One long day!!
#1
12-23-2007, 09:58 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gualala, Ca.
Age: 77
Posts: 752
Rep Power: 94 
One long day!!
The short version: Arrived home from a week in Baja last night at SFO. I had left the 3 with Alex and James at Sharkwerks before leaving last week to have the RS LWF kit installed. Alex was kind enough to meet us at the airport with the car so he and his wife jointed us for dinner before we set off for the 3 hours drive up the coast. By the way, the LWF is great, I highly recommend it if you have a “regular” 3. Huge difference in throttle response!!
We didn’t get out of SF until sometime after 9:00 and we had a rather long day as the flight was delayed and we arrived about 2 hours later then our original 5:00. It was a beautiful night for a drive up the coast, the ocean was calm and we had a great moonlight drive. Everything was going great and as per plan. I was about 20 miles from home, the little woman was taking a snooze so I was driving along and a relaxed pace and a good thing I was as I came upon three cows standing in the middle of the road. I had to come to a complete stop flash the lights on and off and serenade them with a little tune from the Sharkexhaust to get them out of the road. By this time Linda was awake and I picked up the pace a little. We were in one of my favorite sweepers when all of a sudden the car appeared to get a sever case of what I at first thought was understeer but turned out that I had no power steering!! All kind of lights started coming on in the dashboard and I had to drive about ¼ of a mile before finding a spot safe enough to get out of the road.
After a little poking around in the engine compartment I discovered that the belt wasn’t turning on any of the pulleys. After several calls to 1-800-Porsche and making an attempt and trying to explain to them were I was and that there wasn’t any cross roads, just the Pacific ocean on my left I decided it was best that I just call AAA myself, have the car transported to my house, which was less then 20 miles from where we were, and deal with the car in the morning. As it turned out I didn’t get home and into bed until 5:30am.
This morning I did some more investigating in the day light and discovered that the main pulley attached to the crankshaft had come loose, hence no power to anything. No water pump, alternator or power steering. Has anyone had this happen yet??? 16,245 miles and the first problem. I consider myself very luck as had it been earlier in the day I would have in all likelihood been driving at about 8-9/10’s and could have been in some huge trouble.
I’m now waiting for Porsche to contact me so I can arrange to get the car transported to my dealer for repairs. Looks like it may not be until Wed.
And no, it didn't have anything to do with the LWF installation.
They worked on the other end of the engine.
We didn’t get out of SF until sometime after 9:00 and we had a rather long day as the flight was delayed and we arrived about 2 hours later then our original 5:00. It was a beautiful night for a drive up the coast, the ocean was calm and we had a great moonlight drive. Everything was going great and as per plan. I was about 20 miles from home, the little woman was taking a snooze so I was driving along and a relaxed pace and a good thing I was as I came upon three cows standing in the middle of the road. I had to come to a complete stop flash the lights on and off and serenade them with a little tune from the Sharkexhaust to get them out of the road. By this time Linda was awake and I picked up the pace a little. We were in one of my favorite sweepers when all of a sudden the car appeared to get a sever case of what I at first thought was understeer but turned out that I had no power steering!! All kind of lights started coming on in the dashboard and I had to drive about ¼ of a mile before finding a spot safe enough to get out of the road.
After a little poking around in the engine compartment I discovered that the belt wasn’t turning on any of the pulleys. After several calls to 1-800-Porsche and making an attempt and trying to explain to them were I was and that there wasn’t any cross roads, just the Pacific ocean on my left I decided it was best that I just call AAA myself, have the car transported to my house, which was less then 20 miles from where we were, and deal with the car in the morning. As it turned out I didn’t get home and into bed until 5:30am.
This morning I did some more investigating in the day light and discovered that the main pulley attached to the crankshaft had come loose, hence no power to anything. No water pump, alternator or power steering. Has anyone had this happen yet??? 16,245 miles and the first problem. I consider myself very luck as had it been earlier in the day I would have in all likelihood been driving at about 8-9/10’s and could have been in some huge trouble.
I’m now waiting for Porsche to contact me so I can arrange to get the car transported to my dealer for repairs. Looks like it may not be until Wed.
And no, it didn't have anything to do with the LWF installation.
They worked on the other end of the engine.
#2
12-23-2007, 10:12 PM
The short version: Arrived home from a week in Baja last night at SFO. I had left the 3 with Alex and James at Sharkwerks before leaving last week to have the RS LWF kit installed. Alex was kind enough to meet us at the airport with the car so he and his wife jointed us for dinner before we set off for the 3 hours drive up the coast. By the way, the LWF is great, I highly recommend it if you have a “regular” 3. Huge difference in throttle response!!
