H2

I got a bad PPI on the '88-S4 5-speed I just bought. As I crawl around the car I'm finding mostly little stuff but I just came across something that both puzzles and worries me. There are four fotos below. 1,2,&3 show the problem on the driver's side where the starter bolts on to the clutch housing. The clutch housing appears to the flush with the block. The steel piece between the starter and the engine block and the clutch housing is flush with the block....BUT NOT THE CLUTCH HOUSING. How can this be? How did it get that way? There's a big gap allowing you to look inside the clutch housing. The last foto shows the passenger's side of the same area....flush as can be. Everything seems to be tight...but something's wrong on the driver's side of the clutch housing.

Is the steel spacer too small between the starter and clutch housing? Spacer missing? Wrong spacer? Wrong starter? Or?

The starter number is:
750
Bosch
0 001 312 111

No sleep tonight....any help you can give will be much appreciated. Lesson learned...don't just get ANY foreign car shop to do your PPI, even if they work on 928s....check their reputation with 928ers in the area first. Thanks, VERY MUCH.

If you know the problem, how nasty is the fix?

Harvey

heinrich

LOL I keep confusing myself. The gap is normal, there is a foam factory piece that keeps the mosquitos out.

Bill Ball

Hah, hah. Hman got it. Mine is missing too.

928.116.427.02 "sealing"

Louie928

Like Heinrich said. It's really bad. Mosquitos can get in there and eat your clutch. I will, however, make it easy for you and take it off your hands. My bid is $12.83.

heinrich

Here is Godzilla

Bill Ball

Hman's foam piece is showroom perfect.

H2

I hope you guys are not just trying to make me feel good. I was thinking the whole dang clutch housing, etc. could be toast...but I'm a self-proclaimed, card-carrying paranoid. I'll reset my screen resolution and look up Bill's part number 928.116.427.02 in PET (Thanks much!).

If it's not one thing, it's twelve others. Louie, before I'm through adding parts to this thing, I may want to take you up on your offer...after I run the car into a bridge abutment. In which case, I may need Dr. Ott to figure out how at what speed I can bail out and still survive...and still have enough time to take a foto.

Gosh, I love these cars! A few thousand dollars and the only way it could be better would be to be white in color...and have LSD....and have new sport seats....and...

Harvey

Tony

awe..we could have had fun with this one!

I need to get my bell housing shaved down 3/8ths also.

H2

Good heavens, Heinrich...you're really quick with the camara. A pic is worth a thousand scans of the other listservs. I'll order the part tomorrow. Wheehhh.....close call. Hot dang!

I've got a 4-page list of parts I want to buy for the '88 and will do so in phases, most critical first and work my way down to the Ott-X, and other desirables....if I don't get tempted by an '89 GT before I get it road-ready (My financing plan iconsistes of an unproven lottery ticket at this point).

This afternoon I was working on triming a tree in the yard and a miracle happened (I always have bad luck....very seldom good. I was playing with a 40 foot ladder and it fell, and it was so heavy that I couldn't stop it and the top of the ladder fell smack dab on the center of the rear deck window of my pristine 968. Hard!! Guess what happened? I lifted up the protective cover and I could find no damage whatsoever! I've looked it over about 20 times now and still can't figure out why it didn't break, short of divine intervention. I KNOW that glass is not THAT strong. The cover had scuff marks on it but that's all. I'm still in awe. (Those deck lids list for about $5,500). I gotta run and buy a lottery ticket...quick! Catch you latter. If it were to win big enough a lottery, I might be able to restore that great black '89S4 that Henrich has.

Thanks, again.

Harvey

danglerb

Is that the clutch hose in Heinrich's second picture, looks kinda funny, bloated.

I don't think a PPI is a "is it perfect" report, just problem areas that need attention ahead of a normal PM schedule. I suspect most shops will tailor the scope of the inspection to the customers expectations if you make them known.

H2

If you look closely at Pics 2 & 3, you can see a small crack in the clutch housing.

Harvey

Mrmerlin

the metal piece that you see with the space is a seperate mount for the starter it is fastened to the rear of the block behind the flywheel it is supposed to look the way it does, and a piece of foam goes in the space to keep out squitoes

Louie928

Aluminum rots in Arizona. This is an indication that the motor block is probably ready to crumble. Don't slam the doors. The paint is all that's holding them together.

danglerb

I don't think its a crack, just a bit of sloppy welding from some repair.

Did you notice the corrosion on the inner fender?

blown 87

I guess the first "P" in the PPI means post in this case.