16Aug2011
Trailblazer Brake Time and CEL
Had another car come in from Boys Town (only one guy will get that joke) to take care of some noise from the rear of the vehicle. It also had a CEL light (P0105 and P0128) on with a couple of faults. The P0105 can pop on due to a dirty throttle body or a bad MAP sensor. Since cleaning the throttle body is free.99, I decided to yank it and take care of that. The P0128 is a coolant …
16Aug2011
964 Finished
After buttoning up the 964 yesterday, a brief check of the running systems found an alternator that was charging at 19 volts, which is not good. Normal charge is somewhere around 13v, and over charging can lead to electrical problems in the car. The voltage regulator on the back of the alternator is what regulates the charging voltage, so that is what was needed. Unfortunately, on the back of the alternator, means a lot of stuff has to come apart, …
15Aug2011
964 Distributor Rebuild
Parts came in while I was out of town for our 964 project which had the internal distributor belt fail. I got cracking early as I knew it would be a long day. First thing to do was the replace the hood and hatch struts so they would stay open. The back of my head is always thankful for new hatch struts. mmmmm, fresh struts. After sneaking into the back of the engine bay, both sides get replaced. Then it …
10Aug2011
PPI’s The Paint Meter Never Lies
Having someone qualified to perform a PRE Purchase Inspection BEFORE you buy is always a good idea. Being able to spot potential or current mechanical issues, previous accident damage, etc is critical when buying a car, so you can have an idea of what repairs you may be facing in the future, Ie, money out of your pocket. Unfortunately, I end up doing a lot of POST Purchase Inspections after someone had purchased a car, and they never really enjoy …
10Aug2011
Cayenne Driveshaft
Porsche introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2003, which later became it’s #1 selling vehicle. The model shares the same platform as the VW Touareg, and thus shares a lot of the same issues. One of those issues in the 03 and early 04 models was a driveshaft carrier bearing that would fail and cause a knocking, thumping, or as many describe it, a “wummering” sound. It can happen under hard acceleration, light acceleration, when there is an old lady crossing …
10Aug2011
964/993 Distributor Belts
Picked this car up from a customer to inspect and get into top running shape. As soon as I loaded the car in 3rd gear, I could hear and feel the detonation happening in the engine, so I was pretty sure I knew what that was going to be. First thing to do when I got home was to check out the airbag light. Looks like a crash sensor was throwing an error, so I cleared the code and it …
05Aug2011
Chump Car at Heartland Park, Topeka
Tomorrow I will be heading out to HPT for the Chump Car Race. We watched the 24 hour race at Newton, IA and it was a hoot, so this should be a blast as well. Hopefully the heat stays at bay for us 🙂 I will be helping in the Pits for “Car 54 Where are you” as they take the win 😉 Couple local teams and good friends will be racing tomorrow: Car 54 Where Are You: Porsche 944 …