Hi all...
I recently bought a 1989 Porsche 928 S4 Euro.
I admit that I did so w/o a PPI. It looked great in the pics, and the
guy selling it seemed very mechanically inclined. He had put new
wires, brakes, timing belt, yadda, yadda, SUPPOSEDLY.
In my own defense, I work all across the country, and arranging a PPI
was difficult to say the least.
While the car has only 103k Kilometres, and is in generally good
shape, it is obvious some things were covered up. I was surprised at
how clean the interior and motor were for the year. No heat flaking on
the motor, and seemingly mint interior.
After the car was delivered, realized paint was used on engine, and
interior... yeah, it looks like he spray painted the seats.
Regardless, still seems like a decent car.
My biggest concern however, is that there is a grey sludge in the
coolant. I have discovered a small leak in the rad. When you squeeze
the big coolant hoses, you can see air/bubbles/coolant coming from the
top of the rad.
It doesnt gush out of there, but it does leak enough to require adding
coolant.
I havent driven the car much, about 40 kilometres since it was
delivered, so I doubt I have done any more damage than was already
there. I am wondering if this grey sludge could be a result of the
leak, and if it could be related to some of the coolant in engine oil,
or engine oil in coolant posts I have read?
There does not appear to be any coolant in oil, it looks good. Anyway the
sludge in the coolant is grey, not brown.
I also seem to have a oil leak at the top of the motor, though very
small, and a master cylinder leak to fix.
I will get the rad replaced when I get my next days off, but am just
wondering if I need to be worried about oil in coolant, etc.
The engine oil level (according to the dipstick anyway) also seems
grossly high.
The guy seemed honest, and said he knew nothing about a leak, but...
Any ideas? Agian, the coolant leak is at the top of rad, right near
the mount. It looks like someone already tried to squeeze it together
where it is leaking, there are pliers marks there.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
AJ

 

Why does this sound like another "low mile" Japanese Import? Are you from Canada?

The sludge is probably from the stop leak additive the seller (He really didn't know ) put into the Radiator to sell the car.

The Radiator has a plastic side tank that is prone to leaking. You can either buy a new Radiator ($1000) or Replace the Sidetank (928intl has them for about $90 + install).

 

Ummm, it was not an import. I did get a history on the car.
But... if it WERE, how would that be relative to the post?
Thanks for the reply anyway. I did consider the stop leak possibility..

 

In Canada we are seeing allot of rolled back Japanese Imported cars so a low mile 103K car could really be a 250k car that has been dressed up to sell.

 

SomeGeek:

Don't feel too bad; I bought mine under the same circumstances; had only 1 day in Vancouver & had to drive out from there a couple hours to see the car. Took it for a drive but didn't PPI. Since then I found a few items that I might have used to talk the $ down, but overall I am happy with the buy. Just dealing with a few age related issues right now. You might want to research the work involved in replacing all the soft stuff under the hood, before cracked/leaking hoses start giving you grief.

Good luck with your new adventure

Ken

 

Quite often sludge is a sign of a blown head gasket, but not always so - depends on how much water loss you are getting - hard to tell at the moment if you have a leak elsewhere. Other tell tale signs are rough idling. Sludge can also be due to condensation - I used to have an Alfa V6 that had sludge (car was parked in the street) with normal driving around town, but this always cleared up after a blast out on the highway.

 

Geek: You are a member after only 2 posts, cool. Welcome. Have you read the New Visitor thread. Lots of stuff there.

 

Quite possibly needs to be driven. I'd flush it and see if it comes back. Or were you saying this sludge stays around after the flush?

 

Thanks all,
Getting a week off soon. I will flush and see what happens, no flush yet.
It was using a lot of coolant, well, I added about 1.5 litres after driving for anly 40-50k.
Anyway, it is leaking out of the top of the rad, so I will try to have that soldered, then see what happens. Hopefully this will not be a head gasket. I guess this wont be a similar process to replacing the head gasket on my AMC Javelin eh?
I appreciate the support. I think the forum is great, and the membership was a no brainer for me
Will update you all soon.

 

it is quite possible that one of the internal oil coolers has sprung a small leak I would also look for water in the oil.It could also be a head gasket depending on if the engine has been overheated but you may never know this bit of info

 

AJ.........where you at? If close I'll gladly look at it.

 

Use the prestone two part powder flush from any good parts store, works great.