[D0N]

Ran through some deep water the other day in my 92 6 speed cab, maybe 10-12 inches, and parked the car shortly after that. No problems, I thought. Came back a couple hours later and the battery was dead. When we tried to hook up jumper cables, the battery arced and the starter tried to start. There was no key in the ignition yet. Had the car towed home and put it in the garage to charge the battery (disconnected from the car). When the battery was charged I connected the terminals (no starter running so far) and tried to start it. It started right up but made a strange noise. Turned off the key and the starter kept cranking until I disconnected the battery.

I thought the solenoid was fried so I replaced the starter - no change. The starter would disengage if I disconnected the battery but would remain running when I turned off and removed the key until I disconnected the battery. I checked the wiring harness and the small wire to the solenoid had no insulation where it entered the harness. I removed the harness (it goes from the starter to the alternator and branches to an ignition connection (a white two-pin connector located behind the brake vacuum booster. The insulation on the 10-gauge wire from the solenoid to the ignition connection was dried and crumbling along its entire length. I tied a wire onto the old wire as a fish line, removed the wire from the harness and fished in a new 10-gauge primary wire. I used a new weatherproof heat shrink connector at the solenoid. At the ignition connection plug, I soldered to the old wire and protected it with heat shrink.

So far the car is running fine. Kind of scarry to think I was driving around with a completely bare wire for my starter.

Best regards,

D0N

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[banditsc]

They are all about like that now, I would bet the main positive wire off the back of your alternator is in the same shape. A lot of us have replaced those cables with new and larger ones from one of the sponsors on here.

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[jimmywhisker]

H Don,

My mechanic (a Porsche specialist for over 30 years) recently picked up the same problem on my car and replaced the badly degraded wiring. No doubt flash will know the details however, the insulation Porsche used was apparently poor and it also affected 911's from the same period. What would happen is that the starter motor would start running for no reason and keep going until it overheated or burnt out and, in some cases, would cause a fire. Having seen the state of my wires, I would think this is an essential inspection for all Porsche owners from the 90's.

Peter

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[Cloud9...68]

Yep, this is unfortunately a fairly common problem with 968's, and is bound to become more common as the cars age. Just be happy the car didn't start on its own and drive itself into your living room! I'm one of the ones Banditsc mentions as having replaced my power cables with new ones from Higher Connections - highly recommended.

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