I spent the weekend on major maintenance:
I attempted:
1. Cabin Filter (no issues)
2. Oil change (no issues)
3. Power steering fluid (question)
4. Front Rotor Change (no issues)
5. Brake fluid bleed (question)
6. Clutch fluid bleed (no issues)
7. Radiator and A/C Heat Exchanger clean-out (note of caution)
8. Spark Plug Change (major problem)
9. Cabin Filter (no issues)
All parts were ordered from Sunset Porsche.
Power Steering fluid:
I could not figure out for the life of me what the purpose of the small rubber cap on the side of the reservoir? I just extracted what I could from the reservoir and then filled with Pentosin, started the car, turned the wheeel end-to-end several times and then repeated 5 times. I don't know if there's another way to swap the fluid.
Brake Fluid bleed: (I used 1 liter)
The instructions in one of the threads call to drain the outer caliper and then the inner. Why not the inner first because that is where the fluid source initiates it's entry into a caliper, i.e., line to inner caliper, line to between inner and outer caliper. Wouldn't it be logical to first drain inner so fluid is fresh in the inner chamber and then to drain the outer?
Radiator and A/C Heat exchanger clean-out:
Now I know what remover card is... I remember when I purchased the car, I could not for the life of me figure out what this plastic useless credit card was meant for. Now I know it's for the fog lamp housing removal. I used a credit card and it worked...
The removal of the bumper is much easier than I thought, especially after repeating the removal twice because I forgot to plug the 'ambient temperature sensor connector' and I guess I didn't plug the side marker in all the way. Note of caution: be very careful when removing the connector and disconnecting the harness on the passenger side that links the bumper electrical. I snapped the locking connector and the tolerances are very tight so you have to cable tie it together. (electrical tape was not enough tension)
On Sunday, one of neighbors asked if someone stole my wheel on Saturday night!
You can see the connector for the Ambient Temperature Probe that I forgot to connect in the lower right hand corner...
The red bucket is for scale.
The driver side. I don't know why but the driver side was much dirtier than the passenger side. this images are after vacuuming but not before the water spray. Definitely a cure for OCD.
You can see the salt tally on the fan housing. If you don't know, we salt our roads here in Michigan so if a surface is not treated, it will corrode. In this case it was mild surface accumulation, not brown rust.
Spark Plugs:
I read and re-read the articles on spark plug change. I can't remove the muffler because the bolts that clamps the connector between the muffler and exhaust manifold is completely rusted.
Believe it or not, this is the only corrosion of fasteners on the car. (both sides) I'm going to grind the nuts and replace the faster: bolt, nut, washer combination. Anyone know the size?
Are there any material scientists out there? If I were to grind this off and replace with a corrosion resistant fastener, which material should I use? I'm thinking of using a screw made from SS 300 that meets QQ-P-35 and meet FF-S-86 standards. Then again this material has to resist very high temp and stress from expansion of pipes.
I'm also curious if anyone in California could check to see if there's is corroded?
Ok, even if I could remove the bolts, how would you completely remove the muffler? If you see in this image, the bolt which loosened would lift up but it cannot due to interference from the body.
there is no room to remove the coils because of the muffler mount.
A view from the bottom:
I"m wondering if anyone else has this working limitation.
Last question: when the car ran without the ambient temp sensor attached, it faulted so now i have a 'visit Engine Center' on my start-up dash, error 17 = intermittent Amb Temp... How long before this disappears?
Update: it disappeared this morning = 12 hours later.
Thanks.