The Houston 04 SE

[grc0456]

I am rooting for a full restoration! These SE cars are the pinnacle of the 986, and it’s a shame when any don’t make it. Good luck to you!

If and when you get to that point, I would also address the IMSB (if it hasn’t been done). I recall reading that the SE cars tend to have higher failure rates on their single row bearings (possibly due to many became garage Queens), but I don’t know if this has been proven. In any event, it’s a good idea anyway.


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[GTA_G20]

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[78F350]

Yesterday afternoon it was 70 degrees and partly sunny. Then the thunderstorms came. After nightfall the cold front swept through. I can't complain. I accomplished what I intended to yesterday. By dusk, I had given the engine plenty of turns running the starter, with oiled cylinders and plenty of fresh oil in the case.

Today I am sore and it's a damp, windy 40 degrees outside. Sitting by my wood stove at the computer, it is hard to muster the motivation to crawl under the car. I really need to move it into the garage, but my 2000 S - Audi V8 swap project is filling that space. Wednesday I have a full day off. Then, I'll bolt the rear suspension back on that and switch the cars around.

Today? I think I should turn the engine a little more, then drain the oil. After draining, I'll put fresh oil in with a 50-50 mix of Rotella T6 and some Quicksilver 25W-40 marine oil (as suggested) for the additive package.

Some pictures from yesterday:
6 plugs removed.


Some oil and a very small bit of water came out of cylinder #1 and #3. The others were surprisingly dry.


Taking the cover off after a short rain shower.


The mess in my garage.

[itsnotanova]

Nice shirt! lol. That's great news about only one cylinder having water in it. Water doesn't really get in the journals because there's already oil in there when the car gets flooded. Rust inside the combustion chambers scares me more. I've dealt with four flooded motors and you'd be surprised by the lack of rust. In reality though, water in the electronics is a bigger problem. Have you checked the transmission yet?

[10/10ths]

What number 550 is she???

[78F350]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

... Have you checked the transmission yet?

Not yet. Tuesday or Wednesday hopefully.

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

What number 550 is she???

The batwing is missing. Is there another way to find the number?
I did look up the build sheet:

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

... I think that is also why you have water in one cylinder, but not in all. If the water was really clean, the damage might be not that bad.

Fresh, clear water... like Evian. My guess is that the water entered the cylinder by the exhaust valve.

In general i would say it's safer to rebuilt the engine; or at least pull the heads and oil pan etc. and clean everything up, just to make shure possible debree doesn't eat up the engine. ...

I think I will take a chance on the engine without a rebuild. If a problem shows, hopefully it will not be catastrophic - then rebuild. I have magnets on my filter and will order a magnetic plug soon to catch debris.


Once I am confident in the engine, I intend to have a LN IMS bearing replacement.

Here's my video from turning the engine with the starter:
https://youtu.be/s5MqC3bWho4

[RedTele58]

Originally Posted by 78F350

The batwing is missing. Is there another way to find the number?

Looking at your build sheet, it was probably #60. But - digging around at my shop in my big "pile-o-parts", it looks like the number now is going to be 0835/1953. I'd hate to see you get it all put back together and have a big hole on the console where the batwing goes. It might not be totally correct and purist true, but this will look much better.

I bought this several years ago off the board here, off a wreck, for a wall hanger, knowing it was as close as I'd probably ever get to owning a 550SE.

It's your now - we'll add it to the cup of coffee I owe you for the 2.5 long block.

Rick

[78F350]

Originally Posted by RedTele58

Looking at your build sheet, it was probably #60. But - digging around at my shop in my big "pile-o-parts", it looks like the number now is going to be 0835/1953. ...

That's awesome! Thanks so much. 0835 it is then!


Today I pulled out some electronics. The CDR23/amp/CDC4 are beyond repair. I'm really hoping that Fred shows up soon with some toys for us to buy: http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/66808-infotainment-system-porsche-car-%5B-cad-prototyping-finish%5D.html
That is what I want in this car. Better than OEM.

I think that the switches are all going to be fine, but I'm going to replace the ignition switch and headlight switch since I already have spares on hand. Why take a chance.
I am going to take a chance on the Convertible Top relay. It looks good and it's easy to replace if it goes bad. About half the other relays looked bad internally, so they are All going in the trash. I pulled all of the fuses and cleaned out the holder. Many had signs of corrosion. Hunting down intermittent electrical problems can suck. Why take a chance... They are all in the trash.



The climate control unit was surprisingly good. Just some very light signs of water that I cleaned off with industrial strength alcohol and electronics cleaner. There's still a chance that the LCD screen is bad, but hoping for the best.

[Dave80GTSi]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Today I pulled out some electronics. The CDR23/amp/CDC4 are beyond repair.

Are you certain that the trashed CD player is a CDC-4 and is not a CDC-3?

If it might indeed be a -3, I could use the magazine if you'd be willing to sell it.

Thanks - DM

[78F350]

Originally Posted by Dave80GTSi

Are you certain that the trashed CD player is a CDC-4 and is not a CDC-3?

If it might indeed be a -3, I could use the magazine if you'd be willing to sell it.

Thanks - DM

It was a CDC-4 in the car and I think I have a couple -3s in a box. I'll PM or post a pic and price later.

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Fresh, clear water... like Evian. My guess is that the water entered the cylinder by the exhaust valve.

Sounds good.

My proposal would be:

Don't turn over engine.

Replace engine oil and oil filter with cheap new ones.

Remove spark plugs and fill cylinders with engine oil / rost inhibitor as good as you can. Let it soak.

