs.
My last question is the black wire with the yellow connector at the end (just to the right of the bell thing). That appears to come out of the firewall and just ends right there (it doesn't connect to anything).
Are these things related, and if so how should they be connected.
Much thanks in advance.
-John

Schumi · 12-10-2008, 10:02 AM

hello!

It's a vacuum control valve, and that wire doesn't go to it. It is not electric. Brown is used for ground on these cars, and it looks like it may be an extra ground intended to ground the bracket for the sensor port it is hooked to, although I have never seen this wire before.

Be sure to put your car's model / year in your forum signature block so people can help diagnose things easier later.

krystar · 12-10-2008, 10:30 AM

and it's part of the emissions system that vents to the carbon canister in the wheel well. if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Techno Duck · Techno Duck's Garage

The brown wire is the ground for the brake wear pad sensor.

It also looks like someone installed a seperate brake fluid reservoir for the clutch master cylinder.

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

Actually, my brake wear sensor light is on. maybe that is part of the reason. the previous owner told me that the brake pads were good, just the sensor wire came off.
Yeah, there is a separate reservoir for the clutch. I noticed that before. I guess that's not a bad thing, right?
Anyone have any idea what that black wire is with the yellow connector? It doesn't connect to anything, which seems odd.

Techno Duck · Techno Duck's Garage

The yellow connector is for the brake pad wear sensor. The other end that is missing is the sensor side that attaches to the brake pad. Looks like thats what your missing. I dont have any clear pictures, but you can see what i am talking about in this picture. Normally the sensor wire runs down the side of the strut tower. You do not need the sensors as long as you are pro-active in checking things on your car. You can simply jump the two pins on the connector and fix that ground so the light goes off. Then check your brake pads every 3-4 weeks (easy to do on the single piston calipers by just looking through the wheel).

cwiert · cwiert's Garage

Oh, I see. OK, that makes sense.
Thanks everyone for the replys.

HondaDustR · 12-10-2008, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krystar

and it's part of the emissions system that vents to the carbon canister in the wheel well. if it ain't broke, don't fix it

The trick is, how do you know if it's broke? How can you tell it's not just being a big vacuum leak? I've never seen anything about this thing, not even in the factory manual.

Schumi · 12-10-2008, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HondaDustR

The trick is, how do you know if it's broke? How can you tell it's not just being a big vacuum leak? I've never seen anything about this thing, not even in the factory manual.

And this is just another reason to delete the carbon canister and cap that vacuum connection off...

HondaDustR · 12-10-2008, 08:00 PM

Can't you just leave the canister and cap the line off? I've been very tempted to just disconnect the line at the J-boot and plug the inlet. It would be nice to be able to just hook it back up for emissions inspection. They probably don't know what to look for, but it would suck to have to go back because of it if they did.