Kerry Chadderton

Hello All! At 2:30 this afternoon I bought my first real Porsche. 1984 944. I am so excited! I've wanted one for a long, long time. This car sat for a while, but is in one piece, straight and quite unmolested for it's age. I will trailer it to the shop and do the normal stuff I do with a purchase like this; change fluids, check everthing and investigate before cranking her.

I'm a mechanic by trade but I want to know from those here with experience what I need to pay special attention to with these particular cars.

Darwantae951

Belts/waterpump/rollers/front engine seals. The belts are the big ticket item that you will want to replace just for piece of mind.

athens944

Welcome to the Obsession!

ernie9468

Welcome to our world____The 944s being water cool everything that has to do with cooling should be check (rad /like mention water pump/thermostat /important to make sure your fans are running ,the thermos fan switch is located on top of the rad "driver side" all the hoses for cracks & leakage /expension tank also for cracks". Like said the belts are very important if 4 years old or more & hasn't been done in the last 35-40K miles that will be your ASP job.Then normal maintenance should be consider before taking it on the road such as "wheels bearing -cv axles-brakes ect ect.When changing the oil in the diff-tranny make sure you get the top filler screw first before draining.Also important oil filter for your car will be Mahle OC-142 nothing else. Have fun if not sure of something lol just us a call.

John_AZ

Welcome,
Now read:
www.Clarks-Garage.com cover to cover

Basic, new to you tools and projects:
www.arnnworx.com

If you have a Haynes 944 manual---keep it for the pictures and torque/fluid specs. The repair side is very basic information.

Use the "search" feature once in a while and when you get confused, post a lot of questions.

OH, the 944 is an "interference" engine. If the cam/timing belt breaks or slips a cog or 2, you will bend valves.

If you do not have receipts, the rubber clutch disc is 27 year old and has rotted, waiting for you to be 100 miles from home before it blows apart.

The head gasket is 27 years old and now is waiting for you to start up the engine. It will then cause antifreeze to leak and smoke is the conclusion.

Depending on the maintenance and mileage, the rod bearings are the first to go. Good old number 2 somehow. When you change the oil, place a white rag over the pail and check for metal slivers.

Ahhh, just the beginning.

GL & welcome
John

Grandpa#3

Hello Kerry, WELCOME TO THE FORUM. Great advise has already been given and links to read. The Thermo Fan Switch and the Thermostat should closely match temperature wise for the fans to operate properly. The Thermostat Snap Ring is a PITA to get out. Make sure you move it around to the 12 o'clock position and use a heavy duty long Snap Ring pliers 45* or 90* nose. My son is a Porsche mechanic and we both use PEAK Anti-freeze 50/50 mix and Brad Penn 20W50 engine oil for the ZDDP already in it. Plenty of good oils out there and only the Mahle OC-142 oil filters for the anti-drain back valve inside.

The electrical system on this car is loaded with Gremlins. Search out every "BROWN" Ground Wire and give them a good cleaning for proper contact. The Main Ground is located on top of the Bell Housing. Put tape over the Clutch Inspection Hole. The fuse panel is of the old type above the drivers side left foot. A fuse can look good but replace it anyway. Clean both ends where the fuse snaps in.

One of the infamous oil leaks is at the rear of the Cam Cover and it drops down on the exhaust. If you remove the Cam Cover use a 2" wide by 2 1/2' piece of thin metal to slide under the lifters to keep them from falling out. Keep them in order and with the hole up soaked in oil.

Use liberal doses of Kroil or PB Blaster on all nuts and bolts and wake up all bolts. Some of the bolts only take 6 ft lbs torque, so a Small Torque Wrench is invaluable. Always use a Torque Wrench so you don't give too much extra grunt. There are numerous posts on broken bolts. Anytime you have steel bolts going into aluminum head and engine block dissimilar metal corrosion will setup. I always use anti-seize except where it calls for Loctite.

944online.com has a good TECH Section to read, 6 pages of past posts and fixes.
http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/forum/forum.cgi

http://www.the944.com/main.htm for Early 944s

Cheers,
Larry

ernie9468

The electrical system on this car is loaded with Gremlins. Search out every "BROWN" Ground Wire and give them a good cleaning for proper contact. The Main Ground is located on top of the Bell Housing. Put tape over the Clutch Inspection Hole. The fuse panel is of the old type above the drivers side left foot. A fuse can look good but replace it anyway. Clean both ends where the fuse snaps in.