We didn’t get out of SF until sometime after 9:00 and we had a rather long day as the flight was delayed and we arrived about 2 hours later then our original 5:00. It was a beautiful night for a drive up the coast, the ocean was calm and we had a great moonlight drive. Everything was going great and as per plan. I was about 20 miles from home, the little woman was taking a snooze so I was driving along and a relaxed pace and a good thing I was as I came upon three cows standing in the middle of the road. I had to come to a complete stop flash the lights on and off and serenade them with a little tune from the Sharkexhaust to get them out of the road. By this time Linda was awake and I picked up the pace a little. We were in one of my favorite sweepers when all of a sudden the car appeared to get a sever case of what I at first thought was understeer but turned out that I had no power steering!! All kind of lights started coming on in the dashboard and I had to drive about ¼ of a mile before finding a spot safe enough to get out of the road.
After a little poking around in the engine compartment I discovered that the belt wasn’t turning on any of the pulleys. After several calls to 1-800-Porsche and making an attempt and trying to explain to them were I was and that there wasn’t any cross roads, just the Pacific ocean on my left I decided it was best that I just call AAA myself, have the car transported to my house, which was less then 20 miles from where we were, and deal with the car in the morning. As it turned out I didn’t get home and into bed until 5:30am.
This morning I did some more investigating in the day light and discovered that the main pulley attached to the crankshaft had come loose, hence no power to anything. No water pump, alternator or power steering. Has anyone had this happen yet??? 16,245 miles and the first problem. I consider myself very luck as had it been earlier in the day I would have in all likelihood been driving at about 8-9/10’s and could have been in some huge trouble.
I’m now waiting for Porsche to contact me so I can arrange to get the car transported to my dealer for repairs. Looks like it may not be until Wed.
And no, it didn't have anything to do with the LWF installation. They worked on the other end of the engine.
We didn’t get out of SF until sometime after 9:00 and we had a rather long day as the flight was delayed and we arrived about 2 hours later then our original 5:00. It was a beautiful night for a drive up the coast, the ocean was calm and we had a great moonlight drive. Everything was going great and as per plan. I was about 20 miles from home, the little woman was taking a snooze so I was driving along and a relaxed pace and a good thing I was as I came upon three cows standing in the middle of the road. I had to come to a complete stop flash the lights on and off and serenade them with a little tune from the Sharkexhaust to get them out of the road. By this time Linda was awake and I picked up the pace a little. We were in one of my favorite sweepers when all of a sudden the car appeared to get a sever case of what I at first thought was understeer but turned out that I had no power steering!! All kind of lights started coming on in the dashboard and I had to drive about ¼ of a mile before finding a spot safe enough to get out of the road.
After a little poking around in the engine compartment I discovered that the belt wasn’t turning on any of the pulleys. After several calls to 1-800-Porsche and making an attempt and trying to explain to them were I was and that there wasn’t any cross roads, just the Pacific ocean on my left I decided it was best that I just call AAA myself, have the car transported to my house, which was less then 20 miles from where we were, and deal with the car in the morning. As it turned out I didn’t get home and into bed until 5:30am.
This morning I did some more investigating in the day light and discovered that the main pulley attached to the crankshaft had come loose, hence no power to anything. No water pump, alternator or power steering. Has anyone had this happen yet??? 16,245 miles and the first problem. I consider myself very luck as had it been earlier in the day I would have in all likelihood been driving at about 8-9/10’s and could have been in some huge trouble.
I’m now waiting for Porsche to contact me so I can arrange to get the car transported to my dealer for repairs. Looks like it may not be until Wed.
And no, it didn't have anything to do with the LWF installation.
They worked on the other end of the engine.I hope the dealer finds out what the hell happened that caused the pulley to get loose. I mean there must be like 4-5 bolts holding it in place!?
This reminds me of two episodes I've had in the past with getting stranded in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night due to pulley/belt/water pump issues.
The other one happened just recently when we were coming back from Sebring with my friend and his waterpump on the BMW decided to give up.
He got stranded in the "hill billy land" with 100 miles to civilization late in the evening and there was no way in hell I was gonna leave that kid alone there to wait for the tow truck. We ended up spending 6hours waiting for the truck.
The other instance was when I was coming back from Daytona with my 2-day old supercharger system on the M3. The blower had a faulty bearing and got stock so I had to get the car towed all the way to Active Autowerke in Miami from Daytona Beach. The bill for the towing alone was $950, which AA thankfully picked up...
Hope you get your car back soon!
#3
12-23-2007, 10:20 PM
hey ralph, seriously man that was some bad luck! The thought of you guys out there in the cold at night was scary for sure. Only heard of read of two cases like that (on rennlist) where the pin was at fault and also the bolt came out of the main drive pulley. Good to know we can rely on 1800Porsche
Thanks for dinner last night and I'm coming up to Sea Ranch this summer for sure to tour those roads!
Thanks for dinner last night and I'm coming up to Sea Ranch this summer for sure to tour those roads!
