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Porsche
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Well here I am back on the board of the Northeast Region, as they say in politics, "I could not have done it without my loyal supporters and workers". Well that's not quite true here in PCA land as we rarely have any competition, but it sound good. Just a quick note about the administration of our Activities, we’ll have a new activity this year as rallying will be coming back to NER. Three experienced rally teams have volunteered to try to jumpstart our rally program with rallies in the late winter, summer and late fall. Vic Zeller, Drew Ley and the duo of Don Wolcott and Nann Weissenberger will chair the events. We welcome a pair of autocrossers to the chairmanship of the autocross program; George Dominiak and Rich Towle have both come forward to lead the pylon chasers for next year. Arnie Zahn has signed on for another year keeping his crew intact with only one addition needed for the retired Steve Artick. While Kim Saal has renewed his offer to head the concours in September. I will be scaling back the techs this year reexamining the appeal to better serve the needs of the club. Early winter has been a busy vehicle transferring time for me as I have bought another Porsche, a 968, then shortly thereafter resold to some of the most ardent autocrossers in the area. I sold my summer Miata, after giving up hope that someone would want a 10-year-old roadster. And finally I sold the 911, through the hard work of European Locators to an owner in NH who seems as gung ho towards Porsches as any of us. Needing a winter car I gave the good guys at Mini of Peabody (same owner as the new Porsche of Nashua and our friends at BMW of Peabody) a call and found a Mini Cooper for winter duty. Of course the first full day of driving involved a trip to the North Country Dinner in Manchester NH where upon it snowed on the way up and sleeted on the way home. The car did well in the snow and I have added over 2000 miles in the month plus of ownership. Finally I bought another utility trailer for hauling around track tires behind my new summer car (Which of course I will probably obtain in late winter/early spring). All this has led my insurance agent to think I am running a used car lot, but I had pre-warned her that I do change vehicles on a regular occasion. As I used to do in past years, I will use my column to offer some tech tips that I have heard of or used myself. I can now add some Porsche dealer information to keep the membership informed. First up the dealer body can now order Cayennes for anyone interested in purchasing the S or Turbo models. Delivery to dealers is now slated to begin in late February or early March, of course those dates can change as they have already. Also current is a new recall Porsche has initiated for all ‘95 and some early ‘96 993-model cars. Apparently the main engine wiring harness has been prone to deterioration over time and can cause electrical problems. If you have one of these vehicles and have not received a notice from Porsche (probably because you did not notify them of your ownership if bought used) then either make inquires through the NHSTD or your local Porsche dealer to get the information on the recall. They will need your 17 digit VIN that is on your registration, when you call. Not all of the recalled vehicles need the harness, a preliminary inspection will determine if the harness in your car is the affected one. During the actual repair the intake is taken off to access the harness so it may be a good time to have the belts changed and/or have any top end leaks addressed while everything is apart. It takes a full day to do the work so plan to leave the car. Another longer standing recall is for ‘98-2001 Boxsters and all 996's thru ‘01 for faulty gas caps. Actually the fault is excessive gas vapor leaks, which the EPA gets really worked up about. No gas liquids leak out, and again the procedure is to check if you are eligible via letter, the NHSTD or local dealer. This recall only takes a short time so you should be able to wait. As a reminder safety and emission recalls are good forever so even if you have a really old car that has a recall you should be eligible to have it fixed for free by an authorized dealer. But don't confuse a recall (government mandated) with technical updates, which do not go beyond the warranty. Another interesting problem we have found on late model Boxsters with the pushbutton versus lever trunk releases is that small stones can get under the switches and cause the trunks to not close. This is especially dangerous with the front trunk as air could get under it and possibly overpower the secondary latch. Also related to Boxsters of all years is a caution to make sure the drains near the soft top do not get clogged or else the water will fill up the inside floor and ruin the fragile electronic control units which reside under the seats. Finally an interesting story from our recent Boxster tech where the question was posed as to what to do with a flat rear tire after changing it assuming you have a passenger (i.e. where do you put this monstrous hunk of rubber). Well most folks thought the rear trunk left ajar would be the only answer short of having your passenger share the space with the spare, but one inquisitive entrant e-mailed me later to say that he was able to fit it in the front trunk, deflated (of course that's easy when the tire was changed for a flat anyway) and the lid could be closed. There you have it from the owner's mouth. Each month I will continue to write about various experiences with Porsches on a technical level, anyone having an interesting solution to a problem with their car is welcome to email me with the specifics, and comments are always welcome. |
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