audi49

I checked out a '87 944S today. Car has close to 120k miles. 2 owners. Some questions for the experts...

-When driving... I occasionally heard a 'whirring oscillating' sound I think from the drivetrain... seems to occur after accelerating (letting off the gas) still in gear. Normal?
-When driving... sense some 'lugging' of the car (forward/aft oscilation, slight) after shifts. Normal?
-Vibration during idle (worse than modern cars, not terrible)... is this normal?
-Odometer is stuck at about 116k miles. How difficult is it to repair/replace (for a DIYer).
-Noticed that the stone guard pads in front of each rear wheel well are painted over. I presume that this means that the car has been repainted. Correct? (Present owner states that it has not been painted in the 20 years he's owned it. I did not notice any other obvious tell tale signs of it being repainted.)

(Overall car was in excellent shape, clearly the owner has taken great care of it. But noticed the above.)

Thanks in advance on any feedback!

gtroth

Points 1&2 don't sound normal. Maybe a little more explanation might help?
Check the clutch - make sure it's not the original rubber center failing (again, not real clear on your description...).
Point 3 is fairly typical and might get better as you catch up on maintenance (cap, rotor, plugs, wires, injector cleaning, O2 sensor all seemed to smooth out the idle some for me). Fresh motor mounts might also smooth out any remaining idle roughness.

odonnell

Whirring noise - my NA trans does the same thing. It sounds like a noisy bearing. I don't worry about it, but it's still not ideal. People say putting in Redline MT-90 seems to help. I'm running Mobil Delvac 75W90 FWIW.

The lurching after shifts sounds like the rubber clutch center is on the way out. Shaking at idle could be motor mounts going bad.

audi49

Some clarification on 1 and 2:

1) Occasionally heard a 'whirring oscillating' sound I think from the drivetrain... seems to occur after accelerating. When cruising along and giving it some gas and then letting it coast a bit I heard a whirring sound at a frequency of about 1 Hz. Like a on/off throbbing. When giving it some gas/accelerating, it seemed to go away.

2) Sense some 'lugging' of the car (forward/aft oscillation, slight) after shifts. Can't recall if this was during upshifts or downshifts or both. But after shifting, maybe 5 quick instances of hesitation... slight, but noticeable. Similar to what you may feel if you're in too high a gear for your speed (although it goes away and drives smooth after a couple seconds).

Hope this helps. thanks for the feedback thus far.

william_b_noble

speedo gear change takes an hour or less once the cluster is out - just be sure to order the correct gear. be sure to check the chain tensioner on the S.

Dutchman

I would pass on the car, even if it's really really cheap.

My 87 'S had/has about the same problems. Original rubber center clutch failed and the new one cost me € 1.000 only for parts. I also have a noisy drivetrain, but only when in gear. When you press down the clutch it disappears. A specialist told me it was a faulty gearbox bearing of the input shaft. That will cost a couple grand to fix, so screw that. Not really bothering me but still, not cool..

austin944

My car does the same thing. If you shift above 4K rpm while still accelerating, then the shifting will tend to be smoother. You have to drive it like you stole it -- then the car changes personality and it becomes a Porsche. There's probably not enough energy in the flywheel at low RPM to match the driveline inertia after the shift.

You may want to drive a few examples before you buy, just to get a better feel of what's normal and what's not.

Arominus

I'd probably still buy it because i have a problem, There are not that many 16v cars around and available at any given moment., sounds like it needs mounts (motor/poly fill the transmount). The whirring? eh could be the transaxle making a little noise, my S did that a bit. I did redline and it got a little better. I drove the hell out of the car for 2 years like that and now its a track day car and they get after it too. The stone guards are clear and looked painted from the factory, surface cracking is normal.


If the car looks good, and runs strong don't be afraid, your going to end up working on it and if you've been modding audis i wouldn't sweat it. Get into a car with solid cosmetics and a decent motor and you'll be ok. These are easy cars to work on. Even if the clutch is bad, which is the worst job on the car, its pretty doable.

Arominus

Do you hear it when the car is in neutral and the clutch is out? if so you've likely got noisy torque tube bearings. Its not the end of the world.

audi49

The noise occurs when the car is in gear.

CVR_Rally

What are the option codes? My 87S that I just revived has a whine when decelerating or in low gears. It shuddered too when accelerating in a turn from a stop till I put in Royal Purple. I have a Limited Slip and that took care of much of it. The noise is still there but not as bad. I do suspect it is a bit worn but still shifts pretty solid after the oil change.

The lugging...agreed that could mean original clutch is on its way out. Clutches are a fact of life and if you are not doing the work yourself be prepared for a large bill. 2500 at least. The other possibility could be the air meter flap spring too loose and causing mixture fluctuations. I'm kind of doubting that one though based on you saying it happens after the shift.

Idle vibration: Motor mounts or possible the balance shafts are out of alignment (loose belt slipped a tooth, etc).

I just repaired my odometer this weekend. It was pretty easy if you take care. The worse part was actually getting the stupid horn off.

Other things to look for:
Any indication of the last time the timing belt, chain tensioner pads, and water pump was done? If there is no record I'd change them right away.

Check the fuel lines that run over the top of the engine. Do any look original, old, worn? These will fail over time from just age of the rubber and gas on a hot engine = end of 944S. I went with the Lindsey Racing ones but haven't changed the damper line yet.

Power steering rack...look to see if the pump still has its sensor connected. If it does you'll want to sever that connection asap. They tend to short and if that happens the whole harness is toast. This is unique to the S.

What color is the coolant? Sounds silly but green usually means they didn't use the right kind. These have an aluminum radiator and requires phosphate free coolant. When I pulled the head off of mine there was actually a chuck of green crystallization in-between a cylinder passage. PO didn't use the right stuff and luckily the radiator didn't die and still does the job.

Hope some of this helps!
Chris