atmorris

OK Jim, but if you have a blown HG AND a significant pressurization of the coolant system evident (as he indicated), would that not indicate that the gasket is blown in a manner that would cause coolent to get into the cyllinder as well?

Andy, It appeared that white smoke or steam was coming out of the side vents. I don't remember if it was the exhaust but definitely the side vents. As soon as this happened ..about 10 minutes later I was at home. The temp gauge rose 3/4 up but the temp light did not blink so I thought I was safe driving for 5 to 10 minutes. The car drove fine. I got home and let the car cool off for 30 minutes, then opened the coolant reservoir which was just replaced (it was cracked). I thought it could have been this again since this mechanic replaced it a week ago and I had driven it this week with no problems. The mechanic told me to watch the coolant level becuase he was not able to bleed everything out...not sure what this means... so again I thought this was the issue just low coolant. Now the coolant was low so I added some water. As I added the water I looked under the middle of the car and saw coolant coming out like the bathroom sink on medium. I also checked the oil and it was fine no emulsion. I saw my car today. The brand new coolant reservois in the trunk had a huge hole in it from a blow out. The mechanic showed me my broken water pump. He still installed a brand new water pump and thermostat and charged me for that... nice guy.. I am having my car towed to Porsche for a second opinion. I still am not sure why I need a new engine if the car supposedly has a blown head gasket. Can't this be fixed even if it has 126,000 miles on it? Also I don't understand why pressure built up in the coolant system to blow a hole in the reservois. Thanks for your advice and help. Bradley Bradley, I'm certainly not a Porsche expert, and there are many here who are, but I'm not seeing anything in your words that matches up with a blown head gasket. First of all, steam out of the side vents could be just from coolant ON, not necessarily IN, the engine...like the water pump or a blown out hose spraying the engine. Second, with a blown head gasket you would more than likely have had white smoke pouring out of the exhaust. I'm not sure about the synthetic oil, but usually the oil will foam if there is coolant present also. Running the car for 10 mins. probably wasn't a great idea, but the engine doesn't sound like it overheated or started to seize from coolant in the oil. I think you'd best get the car to a reputable Porsche dealer or shop. It doesn't sound like the coolant reservoir was fixed properly, and maybe the water pump isn't either. Depending on where the coolant you see leaking below is actually coming from, you may not have as big a problem as you think. Only way to really be sure is to get it to someone who you are SURE knows Porsches and what the heck they are doing. Cheaper is rarely better...... Best of luck......I'll cross my fingers and toes for you......

Ditto.....something doesn't smell Kosher here..... Nothing (smoke) coming out of the exhaust when this happened ? How badly was it "dumping coolant? ", we talking garden hose on full or we talking a bathroom sink faucet on low/med ? How high did the temp gage get ? For how long? Was the car losing power badly ?

I have the GIAC flash, EVO CAI, Schnell headers/mufflers as well as PSS9's...and I love what it did for me. I had a Pcar buddy who was thinking about mods drive mine, then I drove his without any mods, and both of us agreed that my car was a bit faster. Now, whether that equates to being worth the $4K I put into it making if "feel faster" (no dyno confirmation) remains to be seen. I definitely do not believe that there is a collective add-on horsepower gain from all the mods....in other words, the claims that the mufflers add X HP, and the EVO CAI adds X HP along with the X HP gains from the headers...does not compute. You might see a 20 HP gain from ALL of the mods together, but certainly not the cumulative horsepower gains from a total of the mods. Is that worth $4K to you? Probably not. What seems to get the guys is the spectre of "all those horsepower gains" advertised by the various manufacturers. I think that butt dynos sell more mods than any advertising campaign could ever hope to. I agree that the incremental HP claims are deceiving. I think we make W-A-Y too much of these Dyno reports. There are a million factors that can change those results drasticlly, and it isn't YOUR car being measured anyway ! I can say, with conviction, that my car is 1)quicker, 2)breaks the rear tires loose noticably easier just nailing the throttle, and 3) sounds more like it deserves to sound (if you catch my drift there...) Did I gain 5HP?,15?,20?...I don't really care. I can f-e-e-l a difference, I can h-e-a-r a difference, and that makes it worth the money and the work for me. I also think that small changes on these cars make noticable differences. Maybe I can bust the rear tires loose easier because the exhaust is about 2/3 lighter, maybe its because I have added HP and torque, maybe its a little of both. Who cares ? It makes it more fun to drive and thats what it is all about, isn't it ? Hey....it's only money. You can't take it with you. :P

Well, my headers have only been on the car for a few days, but one of the header pipes on each side is right against the bottom of the pan support brackets. No melting yet. What's going to happen down the road, first long ride, who knows. I'll keep an eye on it. If I see any hint of melting, I'll cut a clearance section out of the rear corners of the pan, rivet a fabricated stainless steel mount extension/support to it, and re tighten the mounting bolts. Problem solved. The headers are worth it. Watch that 3/4" oil line above the driver's side header. On my '03 it wound up real close to the header and looked like it might even hit against one of the tubes. I wrapped it in a $30 heat guard material I bought from Advance Auto Parts, and zip tied it back away from the header.

