hockeyhead019

Hey everybody,

I've been reading a lot of the post/threads on the forums but haven't registered till now, so I do have a general knowledge of things and I also have a decent background in car maintenance.

Anyways I'm kicking around the idea of getting a porsche 944, well maybe kicking around isn't the right term since this isn't being done on a whim haha, regardless my question is what are some of the common problems that might not be apparent when people are selling the 944's, I mean I've found a couple on cragslist around me for <2k with about 94k miles on them. So what are things that begin to fail at this point? The major ones that I wouldn't be able to do myself and would need to get done at a shop (i.e. large part replacements)

Also something I haven't really found much info on is the life of these cars, where in the lifespan in 94k miles? I know that's about the end of the road for some cars and others will still have a lot of kick left. So if somebody could shed some light on that it'd be great too.

Any help is greatly appreciate, yes I'm still a newbie so patience is always appreciated lol

Cheers

Medski

did you read that? https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...e-restore.html

hockeyhead019

Yup, if/when I get to the point of going to see the car (and hopefully get in and drive it) I'll be sure to take pics and have a report ready lol

As to the part about the cost of purchase vs. the cost of maintenance that's the only thing that's holding me on the fence right now, I think the 944 are very sexy cars and I'm more than willing to learn the car inside and out the only concern is how much I'll have to be putting into the car money wise. I'm not real worried about the time since I can easily put that forth

Medski

This is your next read : http://www.connact.com/~kgross/FAQ/944faq05.html
If you haven't allready read that.

Jrboulder

Tranaxle -- ring and pinion failure
Clutch -- rubber center fails in 15-30 years regardless of mileage
Power steering leaks -- these cars leak and leak and leak. You can either rebuild/replace the system or convert to manual steering.
Belts -- do them when you buy the car.
Front engine seals -- they leak too. Not that hard to replace but time consuming.
Water pump -- it's way in there. A rebuilt one goes for ~$110 and a new one is $300
Clutch hydraulics -- not that hard to replace but it's about $250 to DIY
Sloppy shifting -- a vast improvement is usually made by replacing the lever for about $55
Ball joints -- easy and cheap to replace on early cars but a little more expensive and complicated on later cars but still a DIY job.
Struts -- the later cars have sealed struts so you can only replace with OEM sachs or do the hacksaw method to put konis in.
Motor mounts -- good mounts are expensive and it's the only job on the 944 I've had serious problems with
Windscreens -- A good late windscreen will be about $600
Rear hatch -- they separate from the frame and they sometimes don't like opening.
Odometers -- they break but they can be fixed cheaply
Milkshake -- when your oil cooler seals fail you get coolant wixed with oil.
Catalytic converters -- they have a habit of rusting around the joint upstream of the cat. I had one rust all the way off.
Wheels -- cookie cutters leak air, Fuchs are awesome, and phonedials are ugly
Cam housing gaskets -- they can leak

I'm sure there is WAY more that I'm forgetting right now.

Jackson

hockeyhead019

Medski that was a great link thanks! Just read through and I think the only thing I'd be a little hesitant to tackle myself was the timing belt, unless I just dumped the money on the tension tool. And by hesitant I don't mean I don't think I could do it, just more that I wouldn't wanna take the chance of the valve and cylinder colliding and causing a real issue... in terms of the other issues the majority of them seem pretty easy to notice when driving since a lot of them impact the idling

Again, awesome write up thanks for the link I had seen a couple of those problems (the motor mounts and water pump in particular) in another couple articles/reviews I read

Jackson: thanks for that list I didn't see it while I was writing my post haha and thanks for the quick and dirty description of each problem, very helpful

Medski

The worse is thing is finding out the belly pan gasket is shot Cause that pretty much requires you to pull EVERYTHING out... and you know while everything is out then thats where the ''mmmmm might as well'' and ''while I'm in here'' starts. So...

GET A PPI.

And be ready.

hockeyhead019

Well assuming you're talking about a pre-paying inspection I'd definitely get one b/c there is a great mechanic that's close to me so I think I'd take it to them and see what they thought before getting it in addition to posting things onto this site because from what I can tell there are tons of knowledgeable people here that I'd love to tap for information

ernie9468

Clark will be your 944 bible from now on, take time to read it before buying & very important don't matter which model & year 944 you spend your hard earn money on, a PPI by a shop or mechanic who know's all about 944s is a must .www.clarks-garage.com click on "Purchasing a 944" BTW what is your location.GL

hockeyhead019

Yea Ernie I've been reading that clark's site for the past couple days now haha thanks for the link!

I'm located right outside Philadelphia in the states.

hockeyhead019

Sorry for the double post guys but another question of how hard/how do you guys get the car up off the ground? IE floor jacks, lift (out of the question for me lol) what works best in your experience... I'm just curious since the car is low to the ground lol

Ronin-951

Low Profile 'Racing' jack of 3" or less, should be capable of lifting the 3400 lb car - $99 or less at HF, four Jack Stands of 3000 lb capacity. The Car is jacked at a point midway down the length, marked by a 'Diamond' on the panel under the door, - Ya, you lift it one whole side at a time!
Thinking of what would put me off of an otherwise good car, only a bad Clutch. Man, that's a loooong way in, sure, just nuts and bolts, but about 20 hours of em.

hockeyhead019

Ok Ronin that's about how I figured it would have to go up haha I think that could get a little nerve wrecking to do a while side but the car as a whole isn't that heavy so I'm sure it's do-able safely.

And ok so bad clutch is a big uh-oh. Any characteristics in particular that I'd be able to tell if it was bad? I'm planning to get a little time behind the wheel of any car I look at to listen and feel things out but I'm not quite positive how a bad clutch would feel on a porsche lol

ernie9468

Here is mine low profil 2 1/2 ton cap, a little modify but does the job A1,my 968 is very low so I had to buy this one.Also bougth some ramps & here again a little modification was needed in order to get the car on them.

hockeyhead019

Cool thanks for the pictures Ernie! How well does the ramp mod work? I feel like the front of the car would bottom out but I assume it doesn't since you still use it haha