[Cloud9...68]

Just curious - of the twenty bazillion things that could go wrong with a 15-to-18-year-old car of the Porsche persuasion, what clunk, pffffttttt!, groan, screech, bang, clunk, or inopportune silence do you dread the most? I'll start by saying that rather than the obvious disasters such as a timing belt giving up its ghost, or the dreaded jet engine whine of a failing pinion bearing (haven't heard about one of those in a <b>long</b><i></i> time...), for me, it would be twisting the key in the door lock, and not hearing the reassuring insulation-muffled click! of the lock opening. Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! Not a door panel removal!!!!!!!! For some reason, the prospect of tearing off (which is what it would probably literally end up happening in my case) a door panel on one of these cars just gives me the willies. Not sure why - I've taken door panels off in lots of cars. From what I've read, it just strikes me as the exact opposite of fun.

I realize it's much closer to New Years than Halloween, but what potential failure in these cars do you guys fear the most? I have a feeling I may end up reading many of the responses through the gaps in the fingers covering my eyes...

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[flash]

door panels i do in my sleep

pinion bearing would be a drag, but an opportunity to change gear ratios

belt snapping would suck, but a chance to do a 3.2 bore

the one that scares me would be an electrical meltdown or serious engine fire that torches the harness - might as well just toss the car after that, as it will NEVER be right again, even if you change out the harness - there is something about a fire like that which haunts cars afterward - driving a car post fire is like buying a house somebody died in - bad juju or something

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[Cloud9...68]

Oooh... A melted harness. Yes, that's about as scary as they come, I suppose. Kind of makes my door panel nightmare pale in comparison.

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[flash]

lol - yeah - not fun for sure

if you pay attention though, you pretty much have to be an idiot to have a fire

keep the wires clean and covered, and inspect regularly for signs of casing deterioration

don't do anything stupid with fuel - leaks are no laughing matter, and great care needs to be taken with fittings and such - no gerry-built or jury-rigged monkeying around with those

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[968rz]

Other than the stated obvious ones, I think it would really suck to lose a CV joint in nice high speed curve (especially on hwy 1 in NorCal).

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[PorscheDude]

Belt failiure.

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[Chris Vais]

I'm inclined to agree with Flash that an electrical fire/meltdown would be the worst. As he stated a belt failure or a transmission failure provides an opportunity to freshen things up, providing you have a "catastrophic failure fund" set aside. I've experienced a major electrical casualty on a car before. Everything that was damaged was replaced, but the electrical system in that car was never again as good as before. I spent a year troubleshooting a never ending list of electrcal gremlins and finally gave up.

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[Kim]

Won't really matter - anything that makes the car no longer drivable in any form - even in an enjoyable manner - will be the "big one". I still think that from a practical perspective (a fire that burns wires is likely reasonably improbable for most folks just driving cars for pleasure) failure of an engine or DME wiring harness will be the way in which most cars will end their lives.

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[Cloud9...68]

While I agree that a meltdown of the car's electrical system would probably be the worst failure one could experience, I see the likelihood of this happening as pretty remote. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of merrily driving down the road, enjoying the moment, when suddenly something goes thump! (or bang, or groan, or pop, or, well, you get the idea). You pull to the side, and after a quick purusal of the situation, realize that, no, it couldn't be, not the dreaded [fill in the blank]!

For me, it would be something that I'm too cheap to take to a mechanic to fix, but one which in the pit of my stomach I know I'd probably never be able to put back in the same condition as before I had to tear into the darn thing. That's why anything having to do with removing the door panels was the first thing that popped into my mind. I've taken many off of various cars, but it seems like the part of the panel attaching to the clips always suffers some damage in the removal process, so the wretched panel just never stays attached properly after I put it back. I just dread subjecting my beloved 968 to this treatment...

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[PorscheDude]

968 door panles are very easy.
Should be able to have one off in under 20 minutes if you've never done it.
5 minutes after doing it a few times.

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[flash]

electrical meltdown is likely to become much more common very soon - we are seeing way too many cars with degraded wiring and housing - this is a nightmare waiting to happen - there are no replacement harnesses available new - that is why i dread that one most

as for panel removal, invest in the silly little tool - you'll never break a clip again

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[Cloud9...68]

Thanks, Flash and Porschedude, for the encouraging words about the door panel removal. My heart will hopefully stop skipping a beat every time I turn the key in the door lock. Of course, now that I've talked about it so much, a failure is probably in my not-too-distant-future [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif[/img] .

On the subject of the wiring, a set of Higher Connection power cables should probably be on all of our priority lists.

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[flash]

yup - tomorrow, as a part of the supercharger job and it giving me access to a few things, i'm adding an extra layer of shrink tubing on the main alternator cable

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[94SilverCab]

I did the Higher Connections cables last year, excellent insurance!

Jay

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[nissanite]

Hey Guys ! This is very depressing. I have the knife at my wrists & my car is running fine!

Here is the list of issues I have now with the Blue car-
Door handles are loose, ordered the gaskets but
Washer bottle sensor has been bad so long the lamp burned out, have the bottle
Rear hatch is separated, used one is $1100 plus shipping. Probably just as bad.
Seats, say no more
Dash is cracked, how hard & available?
White track car
Pinion bearing is starting to whine, crap!
Just broke a ball joint pin, fixed but the body work ins't
THE FRONT BRAKES ARE STILL SHAKING AFTER pagid black, turn rotors, pagid yellow, turn rotors, pagid yellow - now trying Hawk HT-10

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[flash]

turned the same rotors twice? maybe try new rotors

frankly though, i'm inclined to look at the suspension - sounds like control arm bushing or castor block play - you won't be able to feel it though in the air - only removal and inspection will show it

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[PorscheDude]

A good dash is not hard to find.
$300 - $500 for a good used one.
A day to R&R

I just started looking for a good to dash to go into my 951.

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[968 GUY]

just had my hatch done for $200. they redid the black strip that the adhesive bonds to, looks like a good job. completely removed frame and glued it up.

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[Winston968]

The noise I fear the most is the bang caused by an unattentive driver (not me) hitting my car.
With parts prices so high, and market values not so high, there is the potential of her being uneconomical to repair.

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[94SilverCab]

Winston,

I just added stated value of $25k to my insurance pokicy. It will reduce the probability of a write off, or at today's prices I actually could replace my car.

Jay

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