The ROW M030 stuff is already bought and paid for. Sitting on the shelf just waiting for a rainy weekend. :thumbup: ....and yes, I do plan to finish up the HP mods with a remap of the ECU. Probably not until next winter now though...

OK....I finally got phase 1 of the mods to my Box done and had her out for a spin or two. EVO V-flow intake, ia Headers; and iA exhaust. Sounds S-W-E-E-T when I get in the throttle, even a little. Has a nice rumble to it at idle. Sounds like the car SHOULD sound, given the things it can do. A little more resonance than I would have liked, not terrible, just a little more than I would have liked. It's no big deal though, it only occurs between about 2500 and 3000 RPM. Drop down a gear instead of lugging it, or just drop your speed a bit and it's fine. Maybe it will keep me from getting a few tickets, who knows. Then again maybe not. I had it out of the garage and on the street all of about 30 seconds before I got pulled over. Not because it is too loud, just too quick. I simply rapped it quick in 1st and second (Because it was the check out ride, I was watching gages and lights not the spedo..) and was on the brakes when I looked up and saw the cop...then the spedo, which was considerable over the 40mph speed limit. Of course, I had forgotten to turn the K40 system back on with all the excitement of the new "music". I just pulled over, appologised, and explained that I had just finished some engine work and had been watching the gages, not the spedo. Works every time when your an "older" fart. He just gave me a warning, then asked what I had put on her. I don't have a dyno, but the butt dyno says the car is noticably quicker. It also broke loose on me just a bit when I was turning off one road and onto another while nailing the throttle...something I have done a hundred times before and it has never broken loose before. I didn't even think it would do that with PSM on. But I did remove quite a bit of weight back there with this change. Next up - ROW M030 suspension update. I'm gonna drive for a while first though....1st rainy weekend we'll do the suspension. :P

Thanks for the info insite. I have a couple of questions. 1) I assume that you run without PSM on of course, and you mention the ease of rotating with a breathe. I may be over-reading that comment, but I'm not sure I would want the car to rotate that easily on the street. Would you say that the point at which it will do this is well above even spirited street driving? What affect do you think PSM being on would have (would it upset the car)? 2) Just to be sure I'm reading you well. At this point a super ROW M030 street alignment would be on the order of: Front: Cold Pressure: 30psi Toe: 0 Camber: -1.0 to -1.2 Rear: Cold Pressure: 32psi Toe: 1/32" in Camber: -2.0 Thanks, Andy

So I have read in a few posts on the various discussion boards. Maybe it's true, maybe not. I can't say for sure becuse I haven't pulled my car out of the garage with the ROW M030 yet. I don't think there's anything wrong with the H&R's, just don't see the point in breaking up a tuned suspension system if you're going to buy it anyway. Buying the individual components minus the springs is only going to save you about $325, and you should be able to get that for the H&R's easily on eBay if they are still new in the box.

I come from a different perspective than Jim on this one. There's nothing WRONG with doing it that way, but the ROW M030 suspension is a system. Once the ROW M030 is broken in, I don't think you are going to be able to see the difference in ride height between the two without measuring it. In the meantime, I don't know the numbers, but it's possible that the spring rates aren't that close between the H&R and the M030, so the shock valving doesn't necessarily match up optimally, and the sway bar selection may or may not be as good......etc. I went through the same thought process as you. And, as you are probably doing, I also researched the heck out of all the options, then I decided that for an every day streeter that maybe sees a DE event or two, and maybe an occasional auto-x for fun, the ROW M030 is absolutely the best way to go. So I bought it. In the process of putting it on right now. FWIW - My $.02 - I would resell the H&R's and do the ROW M030 system complete.