#4
01-05-2008, 11:32 AM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gualala, Ca.
Age: 77
Posts: 752
Rep Power: 94
Okay, here's the deal; Porsche came to my house and picked up the car, delivering it to Sonnen in Mill Valley.(I would have preferred it taken to Niello where I purchased the car) It appears as if the bolt which holds the main pulley on has sheared off. During the process damage has occured to the end of the crankshaft. Porsche will do a complete tear down and install a new crank. I would prefer a new motor but I don't see that happening, unless they can't locate a crank!!
I guess the good news is the car is being taken care off, the bad news is I don't know when and as I said, I would prefer a new motor.
I have heard of one other GT3 having a similiar problem. Anyone else here have this happen and if so what was the out come?
I guess the good news is the car is being taken care off, the bad news is I don't know when and as I said, I would prefer a new motor.
I have heard of one other GT3 having a similiar problem. Anyone else here have this happen and if so what was the out come?
#7
01-05-2008, 09:52 PM
Sorry to hear, I can't imagine how frustrating that would be.
I hope everything goes well and your car is back on the road soon.
I hope everything goes well and your car is back on the road soon.
Trending Topics
#9
01-06-2008, 04:22 PM
Well our cars came on the boat together and I now have a one week old Sharkwerks (#0028) exhaust based on your "I didn't think it could get any better" tread and now this goes and happen. Damn! I am so sorry. As you
know I had all my troubles on the front end of ownership but Porsche was very good once I got to the regional rep. I hope your outcome is the same. Thank goodness you were not in a hurry on 1 and no damage to you and your wife. I love the exhaust just as you said I would.
know I had all my troubles on the front end of ownership but Porsche was very good once I got to the regional rep. I hope your outcome is the same. Thank goodness you were not in a hurry on 1 and no damage to you and your wife. I love the exhaust just as you said I would.
#10
01-06-2008, 05:02 PM
Hey snowboarder54, Ranger here. The same thing happened to me. I believe I mentioned it before on another thread.
While driving on I-95 the first thing I noticed was the AC began to blow warm air and the car felt seriously underpowered. Then noticed the temp was thru the roof. Seriously overheating, so I shut it down immediately.
As you said, the belt was not moving.
The crank pulley had become undone and malfunctioned. The car went to Champion. Obtaining a pulley was an odessey. It is not the dealers fault but the pulley is apparently a race part that comes from Porsche Motorsport. They take their sweet time. There have to be enough pulleys for the race teams before they release one for "joe blow customer".
I am obviously concern about my motor and any internal damage. After getting the pulley and installed I was assured that the motor was fine.
I too wanted more assurance, as in a new crank shaft or better yet a new motor but that was not going to happen.
I asked about an etiology as to this occurence but the answer was, "it can happen". Now I see someone else w/ the same problem. I thought I was the only one its happened to.
My GT3 has performed stellar since the repair. The thread posted w/ the post-header dyno results were after the pulley incident. The GT3 is running strong and stout w/ no hiccups so I must assume that all internals are working fine.
Just a nonspecific loose association, that is ... I too had just recently had the RS LWFW installed. There is noway there can be any cause and effect by these two items.
I may have heard something about faulty pulleys going out to the production line. ? issues of metal not meeting stress tolerances, but what the hell do I know.
I want to say that Champion Motorsport and Shiraaz behaved properly and admirably. Shiraaz went above and beyond to help me in my time of need.
Good luck to you snowboarder54 and be patient, the pulley may take awhile.
GT3Ranger
While driving on I-95 the first thing I noticed was the AC began to blow warm air and the car felt seriously underpowered. Then noticed the temp was thru the roof. Seriously overheating, so I shut it down immediately.
As you said, the belt was not moving.
The crank pulley had become undone and malfunctioned. The car went to Champion. Obtaining a pulley was an odessey. It is not the dealers fault but the pulley is apparently a race part that comes from Porsche Motorsport. They take their sweet time. There have to be enough pulleys for the race teams before they release one for "joe blow customer".
I am obviously concern about my motor and any internal damage. After getting the pulley and installed I was assured that the motor was fine.
I too wanted more assurance, as in a new crank shaft or better yet a new motor but that was not going to happen.
I asked about an etiology as to this occurence but the answer was, "it can happen". Now I see someone else w/ the same problem. I thought I was the only one its happened to.
My GT3 has performed stellar since the repair. The thread posted w/ the post-header dyno results were after the pulley incident. The GT3 is running strong and stout w/ no hiccups so I must assume that all internals are working fine.
Just a nonspecific loose association, that is ... I too had just recently had the RS LWFW installed. There is noway there can be any cause and effect by these two items.
I may have heard something about faulty pulleys going out to the production line. ? issues of metal not meeting stress tolerances, but what the hell do I know.
