987.2 foam bits spray out

BIts of foam blowing out of the dashboard face vents and at base of windshield when climate control system on. Anybody have an answer on what and why? On VW's therte is a similar complaint, see video: How To Fix Blend Doors ~ Install a Heater Core and Reseal The HVAC Box - YouTube It's a bit nasty inside.

Most likely exactly that. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Yup blend door foam… that happened to me on one of the Porsche ’s I’ve had…. Can’t remember which one tho

There are numerous DIY's on fixing this issue. The "right" way - ie - Porsche way would be to remove the dashboard and probably replace the entire heater assembly. No one I know of has done this. The DIY's involve either removing the radio and HVAC controller and cutting the front of the heater box and going in that way, or going through the frunk and removing the heater core, then doing a cut of a pivot point to remove one of the flaps inside. I suspect to fully fix it - you really have to go in from both directions. Do a search on Google " porsche heater flaps" or something like that. I'm sure they'll turn right up. There are also threads here on the subject. This is one of those head-scratching designs by Porsche where no one can figure out why they did that.. was discussing it at dinner with my wife tonight actually since a friend just bought a no-mileage 2000 986 , and as a passenger today I got to tell him what all the foam coming out of his vents was from, and what it's going to cost him. He wasn't happy about that.

This applies to a 986 but should give you an idea of what you're facing repair-wise. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

My father: "because the people that design the car don't have to wrench on it" would have made a nice embroidered pillow sham dad. What is the purpose of those oval openings he's taping over? How does this modification not affect normal operation? I hope I never find out.

I’d never fix that…. Never bothered me

It will when the heat or A/C stop working. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

That would blow, (oh wait it actually wouldn't ) I would consider that a full circle experience as my first car worse this: Heat? Ah don't be a baby Opel KADETT Hood Emblem 2885330 OEM for sale online | eBay Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Opel KADETT Hood Emblem 2885330 OEM at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products! tinyurl.com

It depends on where you live...;-) Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Neil we were in the business and I couldn't get heat from the Opel 1.1 inline four where each January included a week below zero. I froze my high school stones off and I'm not talking bout Micc (can't spell his name because the site thinks it's a slight) and Keith.

Oh you mean M.i.c.k ??

so that I dont sound like a broken record - this thread might help also... Cayman - foam being blown out of the vents Over the past few weeks, I have noticed pieces of foam being blown out of the air vents. The A/C appears to be operating normally (I have not noticed any issues with the A/C, in fact, it has been operating as it has been the past 9 years). Is this a common issue? www.planet-9.com

My 2008 had this problem for a couple months and eventually stopped blowing foam. Everything still seems to work fine, including defrost. However, a foot note is I live in Florida and perhaps the heat will no longer be redirected as designed but I wouldn't know. I don't use heat. I suspect the likelihood is everything will still work acceptably but there would be some lack of hot air direction capability. It will still be hot air, just somewhat unable to change where it blows. I'll never know.

I have been thinking about this since it started, I think the foam silences the doors from rattling in the box openings and to seal (maybe) Sealing the holes in the doors (I don't think that they are "lightening holes") may also impact the performance of the climate system. Waiting on the solution that eliminates the foam crumbs and make it more accessible because the box DOES need to be periodically cleaned out somehow.

If I had to guess - the holes are there so the doors can close when the fan is on high. The foam appears to be open-cell foam, meaning with some differential pressure (high pressure on one side, ie - fan, no pressure on the other side) air can pass through the foam as the door closes. If I was doing the job - for the foil tape - I'd put a slit in the center of it with a knife, allowing for some equalization of pressure as the door seals shut. The coils in the box can be removed through the frunk, they're behind the battery under the windshield cowl. I know at least the heater core can be removed that way.. 986 - Sonny Nguyen - - Sonny is a bit chatty (OK?) and the camera work is somewhat jumpy and poorly exposed, but it's a starting place. 986 again - foam fix via the interior console - - Aaron - aka Help Me DIY. Much less chatty and better camera work. 987 one - going in from under the cowl, no hacking of the heater box: - note that this only fixes 2 of the 3 flaps. That might be enough to have heat and AC again, but I wonder if the directional flows will all work. I suspect a combination of going in from both directions might result in the best solution. I'd also be tempted to look for a source for an open-cell foam instead of what he used (that is closed cell) but it probably won't be easy to find one that's long-lasting and self-adhesive.

This is exactly what happened with my MY10CS PDK. The foam pieces that appear are greasy rather than foamy. It has been developing for the last year or so and really got my attention when large flat pieces began accumulating behind the dash vent adjustable flaps. The entire airbox and trim trim flaps had to be replaced. They were deteriorating over time. The car has been a Florida native since new. BGB Motorsports here in Ormond Beach Florida did the entire job for me. The entire dash had to be removed as well as access from the frunk. After parts repair, all had to be reset to the computer performance parameters. I don't believe this is a do it yourself project to be easily done. The airbox had to come from Germany. Now, all is working perfectly. It is not cheap by any means, but BGB did it all. They are an unbelievable group of the best Porsche technological mechanics that I've ever known. Honest, trustworthy and are incredibly capable to get things right, all the time. John Tecce runs the show. I would recommend you access their website "BGB Motorsports Group" here in Ormond Beach Florida and contact them for questions or repairs. You can't go wrong. My MY10CS PDK is now at 201,000. miles and thanks to them, it runs like new and performs incredibly well.