Update: Got the O2 sensor bungs from Summit Racing and we installed them this weekend. Did not install the bungs in the "stock" rear cat location (cat endface). We started drilling a pilot hole in this location on the cat and ran into another surface about 1/8" under the outer shell. Not being certain what that might have been, we stopped right there and welded that hole closed. We put the bungs in the pipe immediately after the cat instead. I extended all 4 O2 sensor harnesses to 36" as the fronts needed some extra length to be kept safely away from the header tubes. Also noticed that an oil line is running WAY to close to the header tubes and zip tied that back away from the headers. Have a heat wrap coming for that line today from Advanced Auto Parts as well. I might even add a shield to that area to be sure that line doesn't contact the headers. Anyone else solve this problem another way ? Andy

Just for information - I did the wiring harness extensions this weekend. The stock harnesses do, in fact, contain SS stranded conductor. It is not pre-tinned copper. Also, we put the O2 sensor bungs in the pipe, not in the endface of the cat. When we drilled a pilot hole in the stock position (according to parts diagrams) on the endface of the cat, we ran into a second surface about 1/8" below the outside surface of the cat. We stopped right there, welded the hole closed, and put the sensors in the pipe instead. Andy

Maybe I just corner harder to the right than I do to the left... :P I have the same issue. My suggestion is to use some spray degreaser to clean the cam cover thoroughly and then drive the car until you see the leak's source. John V Yea, I kind of thought along the same lines. The engine could use a little spiffing up anyway.

Maybe I just corner harder to the right than I do to the left... :P

I'm under the car stripping exhaust parts off to put headers on and notice a couple of things. 1) Car shows evidence of, what I would describe as, a very minor RMS leak - normal right? 2) See evidence of a very slight oil leak on the left side (drivers side) of engine case somewhere just above the header. Any ideas what this might be ? Can't really see an origin point, and I don't see any evidence of oil anywhere forward of this surface. Cam cover maybe? Andy

Send it to Loren and he'll post it for you.

My car is an '03 as well. Does the same thing if it sits for a couple of days between use. As long as it only smokes for 30 seconds or so and then stops, it's normal and nothing to worry about. From what I have been told a failing AOS will smoke badly, and for a lot more than just the first 30 seconds or so.

Nevermind.....the locking clip tabs were just stubbern as hell

Can anyone tell me if the O2 sensors simply pull out to unplug? The manual simply says to "unplug" them, but mine don't seem to want to just pull out and I don't see any kind of latch or clip mechanism. A little embarassing to have to ask, but I don't want to break them by trying to force them.

CRC Electrical Contact Cleaner. Let dry and then repeat one or two more times. Try and stay away from touching it if you can. In my experience though, if the MAF is causing problems cleaning it rarely works - at least for very long.

I just removed my stock muffler on a MY03. I had the rear jacked up and on stands. I took the muffler off completely from underneath without any need to remove the rear bumper or cover. I had no trouble at all getting at the two mounts on top of the exhaust, and I do not have small arms at all. It wasn't even difficult to get out, other than it weighing a ton. A couple of hour job max. Takes longer to get the WD40 to penetrate the rusty bolts than it does to remove the exhaust. Unbolt U-pipes and lower mounts and remove. Unbolt top bolts. Rotate rear (outlet side) of muffler downward until studs clear mount holes (may require slight pressure on the top mount cross bar to help along). Muffler will come right out. At least that's how mine went.

Don't know on the SS issue, just going by what one person here who had done his told me. You may very well be right on that. I don't see why a solder wouldn't work either, again just going by what I have been told by others who have done it. I'll let you know what I find. P.S....Just because your a retired aerospace engineer, doesn't mean you were a GOOD one... :P just kidding, of course.... :lol:

The solder/crimp thing may be based on the difficulty of acheiving a good solder joint between unlike materials. The factory harness uses stranded SS wire. Most people are going to use stranded copper for the extension. One guy on this board had told me he tried both methods, doing one extension with crimps, and soldering the other. He said that he got a CEL on the soldered extension after a short time, but never did on the crimped extension. He revamped the soldered extension using crimps and hasn't experienced a CEL since (2 years). Interesting.

I've seen this same issue with a Dansk at least once before on one of the Boxster boards. I remember this same discussion about the tubes looking short and not having any slits. Could be an occasional factory defect that shows up. In any event, like mee said, easy enough to work around. Does tend to tick you off when you pay good bucks for something though....

Thanks. I just ordered them. Apparently they are all 18mm as I thought. I'm a little concerned about CELs too, but I figure I'm never gonna know until I try so...... Quite a few people have told me that they have lengthened their wiring harnesses on the O2 sensors without trouble. The key simple seems to be to do a good job when you do it, and don't solder the connections. Even Bosch's universal O2 sensor installation kit instructions refer to crimp connections.