mick944

I dropped 944 off at P-car shop to repair what appeared to me to be wheel bearing failure,only to have them call me and say wheel bearings are fine and it is instead bearings in the(std) trans/differential.This sounds more expensive to me.They are bringing in a specialist(builds /races Porsches) to take a closer look(I told them I am not in the financial market to just rebuild because we are already in there).Anyone have any experience in what I might be in store for?Whatever it is,I wish it was just the wheel bearing.

Wayne Hutton

I have a problem with my final drive bearings on my auto trans. I have one quote for $1300 but I am looking for a better deal. It is making just a little noise. Anyone know of a good mechanic for stuff like this?

mick944

Yeah,mine was just making slight humming noise(at speed) and then it went away,and yesterday it started scraping noise(hence the wheel bearing diagnosis).P-Shop even thought that was it and disasembled and found wheel bearings to be OK.Noises are hard to diagnose from inside the car.I don't want to hear 1000.00 repair estimate.I may have to put the old thing(83' with 143,000) to sleep if that happens(actually,its running great,looking great,so I will eventually bite the bullet and do the deed but man that sucks.Oh well,part of the Porsche thing.

Wayne Hutton

My car was making the same whirring sound at speed. Then, an occasional grind sound. My car only has 70k and everything else is great. So I'm stuck with a repair.

Zero10

mick944, if worst comes to worst, I would imagine you could drop a used tranny in for less than replacing the bearings, well if they are $1000 at least.
Don't put er to sleep.

mick944

Yeah,I was checking out some prices on used ones.I guess thats a crap shoot also.Saw one out of a(86) Turbo on ebay.Wonder if that would bolt in to my 83.If so ,would the labor of a install offset that of a rebuild?Decisions!

jd944

Be careful with used units. I went the salvage yard route a few years ago when I broke the ring gear in my 84. I installed and then removed three bad (worked but noisy) units before I got a good one on the fourth try. In fairness to the salvage yards, it's tough to evaluate a transaxle without driving the car. Most noises only show up under stress of driving.

Zero10

Umm, yes the 86 turbo box WOULD bolt in, however the gearing is different, and your performance will suffer.
You are best finding one from a 2.5L NA car, I think they all share the same gearing. I am fairly confident that the gearing is different on the 2.7L's gearboxes, and the 3.0L's gearboxes. However I believe the 16V 2.5L engines had the same gearbox as the 8V 2.5L's.
I hope I made sense =)

mick944

Waiting for the doctor(I mean Porsche rocket scientist)to call me back and give the verdict.Thanks for the support.

mick944

OK,the P-shop just called to tell me that not only is it not the wheel bearing,it is not the bearings(whichever ones that were associated with the trans) either,but instead the tires(noise) and a small rock(scrapeing noise) in brake cal.on the same side.You talk about a economical rollercoaster.Weird scenario.Had them fooled also.Tires(BFG TA KDWs,245/45/16's on the rear) where the noise is are fairly new(less than a year).I'm glad they had their Porsche tranny specialist come in,he drove it and immediately detected the issue(or lack of).I gave them 40.00 for their time(2 days) in their shop.I almost feel like a lottery winner.

jeeper31

When you broke your ring gear what were the symptoms?

jd944

It started as a faint thump that increased with speed. A day or two later it began skiping and grinding.

jeeper31

did you replace the whole tranny? What did it cost?

jd944

I replaced the whole transaxle. The cost was $500.00. It came with the standard 30 day junk yard guarantee. It's been about four years with no problems. I see you're from the Island. What part? I lived in the Huntington area my whole life until I transfered to Florida in 2001.

jeeper31

I live out in Soffolk in the sayville area. Did you get the used unit at a salvage yeard out here? If so which ones did you use?