Remove air intake at tb. Check air intake filter and clean air intake housing and hose as good as you can without ripping it out of the car. If the air intake filter is intact and no debree passed it, chances are high that the intake system ist free of debree like sand etc. That would be a big plus. For first turn over don't connect intake hose to tb.

Remove headers from engine. Best would be to pull the complete exhaust system and check for water and especially for engine oil. If there is a bigger amount of water / engine oil sludge in the cats this can be problem. For first turn over don't connect headers to engine.

Remove all fuses you don't need and check all electronic parts you need to turn over the engine with the starter.

Check fuel tank for water. If there is water inside, pump all old fuel out and replace it with new fuel. The SE doesn't have an external fuel filter. So if you want to check the filter you have to pull the fuel pump - integral part of the pump.

Check cooling water for debree oil etc. If there is oil in the cooling water check why.

Check belt, tensioner etc.

Remove fuel pump and ignition fuses. Connect starter battery to terminals. Check electronics and fuses once again for shorts and functionality.

Turn over engine with starter motor. This will throw all oil and debree out of the cylinders. This will also make a mess – so be prepared.

If you like you can refill the cylinders with oil and do the procedure again until all oil came out of the cylinders.

Install spark plugs and ignition coils / cables etc. install fuses (fuel pump, ignition).

Start engine without headers and tb intake hose. Prepare - this will be loud. Check if all cylinders are present. Check for unusual noises etc. If everything is OK let the engine warm up at idle / lower revs for 10 minutes. That should be enough time to get humidity out.

Than check other components and think about what needs additional cleaning, replacement etc.

Hope that is useful.

Again good look with the SE Houston project…

Regards, Markus

[MWS]

Pardon if this suggestion is beyond obvious, but if you get to the point when you would like to try to start the car, I would have all the nonessential electronics disconnected and then start adding them back in one at a time (or add "donor" components)....this way you won't be trying to chase gremlins throughout the entire electrical system, and should be easy enough to find if one component is bad.

Additionally, the per your pic of the climate board...even though there is no obvious corrosion, I would think the IC's would be toast, but then again, I might be wrong.

I said this before, but you sir are a braver man than I...and I salute you for being so.

[78F350]

Originally Posted by MWS

Pardon if this suggestion is beyond obvious, but if you get to the point when you would like to try to start the car, I would have all the nonessential electronics disconnected and then start adding them back in one at a time (or add "donor" components)....

That sounds good. At first, only essentials in the car, then rather than putting the original stuff back in, I'll use my spares (as much as possible). After I know the basic systems and are harness good, I'll switch in the original equipment one by one (the parts that cleaned up and looked good).

So far I have done much of what Markus suggested, except I haven't applied power to the car yet. I put power directly to the starter with the intake and throttle body removed. First with the spark plugs out, then later with the spark plugs in. All of this with the exhaust drained and open and fresh oil with anti rust additive (marine oil).

I pushed other my project car out of the garage today, but still need to clean up and organize my junk before the Houston SE goes in.


My grandson (6 years old) will be visiting this weekend, so probably not much progress unless he wants to play with cars.

[911monty]

Impressed with the progress you're making AND time for the grandkids! Curious if there was any water in the intake tract downstream of the TB. I would think since TB was closed and tested to 26" manifold vacuum it should have been water tight. The exhaust side of course is open and 2 exhaust valve should be in various states of open but interesting they were same bank. As far as debris the catalyst is a pretty good strainer, so I wouldn't remove the headers unless you really want to. Since exhaust is stainless and water (condensation) is normal, The muffler is all I'd think that needs to be inspected. Carry On!!!

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by 911monty

As far as debris the catalyst is a pretty good strainer, so I wouldn't remove the headers unless you really want to.

Problem is, that there was too little engine oil in the engine and a lot of water. So it's possible that the engine oil is in the exhaust system and in the cats. In my opionion it's highly recommended to remove the exhaust system at the headers and check if there is engine oil in the exhaust system / cats.

My experience says grandsons always wants to play with cars. But it's questionable if you really have progress with the work you want to do on your cars.

Have a good time with your grandson and family. Much more important than cars.

Regards, Markus

[911monty]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

Problem is, that there was too little engine oil in the engine and a lot of water. So it's possible that the engine oil is in the exhaust system and in the cats. In my opionion it's highly recommended to remove the exhaust system at the headers and check if there is engine oil in the exhaust system / cats.


Regards, Markus

Totally agree. However, while motor oil may kill the cats, the only way to know will be to run them and cook the oil out with exhaust heat. I don't know the condition of the exhaust manifold to head bolts, but at this point I wouldn't risk breaking a few just to see if there is oil in there when we all know the answer to that one (see post 38). If the cats fail deal with it then. They may be fine. Lots of failed AOS that oil soaked cats came back from.

[dghii]

Great ideas above.

I think this is going to turn out better than you expected when you bought the car. Your worst case to this project has not changed while your best case seems to be improving every day.

Best of luck!

[PaulE]

Did the 2004 550 SE get the 987 upgraded ignition switch and lock assembly, just like it got the 987 air filter housing? I know they changed over the lock and switch at some point after my 2003. I had mine upgraded to after my second failed ignition switch.

[10/10ths]

...what should I look for?

[PaulE]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

...what should I look for?

On the ignition switch and lock? Sorry I don’t know. Maybe search for the parts by your VIN on a site like Sunset, and compare those part numbers to the part numbers for an 03 and an 05, and see what matches.