Mambodoc1, Thanks for that advice. I'd not heard of BGB until yesterday when I heard them referenced on a sweet build on BaT. Your explanation was the first that actually delved into the "gotta do it right" category. All videos previously seen were field dressing-type or "I'm demoing this instrument panel anyway, so...". My '09 car spent some time in FLA, maybe the heat and humidity accelerates the decay of the aging foam. Porsche has something bad here. I have never had anything like this on any other vehicle I've owned Foreign or domestic produced. I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how they corrected this on subsequent production.

mambodoc1, yes agree that the foam is a little more than pesky.....I actually inhaled a big visible piece as I was taking a nice relaxing breath.... and that was the day I decided to get the work done... and thats before it gets microscopic.. it stains clothes and the interior seats as well - sand beige is not the colour that takes kindly to these types of stains. Glad you're enjoying the many miles on your car - Porsches are meant to be driven and one hopes that they keep doing so for many more years!

I followed the garagelife video posted above to successfully do my 06 Boxster S flap on the weekend. Added plus was having the battery out and being able to clean in and under there as well as dress all the graying cowl plastics....feels good. As you can see there was zero foam left. I used some 1/16 thick adhesive backed foam that I was able to get off of amazon in a wide roll.

Nicely done. I've watched those videos too. It's nice that we have reference videos to follow. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Did you cut the top off the pivot point? In looking at the video it wasn't clear to me that it had to be cut off. I suspect it does - and what he mentioned pulling off was an inner-sleeve the flap rotated in - but it isn't really clear from the video. It would have been nice if Porsche made the disassembly a bit easier ( )

Did Porsche ever fix this lousy design or is it something they are still using?

I guess the 981 like guys like me will know soon enough once a few more years are on the cars like the 987. My guess is its the same material breakdown issue that P cars suffer from in a multitude of places. Anything that used to be petroleum based (and last for a lifetime) now degrades very quickly due to stricter environmental rules preventing them from using the same materials any longer. Somehow it's better for the environment to have to manufacture more parts to replace things over and over again that never needed any attention previously for the life of a vehicle

I've had a multitude of cars over the years from various origins. Never had this issue (prior to Porsche ). I think most of manufacturers have used plastic diverters since the 70's.

Yep, I get it. I've also never had to worry about the foam/glue on a headliner falling down, or the door panels coming unglued and warping up after only a couple years either on ANY car, yet it happens here in multitudes along with a host of other things no one ever worries about, even on the cheapest crap car brand. Their gift is on the mechanical side of things, but everything else like software or anything that requires adhesive seems to be a mystery to them that they cannot seem to get a handle on. Its been years of some of the same failures, crossing from one generation model to the next in some cases which is inexcusable IMO. Sadly it will not surprise me at all if I eventually have this same issue that no one else will ever have to think about on any car less than 30 years old, but I keep coming back for more abuse for 20+ years because so far the good times outweigh the bad.

If you are not interested in the DYI option, a buddy of mine went with Vision Vents.

These don't address the blend door issue, only getting in there and doing the foam on the blend door can fix the issue. Cheers, Julian

Don, as usual, very astute points !! My initialy thought (as you pointed out): 1. Weight - make the door light (by putting holes there) to accommodate a smaller / lighter motor (to open and close) 2. And when / if the fan is blowing hard / high, the door(s) and close "easily" (with holes / porus foams) without resistance My other question would be - "do later models (of VW / Audi / Porsche ) have the same design?"

I rather doubt weight - since they could have made the doors out of some reinforced plastic if they were worried a lot about weight, but #2 - for sure, sort of one of my points above. And good question - I'll have to do some searching and see if I can find photos of newer VW conglomerate HVAC boxes...

Did anyone have issues after performing the repair to the doors? My vents work fine for the first 3-5 minutes after the car starts, the air comes out of the middle vents (preferred setting), but after that the system switches to the windshield vents. I can select the floor vents and those work as well but selecting the middle vents sends the air to the top vents.

See my post above - https://www.planet-9.com/threads/98...om/threads/987-2-foam-bits-spray-out.250145/page-2?post_id=2222318#post-2222318 Do you have a diagnostics tool that's capable of activating the flap-door motors in the HVAC box? That would be the first step I'd take in diagnostics for this issue. I'd suggest the Foxwell NT530 - I believe it has that capability on the 987 (it's about the best tool for the 987 series cars..) If you're going to DIY, or just want to keep mechanics and the dealers honest - the $200 for a diagnostics tool will repay you many times over. OH - Welcome to Planet-9, the Friendly Porsche Forum for owners with no face level air.. How about heading over to https://www.planet-9.com/forums/new_members/ and introducing yourself and your car. That's tradition around here before lots of questions are asked.. Photos are very welcome in that posting.