Cheers,
Larry[/QUOTE]

Fuses - relays & main ground on early 944.Fuses & relays are a real PITA to get at on the early model as you'll find out,best way to go at it is move the seat as far back as it goes, dive head first in there or flip on your back & lol by the time you get at either fuses or relays you'll wishe your name was Gumby.

yellowline

Carry a spare DME (computer/fuel pump) relay in the glovebox.

Mike C.

All solid advice above. Yes there are a few special tools needed but you should have no problem getting up to speed. There isn't anything in there that is 'exotic' or way unconventional. There are plenty of other interference OHC engines out there (some even with balance shafts).

Kerry Chadderton

Thanks guys!

I'm no stranger to interference engines and high performance cars. It's just that we all know that high performance cars have their secrets. European ones more than any in my opinion. For instance I would not have installed a Mahle filter. I just wouldn't have thought of that. BTW, what is this about tape over the clutch inspection hole? I've read that more than a couple of times now.

I'm making my list now based on your advice here. I pick the car up tomorrow, after which I will lock myself in the shop with crackers, beef jerky and energy drinks. After about two weeks they'll come looking for me and there will be a family intervention. Happens every time........

This is just the beginning. I'll stay close and ask questions. Thanks again for being so helpful.

ernie9468

[QUOTE=Kerry Chadderton;7945063]Thanks guys!

BTW, what is this about tape over the inspection hole a couple ?

Taping (the clutch inspection hole)is a must when working around it, believe me if you drop anything in there a bolt/nut/socket & small tool, lol you'll be adding another two weeks on top of the time your planning to spend in your garage since once in there it's almost impossible to get it out.This is why Larry gave you that friendly piece of advice.

Mike C.

I don't have a good photo but you will see the 'hole' close to the area at the rear of the engine where the reference sensors bolt up (look from the driver's side of engine where bellhousing meets the block). It's about 1/2 inch square and is used to view the TDC mark on the flywheel when replacing the cam belt. You do want to cover it if working anywhere close...

Kerry Chadderton

Okay. I got her home, did an inventory and washed her a couple of times. Not bad! She'll need paint eventually but that's to be expected. The PO was an aviation mechanic. It looks like he stayed on top of all things mechanical.

The car seems to have two major issues to be addressed:

The clutch pedal is laying on the floor. Probably the slave or master cylinder...

The car would not start. PO claims he was in the process of sorting that out when family, life and lack of interest got in the way. He claims that the crank position sensor was the culprit but never replaced it. He just walked away.

Any thoughts?

I also have three pictures of three items under the hood that I don't recognize. Would you guys be willing to take a look? What is the best size picture to post?

John_AZ

I'll take the easy Qs.

Become a member of Rennlist. Pictures can then be loaded and saved.
Keep up your membership or your pictures will vanish---I think.

Picture-Keep the pixel size down so it loads fast. In "advanced" and manage attachments, there is a chart showing max size. 146.9kb 1024x1024. I use my old Sony Mavica for most shots.

Clutch pedal.
Go under the dash and look at the boots on the clutch master and brake master cylinder. See any drips? Pull the boots off and check again.

If you see drips get new. At the same time you can either rebuild the slave cylinder with a kit if the bore is not pitted or just get a new slave.

Bleeding the clutch----use a Motive power bleeder.

FLuid, final fluid is DOT 4 ----Super Blue or similiar.

Brakes should have been bleed every 2 or 3 years prior to your purchase. I doubt this was done.

Look at the front calipers. Do they need to be rebuilt? All 4?

You might just as well get new master cylinder reservoir grommetts (2). Yours will leak most likely.

I will pass on the no start----I took the easy Qs.

GL
John

Kerry Chadderton

Thanks John. The clutch... I changed the fluid and "pulled" fresh fluid through with a mighty-vac. The pedal is still low and has only gained a couple of inches of actual productive movement. The master cylinder will not overcome the pressure of the pedal's "assist spring". So the pedal stays down and needs to be pulled back up by hand. There is zero indication of external leaking on both the master and slave. I'm going to try bleeding it with a helper pumping the pedal before component replacing.

On to the no-start... Engine cranks, voltage at the coil, coil testing checks out, fuel flow is great (when jumped 30-87b). No spark. I suspect the DME is not getting voltage. I am going to test the DME/Fuel Pump relay this morning but I do have an added question:

I have read about the factory alarm system causing a similar problem. I am going to search some more, but can someone elaborate on this for me?

Thank you!