The advantages of "German Engineering"
07/04/2021
Now and again, people smile a little at what the Americans like to call "German engineering". But well thought-out designs that have matured over the years also have their advantages. In any case, I was recently pleased that someone had given a lot of thought to the potential problems that can occur.
I'm not necessarily a fan of automatically opening and closing convertible roofs myself. Recently, I was at the start of an Alpine pass and wanted to open the roof of the Porsche 993 in order to experience even more pleasure from the flowing sequence of bends. Unfortunately, the roof refused to go down as usual. It simply stopped and wouldn't move. There was no question of driving on, because a half-open roof really isn't fit to drive. At first I thought maybe the car wasn't flat enough and moved it to a different position. But nothing more happened, the roof no longer responded to the push of a button. In horror, I remembered that an emergency closure is a pretty rough procedure and involves the jack and the tool kit, among other things.
After some trial and error, I reached for the manual, which sensibly suggested a blown fuse as the first source of the fault. There is little in the 118-page manual about fuses and the positioning of the fuse box, but the box can be found with a little detective work.
It is located under the fabric cover in the trunk by the bulkhead.
Opening the box is the first shock. There are countless fuses and relays and all you can find are numbers.
But yes, you should probably have read the manual more carefully or just turned over the cover of the fuse box.
Because all the fuses are described clearly and in several languages. You quickly find out that the convertible roof (as well as the sunroof) is protected with fuse 13 at 30 A. And indeed, fuse number 13 is defective. But where to get a replacement fuse?
Here, too, the Porsche engineers have thought ahead. In the middle of the fuse box there are unconnected sockets in which spare fuses are stored (if they have not already disappeared).
A suitable 30 A fuse is actually present and, when inserted, the roof can be opened and closed without any problems. Happy end!
P.S. Now, of course, the missing replacement fuse must be replaced as quickly as possible, as it may be needed again in 20 years' time ...
