Hi:

Recently, I bought an 89 carrera with about 107k miles. The car feels tight and handles great. But, it is just slow and sluggish. I have had an 84'and two 87' carreras and they all were a lot quicker and more responsive. The car was sitting for awhile. The previous owner did not drive it. Maybe its just me because I am coming off of a stock 86' 944 turbo that happened to be really fast. But, I feel the 89 should be quicker. What can i do or check to bring it back to life. I am going to change the plugs and wires but, it seems like there is more to it than just a tuneup. I have driven 911s that needed tuneups and they still ripped. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon
1986 944 Turbo Stock For Sale

 

Jon,

First, make sure your throttle is opening fully! Next, I would do a compression and/or leakdown test. A good tuneup couldn't hurt but won't fix the problem if the compression is bad.

Good Luck!

John

87' Carrera - 17K miles

 

i have very limited experience but wires is a good idea, it seems to be the first thing we always checked when i worked at a porsche shop....i was no mechanic, just a parts runner and such. Then again, there was a guy who came to the shop after buying a 72 911 with a huge kit on it, bright yellow, looked like a 993 gt2, he bought it off ebay and raved about how fast it was. When he brought it in, we took it for a ride and it was running on 3 cyl, ran a compresson and one of the cylinders had close to nothing...and a couple more weren't doing too well either

i hope thats not the case, good luck.

 

I also have only a little experience here, but I found my throttle was nnot opening fully, when I bought miine. She was short by a full 10mm.

The adjustment was very easy. I adjusted the rod immediatley behind the throttle pedal. It mad a significant improvement.

 

This is why I hate taking any of my autos in for 'treatment'... Picked up my previous beemer after custom exhaust was built and installed only to hear that the boys had each taken her out and she was indeed '...a sweet little car'... Never went back and do as much as possible my self on my babies...

 

Another thing you can do is to run some techron through it and then change the oil and filter. The fuel injectors could be gummed up which is often felt as a loss of power.

 

Recently, I bought an 89 carrera with about 107k miles. The car feels tight and handles great. But, it is just slow and sluggish.

Recently purchased. Did you get a ppi? What were the compression/leakdown test results?

 

The PPI was okay. The car is slowly starting to get faster and more responsive. I have been driving it alot. I think it was all the sitting around it had been doing.

Jon
1989 911 carrera silver anniversary
1986 944 turbo
198

 

castoejs, drive it at redline in 3rd gear for a few miles. It sounds like my 88 Carrera when it was sluggish.

spider911
35 year PCA member

 

Aside from what others have mentioned - if the car was sitting for awhile, abouse the hell out of it for a good couple days - you might notice an improvement.

I took my 88 to a track event a few months after I bought it and it ran better after the thrashing. Try blowing the junk out of it with your right foot - that may be all the problem is.

 

Yesterday I took my 87' Carrera out and ran it over 5000 rpm for about 10 minutes to clean out the cobwebs.

First gear launches were previously quick, especially with the Steve Wong chip, but now the rear tires will spin and the car really slingshots!!

Thanks for the tip and Happy Holidays!

John Pavone

1987 Carrera Targa - 17K miles

 

Mine was a little sluggish right after I bought it but 1000 miles at 60-120 cleaned it out good. It was driven by a woman - so think carbon had built up a little.

My throttle cable had some slack in it too. Those two things and you should be good to go.

- Jeremy

 

castorjs,

Do you have any history from this car?

I sold my 25th anv. to a dealer in floridia about 5 years ago for a RSA.

I was just wondering???

jpc