I want to say that Champion Motorsport and Shiraaz behaved properly and admirably. Shiraaz went above and beyond to help me in my time of need.
Good luck to you snowboarder54 and be patient, the pulley may take awhile.
GT3Ranger
#12
01-06-2008, 06:12 PM
neillo
gee snow i live in rocklin about 2 miles from neillo .. had the famous 2gear popout prob neillo replaced my trans no questions asked....so i bought a cayenne from them seemed fair steve
#13
01-06-2008, 06:29 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gualala, Ca.
Age: 77
Posts: 752
Rep Power: 94 Well our cars came on the boat together and I now have a one week old Sharkwerks (#0028) exhaust based on your "I didn't think it could get any better" tread and now this goes and happen. Damn! I am so sorry. As you
know I had all my troubles on the front end of ownership but Porsche was very good once I got to the regional rep. I hope your outcome is the same. Thank goodness you were not in a hurry on 1 and no damage to you and your wife. I love the exhaust just as you said I would.
know I had all my troubles on the front end of ownership but Porsche was very good once I got to the regional rep. I hope your outcome is the same. Thank goodness you were not in a hurry on 1 and no damage to you and your wife. I love the exhaust just as you said I would.
#14
01-06-2008, 06:37 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gualala, Ca.
Age: 77
Posts: 752
Rep Power: 94 Hey snowboarder54, Ranger here. The same thing happened to me. I believe I mentioned it before on another thread.
While driving on I-95 the first thing I noticed was the AC began to blow warm air and the car felt seriously underpowered. Then noticed the temp was thru the roof. Seriously overheating, so I shut it down immediately.
As you said, the belt was not moving.
The crank pulley had become undone and malfunctioned. The car went to Champion. Obtaining a pulley was an odessey. It is not the dealers fault but the pulley is apparently a race part that comes from Porsche Motorsport. They take their sweet time. There have to be enough pulleys for the race teams before they release one for "joe blow customer".
I am obviously concern about my motor and any internal damage. After getting the pulley and installed I was assured that the motor was fine.
I too wanted more assurance, as in a new crank shaft or better yet a new motor but that was not going to happen.
I asked about an etiology as to this occurence but the answer was, "it can happen". Now I see someone else w/ the same problem. I thought I was the only one its happened to.
My GT3 has performed stellar since the repair. The thread posted w/ the post-header dyno results were after the pulley incident. The GT3 is running strong and stout w/ no hiccups so I must assume that all internals are working fine.
Just a nonspecific loose association, that is ... I too had just recently had the RS LWFW installed. There is noway there can be any cause and effect by these two items.
I may have heard something about faulty pulleys going out to the production line. ? issues of metal not meeting stress tolerances, but what the hell do I know.
I want to say that Champion Motorsport and Shiraaz behaved properly and admirably. Shiraaz went above and beyond to help me in my time of need.
Good luck to you snowboarder54 and be patient, the pulley may take awhile.
GT3Ranger
While driving on I-95 the first thing I noticed was the AC began to blow warm air and the car felt seriously underpowered. Then noticed the temp was thru the roof. Seriously overheating, so I shut it down immediately.
As you said, the belt was not moving.
The crank pulley had become undone and malfunctioned. The car went to Champion. Obtaining a pulley was an odessey. It is not the dealers fault but the pulley is apparently a race part that comes from Porsche Motorsport. They take their sweet time. There have to be enough pulleys for the race teams before they release one for "joe blow customer".
I am obviously concern about my motor and any internal damage. After getting the pulley and installed I was assured that the motor was fine.
I too wanted more assurance, as in a new crank shaft or better yet a new motor but that was not going to happen.
I asked about an etiology as to this occurence but the answer was, "it can happen". Now I see someone else w/ the same problem. I thought I was the only one its happened to.
My GT3 has performed stellar since the repair. The thread posted w/ the post-header dyno results were after the pulley incident. The GT3 is running strong and stout w/ no hiccups so I must assume that all internals are working fine.
Just a nonspecific loose association, that is ... I too had just recently had the RS LWFW installed. There is noway there can be any cause and effect by these two items.
I may have heard something about faulty pulleys going out to the production line. ? issues of metal not meeting stress tolerances, but what the hell do I know.
I want to say that Champion Motorsport and Shiraaz behaved properly and admirably. Shiraaz went above and beyond to help me in my time of need.
Good luck to you snowboarder54 and be patient, the pulley may take awhile.
GT3Ranger
If it took that long to get a pulley I can't wait to see how long it will take to get a crankshaft!!!!
Thanks for your info.
#15
01-06-2008, 06:41 PM
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Gualala, Ca.
Age: 77
Posts: 752
Rep Power: 94 I agree, Niello is a first class dealership!! Like I said, I wish I had taken the car there even at my own expense!! But I am confident it will be taken of properly.