AL-Shark

I hope he is not on this forum, but I am glad my previous owner was not very mechanically inclined and afraid to turn his own wrench.

I bought my "beginners" 928 a couple months ago. A 1983 928S auto.

I got a pretty good deal due to a lot of little nagging things on the car. The PO had spent a great deal of money getting the torque tube replaced, sunroof fixed, and adding new wheels and tires. He had spent more in the past 24 months than I gave him for the car.

The nagging things included the climate control system, the interior lights, a "less than smooth" idle, a non-working headlight, etc.

Thank heavens for this Forum. You guys are awesome. Betwween this forum, the 928 intl tech links, and the Nichols site, I have everything back working for the moment. I replaced the fuel regualtors and the fuel damper and did pretty much a full refresh on the intake and vacuum lines. The car is running smooth as silk. I just got out of the garage after chasing down the vacuum lines in the climate control system. I found an unhooked place in the main black line and now all my flaps work like they should. Awesome!

So a big thanks to all on this forum and also a thanks out to my PO. Thanks for selling me an easy fix.

airosey

Most comments I've read here about previous owners have been pretty bad at times. I think most PO's didn't know what they were doing, and leaves us asking "what the hell were they doing?". Awesome that you got a car that only had some little nitches that you were able to get fixed. My brother-in-law GAVE me his 81 shark about a year and a half ago because of a bad fuel pump, and the car had just sit for over 10 years. The interior was complete trash, and looked as though the whole thing needed a makeover. Now, the car is approaching near perfect condition now that I've replaced the entire interior with new stuff, cleaned/repaired most of everything, and new wheels and tires. Now when he see's it, he is in total disgust! He honestly didn't believe the car could reasonably be brought back to life without selling your kidney. I have spent some money, but she mostly just needed some TLC. Unlike most, I suppose we are thankful to our previous owner!

G Man

It is great that we have the suppliers out there that love these cars as much as we do. If not for them we would be in a world of hurt. And thank God for Rennlist and the other online resources that we have at our fingertips. You don't even have to get dressed to find all fo the info you need to fix your shark. No way you could go to the library and even come close to what we have here.

kary4th

Yup, without Rennlist and the guys here (& Nicole), my shark would be nowhere near the condition it is now.

AO

You should consider pony-ing up the $18 or so to join Rennlist as a member. You'll get more value from the $18 than you would anywhere else. I think you can see that. BTW, glad to hear you're getting well acquainted with your shark.

Bill Coleman

The PO of my car was a doctor and spared no expense maintaining the car. When I bought it he'd just has the timing belt and water pump done a few months earlier. My maintainance costs for the first year were $0. He also had complete service records. Plus it came with every tool and the air compressor. I have absolutely no complaints!

IcemanG17

In an indirect sort of way, my previous owner was Devek....since they rebuilt the car before I bought it! So I can't complain! Only small problems since then! With the help of this board and other local 928ers I have solved almost all of the small problems myself! For a newbie like me, doing the research and solving a 928 problem yourself is very rewarding!

Big Dave

My PO had all of his work done at a local shop. My complaints are directed at the shop, not him.

SteveG

In the last 3 years I may have made a desparaging remark about a PO. I'm in a generous mood this morning. I've come to the conlcusion:
1) Some POs are worse than others, no doubt, but you bought the car from him/her, you made a judgement at the time as to what you were getting and what it was worth to you, so you have assumed the position and there you are. Regardless of whether you are making it better or just maintaining it, the PO did what he did. If you overpaid for it, that's part of the deal. this is why people use "It was a $70,000 car" as a selling point, nevermind they paid $8K for it.
2) This was my first shark and as compulsive as I've been, I've made mistakes, stripped bolts, broken an aluminum tab and replaced it with a zip tie, don't ask. The car is twenty years old.

3) If the PO lied to you, that is another thing. But like it or not, most of us are buying "as is" and in the car business those two words, leave us wide open, very wide open, but hey, I got a $70,000 car that I can put $$ into and sell for $10K.

Mongo

My PO was a plastic surgeon that used the 928 as a daily driver.

JEC_31

LOL
I'm still waiting for whoever wound up with my ex-shark to post here about the one "hack" repair I did - because all the ****-retentive perfection-only repairs (TB job, power steering hose replace w/ new heavy duty, every nut & bolt I took off cleaned, etc) I completed will never be noticed.

Just before I sold it I was replacing the alternator cooling hose and I noticed the plastic alternator cover that it attaches to was cracked. My "temporary" repair was to fabricate a lower portion (where the hose attaches) out of an empty tubular platic zip-tie container. I even sprayed it black because I couldn't stand it to stay clear.
Never got a chance to get a new cover.

OK, got that off my chest.

When I get my next shark I wll be a little more understanding (within reason) of the PO.

DFWX

I have found previous owners (with on exception) very helpful. One literally refused to communicate - even refused to send a bill of sale - though did send title and I could stuggle through with it. The rest have been great. Previous owner knowledge ranges from great to zero in terms of auto repair ability - meaning the latter required shop repairs - therefore few ever done.

But for this forum, I would have abandoned 928 rather quickly and gone in another and non-Porsche direction.
Mark
DFWX

Alan

I can honestly say that till now I have never though that about either of my car's 2 Previous Owners...

(I have though & said other things though...)

I suppose my owners come somewhat close to your case because as far as I can tell they did very very little to the car even when it really needed it... maybe I should in fact be pleased....

Still thinking about that one...

Alan

Newbie928

I found the car I'm driving now on this forum...

It was one of the selling features of the car, actually. I knew that he had taken great care of it, and that if I needed anything, there were a group of people who were already familiar with the car to form a great support group.

Soon as I bought the car, I ponied up the $18. Rennlist is a must-have.

gruffalo

my PO basically replaced or rebuilt every single moving part on the car. not bad