Smokeshow of the ugly kind

[pozican]

Driving around in the 951, turned left at a stop light, punched it, and all of a sudden there is massive amounts of smoke behind me.

Turned the car off, and coasted off the street.

Opened the hood and got a massive amount of smoke in my face.
( if you have never seen your entire coolant system burst into steam it's fairly impressive... )

Noticed green liquid dripping from my heat shield on the hood.
Must be coolant.

A substantial amount of it was really near the firewall...

What are the hoses that coolant runs through?

Out of those, which ones go near the firewall?

Thanks,
-Alex

[Techno Duck]

There is the heater control valve which sits behind the intake manifold, sandwiched between the firewall and the cylinder head. There are two hoses which run from the firewall, through the heater control valve and into the cylinder head.

There is also a hose that connects to a hard pipe which runs right over the headers. I am not sure whatelse you may have back there for the turbo water pump, if anything.

[Eldorado]

if the smoke (steam, actually. not smoke) was coming out your exhaust pipe, i'd say headgasket.

[Razorback1980]

Since it's on the heat shield, I would agree with Techno. Makes are real mess out of a nice clean engine bay, doesn't it?

[pozican]

Originally posted by Eldorado
if the smoke (steam, actually. not smoke) was coming out your exhaust pipe, i'd say headgasket.

Nope -- When I stopped it was outta the hood, but I was doing 40 so because of the air speed it was behind me.


Thank god.

Thanks guys,
-Alex

[pozican]

Heat valve broke into two pieces...

Interesting thing to break...

[Razorback1980]

Good thing though...really inexpensive to fix.

[pozican]

Yea definatly -- the local porsche dealer is the place that is open and in stock, and they want $120 or so for it.

So I'll have to wait for pelican...
Pretty desperate though, I really love to drive this car

[Razorback1980]

did they stick a gun to your head when they told you that? Ok, so here is what you can do in the mean time.

A. If you want a/c (I live in Texas and it's still 90 degrees here) then put a stud (or solid pipe of some sort to block the water flow) in both sides of the hoses where the valve was and put clamps on them. Problem solved.

B. If you want heat...I'll warn you, it'll be full heat...put a small piece of pipe in where you took the valve out and clamp both sides...Problem solved. You can always open the sunroof to let a little cool air in or roll your window down...but your feet still get hot.

C. If B is too hot, you need to find a way to make the hole in the pipe smaller so less water runs through. Problem solved

[pozican]

Originally posted by Razorback1980
did they stick a gun to your head when they told you that? Ok, so here is what you can do in the mean time.

A. If you want a/c (I live in Texas and it's still 90 degrees here) then put a stud (or solid pipe of some sort to block the water flow) in both sides of the hoses where the valve was and put clamps on them. Problem solved.

B. If you want heat...I'll warn you, it'll be full heat...put a small piece of pipe in where you took the valve out and clamp both sides...Problem solved. You can always open the sunroof to let a little cool air in or roll your window down...but your feet still get hot.

C. If B is too hot, you need to find a way to make the hole in the pipe smaller so less water runs through. Problem solved

I'd be needing to have the hot solution -- need the defrost...

I was thinking about that. Is there any other purpose for that valve?

I'd like to take it for a quick spin once I get some stuff around the house done...

[BoxxerSix]

Originally posted by pozican
I'd be needing to have the hot solution -- need the defrost...

I was thinking about that. Is there any other purpose for that valve?

I'd like to take it for a quick spin once I get some stuff around the house done...

it's just to stop coolant flow to the heater core when you turn the heat off in the dash.

you can bypass it as stated above and make a quick and cheap "adaptor from various brass parts if you need a quick fix to retain heat, but you'll always have heat coming from the heater core. not a bad thing in the winter, and it gives you time to purchase the right part in the meantime.

I may have a used valve at the shop you can have. i'll check monday and drop you a PM if i find one.

Regards,

[legion]

Ouch. Sorry to hear.

Since my 'S' caught on fire...I've had fear of smoke with my 951.

[Razorback1980]

So here is how your heater works...The engine is full of coolant that runs between 160 and 200 degrees depending on the thermostat you have installed. Under your dash is a smaller radiator like the one in the front of your car only smaller ....it's called a heater core. As you are driving the hot water is pumped into the heater core making it hot and then the fan blows air across the hot heater core and that air comes into the cabin. Because the water is 200 degrees, you don't want the air to come into your car at 200 degrees, so they put a valve in there similar to a water faucet on the outside of your house that restricts how much water can come into the heater core. If you only want a little heat only a small amount of water comes in, so the heater core doesn't get as hot. As you want more heat, more coolant is allowed in and the heater core gets hotter. That's the function of the valve...to restrict the water flow. If you are real creative, you can put an inline valve in your line and increase or decrease the amount of water to increase or decrease the heat until the right part arrives....or you can drive with full heat...if you keep it on defrost, it shouldn't be too bad.

[pozican]

So I snagged a brass fitting that will fit inside of both hoses. Installed it, and plugged the vacuum line...

Works great.

Heater works great too.
My temp knob on the dash will turn up and down the temp of the air coming through the system.

How does THAT work?
Thanks,
-Alex

[Razorback1980]

I have seen two different heater designs on other cars but have never taken the 944 heater apart. I have seen where the control valve regulates the amount of water that runs through the heater core and the second design is the valve just turns the water on or off and there is an air flap in the control unit that mixes the hot air after it has passed through the heater core with fresh air from outside to regulate the temperature. I thought the 944 regulated water, but apparently it regulates air instead. I guess your hard work has taught me something today. Appreciate that and Good Work on your part. Never a reason to argue with success is there? Hope your drive was fun!