sawood12
New member
Thought it might be a good idea to pool everyones experiences with common problems they've had with their 944's into one post for ease of reference. Yes I know we have a search function on the forum but I sometimes find it either takes me a long time to find something, I don't know what words to search against as we all have different ways of describing things or call things by different names or I simply fail to find something I know is there, so I for one don't find it 100% effective.
By posting our experiences under the following headings it will make things easy to understand:-
SYMPTOMS
ROOT CAUSE
PARTS REPLACED (please keep it to the key parts that need to be replaced and not the 'while I was in there I thought i'd replace....' parts)
EASE OF FIX (for those who did the job themselves a brief desc and assessment of how easy the job was and what tools are needed. For those who had their man to it for them: how many man-hours labour).
CONTAINMENT (an explanation of what to do if you get the problem to keep the car running until you get it fixed - assuming it is safe to run the car with the problem)
So here goes:-
SYMPTOM: Radiator cooling fan runs on after the engine is switched off longer than the usual time until the battery is completely drained.
ROOT CAUSE: Radiator thermostat-switch malfunctioning, usually due to age and deteriorating insulation leading to short circuit. The thermostat-switch is mounted in the top right hand corner of the radiator as you look into the engine bay. Its function is to switch the fans on and off according to the temp of the coolant in the radiator.
PARTS REPLACED: Radiator thermostat-switch.
EASE OF FIX: Cost me 1Mh labour. In theory it is an easy job to do yourself but is a real pig to get your hand to the switch as access is not great.
CONTAINMENT: When you turn the car off you can pull the radiator fan relay to shut down the rad fans down. If the car is particularly hot then it is wise to let the fans run for about 4mins (the time it should take to cool the engine) before pulling the relay.
SYMPTOM: Intermittent starting - the car starts fine sometimes but others it wont even turn over with no sign that it is trying to turn over i.e. completely dead. Once started the car runs fine and never cuts out.
ROOT CAUSE: Reference sensor: either functioning incorrectly or the sensor bracket is loose (is known to loosen off over time)
PARTS REPLACED: Reference sensor (£60) if it needs replacing or just nip up the sensor bracket (free).
EASE OF FIX: Cost me nothing as I only had to tighten the bracket bolt, but reference sensor is approx £60 and would cost less than 1Mh labour. Care needs to be taken when removing the bracket as one bolt is the bolt that fixes the bracket to the top of the clutch bell housing (i.e. the one you want to use), the other nut sets the height of the reference sensor off the flywheel - you don't want to disturb this one as you will need to reset the height of the sensor. If you just unbolt the bracket the sensor can be replaced without the need to reset the sensor height.
CONTAINMENT: Nothing really, the car will either start or it wont. If it starts it will run fine.
SYMPTOM: Interior fan only runs on speed 4 and doesn't run on any other speed. May be intermittent for a while.
ROOT CAUSE: Usually the resistor pack that is bolted to the top of the fan itself under the bonnet in the scuttle area under the plastic rain guard.
PARTS REPLACED: Brand new part is around £125 from the OPC, 2nd hand is around £10, or sometimes just cleaning up the contacts can do the trick
EASE OF FIX: Pretty easy. Just get under the plastic scuttle cover, unbolt the resistor pack (approx 4inches long with 4 coils. Is fixed at either end with two screws), either replace it or clean up existing one. Refitting is reversal of removal.
CONTAINMENT: If the symptom is happening intermittently then sometimes you can coax the fan to work properly by rotating the switch from off to speed 4 a few times. If not you can either leave it on speed 4 or switch it off. If you switch it off you might find the car starts to steam up inside as the fan always runs to keep fresh air circulating thought the cabin even when you switch the fan off. Obviously this is a hazard to visibility!!
By posting our experiences under the following headings it will make things easy to understand:-
SYMPTOMS
ROOT CAUSE
PARTS REPLACED (please keep it to the key parts that need to be replaced and not the 'while I was in there I thought i'd replace....' parts)
EASE OF FIX (for those who did the job themselves a brief desc and assessment of how easy the job was and what tools are needed. For those who had their man to it for them: how many man-hours labour).
CONTAINMENT (an explanation of what to do if you get the problem to keep the car running until you get it fixed - assuming it is safe to run the car with the problem)
So here goes:-
SYMPTOM: Radiator cooling fan runs on after the engine is switched off longer than the usual time until the battery is completely drained.
ROOT CAUSE: Radiator thermostat-switch malfunctioning, usually due to age and deteriorating insulation leading to short circuit. The thermostat-switch is mounted in the top right hand corner of the radiator as you look into the engine bay. Its function is to switch the fans on and off according to the temp of the coolant in the radiator.
PARTS REPLACED: Radiator thermostat-switch.
EASE OF FIX: Cost me 1Mh labour. In theory it is an easy job to do yourself but is a real pig to get your hand to the switch as access is not great.
CONTAINMENT: When you turn the car off you can pull the radiator fan relay to shut down the rad fans down. If the car is particularly hot then it is wise to let the fans run for about 4mins (the time it should take to cool the engine) before pulling the relay.
SYMPTOM: Intermittent starting - the car starts fine sometimes but others it wont even turn over with no sign that it is trying to turn over i.e. completely dead. Once started the car runs fine and never cuts out.
ROOT CAUSE: Reference sensor: either functioning incorrectly or the sensor bracket is loose (is known to loosen off over time)
PARTS REPLACED: Reference sensor (£60) if it needs replacing or just nip up the sensor bracket (free).
EASE OF FIX: Cost me nothing as I only had to tighten the bracket bolt, but reference sensor is approx £60 and would cost less than 1Mh labour. Care needs to be taken when removing the bracket as one bolt is the bolt that fixes the bracket to the top of the clutch bell housing (i.e. the one you want to use), the other nut sets the height of the reference sensor off the flywheel - you don't want to disturb this one as you will need to reset the height of the sensor. If you just unbolt the bracket the sensor can be replaced without the need to reset the sensor height.
CONTAINMENT: Nothing really, the car will either start or it wont. If it starts it will run fine.
SYMPTOM: Interior fan only runs on speed 4 and doesn't run on any other speed. May be intermittent for a while.
ROOT CAUSE: Usually the resistor pack that is bolted to the top of the fan itself under the bonnet in the scuttle area under the plastic rain guard.
PARTS REPLACED: Brand new part is around £125 from the OPC, 2nd hand is around £10, or sometimes just cleaning up the contacts can do the trick
EASE OF FIX: Pretty easy. Just get under the plastic scuttle cover, unbolt the resistor pack (approx 4inches long with 4 coils. Is fixed at either end with two screws), either replace it or clean up existing one. Refitting is reversal of removal.
CONTAINMENT: If the symptom is happening intermittently then sometimes you can coax the fan to work properly by rotating the switch from off to speed 4 a few times. If not you can either leave it on speed 4 or switch it off. If you switch it off you might find the car starts to steam up inside as the fan always runs to keep fresh air circulating thought the cabin even when you switch the fan off. Obviously this is a hazard to visibility!!
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