Chester89

I hate to say it, but my dad's 928s4 has been through a lot; engine damage, poor paint, poor interior, and a 10 speaker stereo with only one working speaker. Yep, it has been neglected for some time. Not really my dad's fault though, he is a busy guy. I took his car out for a test drive today and it's not as peppy as it used to be. Rough idle, engine dies at a dead stop, brakes have no bite, and a suspension that feels like a floaty Cadillac. It's still a nice car though. It's one automatic that I'm proud to drive. I'll post pics when I have the chance. I've been lurking in this forum for awhile and came across some very useful information. I'm pretty much done wiht my car so I thought I'd dump some time and money into dad's Porsche. Just thought I'd introduce myself.

Chester

Marine Blue

Welcome and good luck bringing your shark back. Is he going to give the car to you or are you bringing it back for him?

raidonzap

Welcome to the nest. The info you receive here is second to none, you should join up!
Your description sounds like an audition for MTV's pimp my ride.
Good luck and post some progress pictures.

Chester89

Thanks for the welcome. Dad's car will be passed on to my sister. I'm just looking for something fun and interesting to do. I've worked with Japanese cars before and I'm looking for something different and more interesting to do for now. I have some level of confidence working with a Porsche since a buddy of has some Porsche experience and willing to help. We don't want seeing good things go to waste.

cold_beer839

Where do you live, there are guys here that love to wrench on 928's.

Chester89

LOL! I'm a little old for MTV's Pimp My Ride, but I do watch the show. I'm more VH1 age. I'm in Northern California.

zekgb

Welcome Chester, first things first. Pay for your Rennlist membership, then go here and sign up for the NorCal 928 Owners Club. Finally, introduce yourself to Bill Ball. All three resources will be invaluable on your journey

Hope to meet you at the next NorCal get together!

Jack Riffle

In my best Jeff Goldblum voice " Oh sure, that's how it starts....with the oooohhhss and the aaaahhhhsss". Seriously though, welcome. I love seeing enthusiastic new guys!!!

Hilton

Welcome to the loony bin!

Sounds like a lot of fun work ahead of you - hope you're comfortable with wrenching; I get the impression you are, from your reference to japanese cars.

To business.. on the plus side, you know the engine runs which is a great start. Now you can pull the engine out the car safe in the knowledge that you're not trying to resurrect the dead, simply revive an unconscious patient. On the negative side, you're going to need to spend about $2k in parts, probably more like 3.

The symptoms you describe point to a need to replace timing belt, plug wires, all intake manifold and cam cover hoses and gaskets, front and rear main seals, fuel hoses, as well as re-sealing the brake master cylinder. Your dad's car probably also needs a MAF, caps, rotors, throttle and knock sensors, oil pump/cam gears, engine mounts, and torque tube bearings etc.

I've done a lot of these same jobs since getting my 928.. in bits and pieces, and in hindsight, it'd have been way easier to just jump in at the deep end and pull the engine to do it all with easy access rather than in the confines of a pretty busy engine bay (although if you're used to jap cars from the 90's, you might think there's a lot of space

Echo the points above about joining the NorCal 928 owners group - I've seen posts from a few of them and there's certainly people there who'll be willing to come help do something as intimidating as pulling an engine in exchange for beer and pizza and a willingness to listen to shark stories

Welcome and enjoy!

Hilton.

pcar928fan

Hilton, you are sure making a lot of assumptions on a very short intro... I would be VERY surprised if it needed front and rear main seals or TT bearings... I agree on most of the rest... Oh, probably not an MAF... What the hell do I know though, I don't own an '89...

Almost forgot. Welcome Chester! These cars really are AWESOME! When the '89 is up and running right it will be a GREAT BEAST for your sister! I say if you can only get ONE 928 and you can't afford a GTS then get an '89! Followed by '88, '87...then the rest after that.

cold_beer839

From what I've heard, all Bill Ball has to do is walk into a garage and a sick 928 starts to run better.

The 928 Whisperer.

Hilton

James you could be right, but I'll stick with my diagnosis, although maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist in wanting my own car to not have any issues and am inclined to project that on others 928 ownership

By Chester's own admission the car's been neglected, idle's rough and dies at stop - maybe I took the pessimistic view, but I figured if its been that neglected, it's going to need a lot of going over and maintenance catch-up to be running "right" rather than merely "ok".

I checked out a few S4's before buying my car, and all had slight oil leaks from the rear main (not leakage from the valley or cam covers) - the front I just figured is a no-brainer as its so easy to do during TBWP (although often front oil is from tensioner, not seal). Tube bearings was a guess on the grounds of neglect, and that its easy and cheap to do in an Auto when the engine's out, although I understand Bill Ball has some technique for doing it with the engine in car?

The OP could probably do a number of small jobs sequentially and get a noticeable improvement each time - its what I did with my car. Just with the benefit of hindsight, I recognise that the next 928 I buy I'm just going to pull the engine and do the whole lot in one go as it'll be a lot less work.

Edit: Chester, that last sentence is the killer When you get your dad's '89 running reliably for your sister, you might just find you, like James says, need another.. and another..

pcar928fan

Hilton,

You are right, it is a matter of what you can live with based on how much it costs to repair that particular issue. I find that I can put up with A LOT! My '92 and '81 BOTH need the big PITA transmission job to stop leaks... The job that costs like $2500 when its all said and done (by someone else). I think the part is close to $1k...so I was told. I figure for $5,000 I can not only by a crap load of rags and transmission fluid, but another 928 on top of that! LOL!

As usual... YMMV!

Good luck Chester with your project! Gonna be fun!

Chester89

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and suggestions. I just registered as a member and I'm very happy to come across people who want to preserve the sharks. Most people I come across usually say two words, "money pit". The hell with them.

Fortunately, it's been 6k miles since the head rebuild, so it's still under warranty. It's due back at the shop for it's 6k break in check up. A lot happend to dad's car while it was at the shop, replaced bent valve, timing belt, water pump, major tune up, all fluids change, all belts changed, o2 sensor, temp sensor, new MAF, rebuilt DME, and new tires. Unfortunately, the car still runs rough. But I have faith that the shop will address this issue.

The beauty of this project is I have all the time in the world. It's now garaged and my dad drives this car maybe once a week at the most. Assuming the engine work is covered, I will get started on the brakes first. It could have more bite.

Oh yeah, it's a 89 Blue Automatic.

Jim bailey - 928 International

One would expect that after a top end overhaul .....new valves , MAF and lh Brain ,tune-up etc. that the car would run smoothly ....