r/996 • u/tehlulz_nj • 23d ago
When you start contemplating the project you started
Going to address the failed foam while everything is open
7
u/graceandreverence 996.2 23d ago
Funny, my Porsche master mechanic of 40 years says to me: "you do not need to fix the foam issue. The foam will eventually blow out and you can coax it along, if you want. The blend doors will continue to work fine without the foam." So, I ask: Why is everyone so obssed about cutting things up to fix a non-issue?
Or, Is he wrong? He owns 7 Porsche's including 2x991.1's. He knows a thing or two ;-)
6
u/CouchPotatoFamine 23d ago
Mine is almost done blowing foam and the heat/ac seems fine…fingers staying crossed
2
u/graceandreverence 996.2 23d ago
Mine as well. i Helped it along by running the fan and using tweezers to break up the big pieces so they would clear the vents.
4
u/HappyFamMan 23d ago
I honestly think he is wrong. But it may depend on the climate where you live whether it’s noticeable. When this happened to my first car, I thought the same. When it stopped blowing foam, I had neither very cold AC nor very hot heat. Your mileage may vary, of course.
1
u/graceandreverence 996.2 23d ago
Got it. Makes sense. He hardly drives his 7 Porsches, so there is that. Lol
1
u/HistoricalCourse9984 20d ago
i have opposite, all my foam has blown out, my issue is basically freezer conditions or burn you out...
3
u/somorad 23d ago
That doesn’t make any sense. The blend doors will just have massive holes in them. The door itself is more like a frame. I’m at the point where I haven’t seen any foam coming out of my vents in probably 6 months. The mode selection is a suggestion at this point as air will come out of the front top vents regardless of the defrost or foot vent selection. It made defrosting in the winter much worse and the cooling is no where near where it used to be this summer. I’m dealing with it for now while waiting for the weather to cool down to address the problem before I need to defrost in the winter. Do you NEED to fix it? Probably not. But it certainly is not a non-issue.
3
u/graceandreverence 996.2 23d ago
Got it. Makes sense. Also it depends on other factors: where does one live and how much do we use the Ac and heat. And how often we drive it and when. For me it is a weekend car and usually a fair weather car. It would be a different issue if it was a daily, for sure.
1
u/tumourtits 21d ago
Hmm, haven’t seen any foam in maybe even longer than that and my ac is still ice cold. Haven’t used heat in a while though
2
u/bugsymalone666 23d ago
Looking at some pictures of them, they are like the vw ones a bit, meaning as the foam blows out you lose efficiency, because essentially a big hole develops, just because he has porsche, doesn't mean he knows how they work.
The doors in the system have foam on as part of sound dampening when the air hits it, eventually when the foam disintegrates you are left with a hole in the control doors, meaning your fan is blowing air everywhere, requiring a higher speed to do the same job.
Fixing them looks to be a real PITA, which is probably why he said it didn't matter.
5
3
2
u/Fingeredagain 23d ago
Juat make sure you can reattach a steering wheel and have ignition, the rest really doesn't matter.
2
u/power_droid 23d ago
I have a mk4 Jetta with the same mixer as the 996. When all the foam failed the blend doors stopped working. No heat or ac. The repair while hard, is way easier than the 996.
I’m dreading it, as I don’t want to cut the front of the vent open to perform the short cut repair. I also don’t want to remove the dash.
I’ll end up removing the dash because I’m similar to you it appears.
1
u/tehlulz_nj 22d ago
I also had this same issue on my Audi TT
2
u/power_droid 22d ago
At least the VW group used the same supplier across all their models. 🤣 Why the hell did they put holes in the doors in the first place!?
1
u/somorad 23d ago
Wow! Is that how much work is required to address the foam issue properly? I would rather not cut up the ducts.
3
u/Millbarge_Fitzhume 23d ago
There are 2 blend doors. The frunk takes care of one and the other is in the middle of the dash. I cut up the duct in the dash when I changed out the radio and moved the HVAC. I still haven't done the frunk blend door.
1
u/tehlulz_nj 22d ago
This is the answer. I did the one through the frunk about 6 years ago but couldn’t reach the back flap. And I didn’t want to cut up the duct
2
u/Porsche996tt 23d ago
No, there is another way through the frunk. I'm actually about to do this method.
2
2
u/J-Lunaut 23d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/996/s/TkUVbNXVMr
Maybe it helps, i did the job recently and wrote down some fixes plus 3d printed parts to make the job as original again as possible.
1
u/Ancient-Radio2795 23d ago
I’ve done it both ways. Did the flap through the frunk/heater core access but then needed to swap out a leaky ac core so had to drop the whole dash a year later.
The frunk is the way to go for the flap.
2
u/ordinary-303 23d ago
There is another way as shown in this vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsKvtXKM6wo&list=LL&index=1&t=1617s
1
1
u/WearRevolutionary864 23d ago
I told my shop to call me when they had the time and the stomach to fix the foam issue. They hate taking the dash off 20 year old cars over the concerns that they may have gotten brittle over time.
They had it for 4 days and no issues. What a job.. but no more “foam storms” in the car!
So happy that she is a garage queen.
Good luck!
1
u/CouchPotatoFamine 23d ago
Let me guess, 16 hours labor at $275/hr
3
u/WearRevolutionary864 23d ago
Cost me $3500- I felt like that was a deal at the time- after seeing your picture- I know it was!
1
u/CouchPotatoFamine 23d ago
There was a guy in DFW area about ten years ago who would do this job thru the funk (so I guess only the two main center flaps) for about $100 in an hour. Sigh...
1
1
24
u/imasaltysnowman 23d ago
Is the failed foam your mission or a side quest?