ger3sf

After a 10 mo. search, I finally found a clean MY91 S4 close to home. It was for sale at a consignment dealer in Santa Cruz,a 2-owner car (first owner 92-95 in San Diego, 2nd owner 95-09 in Carmel) with:

1. 112,xxx miles, no accidents, perfect paint, new 993 cup wheels/tires (~12K miles ago), excellent interior, no seat bolster wear
2. spreadsheet of maintenance/repair log from day 1
3. a copy of the last major service work order (done at 102,xxx miles on 11/2006 at Precision Motorworks Anaheim) was included and listed replacement of: WP/TB, acc belts, O2 sensors, motor mounts, distributors, fuel filter, fuses/relays, Bilsteins, etc.

I had a local indie Porsche mechanic do a PPI and he gave it a thumbs up. He did mention that a WP/TB service should be done. But I thought he was simply being overly cautious as he did not see the 11/2006 work order.

So in preparation for driving to Monterey this weekend, I took the car to the local Porsche dealer for a quick service (oil change and coolant flush). The service manager later called and said the WP/TB should be replaced as the WP was leaking coolant a bit.

I don't doubt this, but shouldn't the WP last a bit longer than 10K miles and 3 yrs? I thought it would be good for at least 40K miles.

danglerb

Almost the hottest non gossip topic here is the current miserable state of available water pumps, and how common premature failure is.

That said, Dealers often know nothing about the 928, rarely see them, and are well known for inept work at insane prices. Find a mechanic you can trust and work from that point forward. I would also consider taking it immediately back to the PPI mechanic and ask him about the leak. If he saw a leak he should have said, he saw a leak, not just general wp/tb service. If he didn't see a leak, maybe the dealer spilled some coolant.

Just my speculation, but sitting and not being driven might be especially bad for water pumps.

I like a nice pile of receipts. Spreadsheets won't include things like recommended service declined etc.

Be sure to take and post some picts, everybody will be asking to see some soon.

Mrmerlin

Sounds like you got a nice car.
For the WP leak if its not dripping then i would do some local drives and monitor it.
A sure sign is a drip trail thats just about centered on the top of the oil pan.
That said if the WP was inspected with the covers off and some coolant trail was seen coming from the weep hole that may not be cause for replacement.
In fact Porsche issued a service reminder to dealers that said something to the effect of if its not dripping coolant from the weep hole then dont replace the WP, most pumps will have small amounts of coolant leak out of the weep holes and then remain dry and function for a long time.
I hope that this is also the case for you, dont forget to have the belt retensioned in 1500 miles, and if the timing belt light should come on soon after the belt replacement then check the belt B4 running the engine, the belt is probably loose.

S4ordie

Precision Motorwerks is Greg Brown's business. You may not know this but Greg is one of the world's premier 928 performance experts. That bodes very well for this car and you. I'd call him for the real story on this car.

If the previous owner thought enough to drive the car 400 miles south to have Greg work on it, well, that is an owner that took very good care of their car.

ger3sf

Thx for all the replies.

The 10-pg work order from a well-regarded 928 specialist was a huge selling point. A picture of the totals page ($14K+) was included in the web listing. The ad appeared on a Thu or Fri in mid-July. So the following weekend (Sat), I drove down to SC to see it, arranged the PPI on Mon, made an offer on Tues, accepted the counter offer a couple of days later, and I picked it up the following Sat. I wanted to act fast thinking there would be interest in this car (it was listed in cars.com, autotrader, CL). Oh, and the final price was slightly more than the cost of the Precision Motorworks service.

when I pick it up from the dealer, I will ask for any service history (not sure how long they go back). The previous owner mentioned the car was serviced by the local Porsche dealers in San Diego and Monterey.

At the end, this was a fun search. With moments that cried out "this is it", followed by disappointment (and relief) when PPIs don't check out. At least I logged some UA FF miles on the search. The stories I could tell about the cars I've seen...

S4ordie

ger3sf - will be a great investment to pay for the membership subscription. The advice and other benefits far outweigh that little cost. Will also allow you to upload pictures.

Where is the car now?

I would not necessarily trust a Porsche dealership with these cars. Very few technicians have worked on them. There are many horror storied where owners paid great sums of dollars for the education of Porsche dealer technicians.

There a few very excellent 928 knowledgable shops inthe Bay Area as well as individuals who are very helpful should be interested in doing things on your own.

heinrich

Do not drive the car, replace the water pump and timing belt, and inspect all rollers as well as the tensioner.

S4ordie

The car has receipts from Greg Bown's shop (Precision Motorwerks) that indicate all of this was done three years and 6k miles ago. I think a PPI from someone who knows these cars can verify wether the TB/WP/Tensioners need to be replaced.

Might not be necessary to replace all of those at this time.

heinrich

As Greg will be the first to tell you Dan, the pump can last 20 years anr 200k miles, or it can last 20 minutes, or 3 years. I had a pump fail after exactly 2 years and I personally had done the work, with all new rollers and reconditioned tensioner. When I looked at the cam gears they were pretty worn. We all know the track record with pumps. They usually last fine, but when they fail and how, nobody knows. If the pump is leaking coolant, there is no way it is safe to drive. IMHO. I know PorKen would put some stop-leak in and see how it goes

ger3sf

A few pics from the original web ad...will add new ones, hopefully from Monterey after this weekend.

ger3sf

The car is at the dealer waiting for the WP due to arrive tomorrow.

The NorCal 928 site has some recommended shops in the area, so I'll be checking them out (I didn't think I'd be doing it so soon!). There are lots of Porsche techs in the area, but the challenge is finding a competent mechanic willing and able to work on 928s.

86'928S MeteorGrey

Beautiful car! Welcome to RL!

pcar928fan

My '88 S4, '92 EURO GTS and '94 GTS all had T-belts done recently. They were all AT LEAST 10 years old! Climate controlled garage and the S4 had covered 30k miles in that 10 years and at least 10k of those were track miles... The GTS's MUCH fewer miles were covered.

A T-belt is WAY cheaper than an S4 engine! But 3 years and 6k miles... no biggie AT ALL! Drive it and love it.

Because my water pumps were working well at the T-belt changes I didn't change them out...

Great looking car...not so much the steering wheel cover. I have a spare airbag wheel for sale currently and you could put that one in (since it is gray) and you could to send your BLACK wheel off for recovering. There are some GREAT guys out there doing interior work. Paul Champagne has done BOTH of my GTS steering wheels and they look AWESOME!

danglerb

I think I would head straight for Bill Ball.

S4ordie

I know Bill Ball 928 technician Privateer is an excellent expert in these cars and he owns a great one himself. Though not a professional, I know he works on cars for fellow Rennlisters from time to time. Search will find him. I think he lives in the East Bay and is just a great person.

A. Bauer in Oakland is a good family owned and 928 expereinced shop.

Welcome to the 928 Family and Rennlist!