danglerb

Unfortunately I think the 928 is only for people obsessed with ownership, if you can bear selling it, chances are sooner or later you will.

+1 to what Gary says, expect selling it to take some serious time, likely til next spring when people are thinking of driving, not parking one.

OTOH maybe keep or sell throwing some money at your problems might help. Spend some money and drop it off at whoever the best 928 mechanic is near you and say make it perfect. Here on the west coast Greg Brown gets trouble cars all the time from owners ready to sell and giving fixing one last chance, and when he is done they leave with a smile and a reliable car. Surely somebody on the East coast can do the same for you. Or sell it, drop the price until you motivate some fall buyer, or put it ebay, loose some money overall, but move on.

BTW with all due respect to prior owners, this car does NOT sound sorted out. Sorted out doesn't come from fixing many things, it comes from fixing all of them, zero issues, reliable etc. and this car doesn't sound like its there yet.

Mrmerlin

Is not a man Named Earl out on your coast in Philly?? He is a good wrench and with some cash could probably have things sorted out in a week .
A 928 is best served by an owner that is fluent with a good toolbox , otherwise you need a good check book. . If you dont have time to wrench then open the check book , if you really want to hang on to your ride .

Otherwise sell it and buy a newer car.

James Bailey

OK keeping thing in perspective..."The average age of cars and trucks in the U.S. is now at its highest level since at least 1995, and more cars were scrapped last year than were registered, new figures show. Its an indication that consumers' vehicles are wearing out and will have to be replaced, which could result in a burst of sales for automakers when the economy improves.

Some 14.8 million cars and trucks were sent to junkyards last year, compared with 13.6 million auto registrations, reports R.L. Polk. Remember, of course, that 2009 was the year of the government's cash-for-clunkers promotion to spur car sales, which would have increased the scrappage rate.

The average age of cars and trucks is now 10.2 years. The average age of a car remained unchanged last year, but the age of trucks crept up.......... " Frankly the only reason those 14.8 Million cars got junked was they were worn out, unreliable, or wrecked and on average they were only 10.2 years old. There is little reason to believe that a 20 plus year old car of any kind is going to fare much better. New cars with warranties are for those who need to get where thery are going, and KNOW exactly what the costs will be. Going to college in Indiana I had a 1947 Plymouth in 1967 and it was a really old car. People could not believe it was still on the road and in pretty decent shape but it was really ,really old.

norcoastal

Here's the info on this car, I still don't know what to do.

1987 Porsche 928 S4 Picked up August 21, 2010
VIN: WPOJB0926HS860083
Mileage: 92,500
Work Performed: July – August 2010

Complete top end refresh
Vacuum lines
Knock sensors
Breather hoses
Throttle position switch
Caps
Rotors
Wires
spark plugs
Passenger-side head gasket
Cam seals
32V'r cam timing
Timing Belt
Porkensioner
MSDS Headers (came on the car)
New fluids
New front Spoiler
New front brake pads
Trans filter and fluid change
Repaired CE panel (mouse damage)
replaced broken fog lens (damn those things are expensive!)
Alignment
Re-built LH (Another expensive item!)
Complete detail of the paint using Meguiars M105 & M205 followed with Rejex "wax"
Powder coated intake and cam covers
New gaskets and seals for cam covers and breather ports
New steering rack boot
new tie rod end (boot was split)
AC head unit relay repair
Re-flow of Cruise control solder joints
Removed extremely faded tint
Replaced windshield
Replaced Driver-side mirror glass
Checked crank end play and installed PKlamp
Replaced the fuel lines
AuoThority Performance Chips

It does need motor mounts and an oil pan gasket.

Fuel pump(s)? It works. I wouldn't do it as a matter of preventive maintenance, but I might have a spare on hand, just in case. I'm pretty sure it just has the one pump.

Original Options

92HS860083;WP0JB06;1987;928910;C02/U;M28.42;A28.12; M018 I158 M418 M490 M494 M570 M650

Code Option Description

018 Sports steering wheel
158 Radio "Monterey" - 86 "Reno" - 87
418 Protective side moldings
490 Hi-Fi sound system
494 2 speakers on back shelf
494 Amplifier system
570 High output air conditioner
650 Sunroof
C02 Equipped with catalytic converter

Squirter block
Folding rear wing

smudaaar

Drop the car off at a garage and have some1 who knows 928's work on it. The major **** work has been done and you are $500-1000 away from having a great running car!

my 2 cents

Landseer

Steve,

There are some relatively simple things that can cause the stalling problems.
Capt. Earl is within striking distance of the shore for you.
He would be my choice.

norcoastal

Mike here in NJ has kindly offered to go through a complete diagnostic check of the car for me. I'm definately going to take him up on it.

It's not the current stalling that's got me nervous, it's the unknown that does...what's going to happen next???

I don't have the confidence I should have in the car, that may be due to all of the little problems that I'm having with it. I haven't really just been able to enjoy it

mickster

Landseer & MrMerlin beat me to the punch--take it to Earl. He'll get it sorted out and make sure it stays sorted out.

norcoastal

WHo is Earl?

auzivision

The longer you own and drive one, the more confidence you'll gain. I remember being on pins and needles the first year or two of ownership. I was questioning my ownership at every little blip.

Honestly, it wasn’t till I started hanging around here and learning how to fix things on my own that I really gained confidence. Only once in 6 years did I not make it home… although a couple occasions I was kind of wondering.

Looks like AO took care of all the major ticking time bomb aspects, so really you only have a few pesky issues. Not idling is a pain and needs to be corrected soon. The T-belt light is totally useless since it has a pkensioner so just ignore. Same with ABS light… your brakes will work fine, just not the ABS aspect.

I find the harder I drive her, the better she runs. Drive it like it's stollen and after a while you'll learn these cars can take a lot of hard driving and keep begging for more!

mickster

http://members.rennlist.com/captearlg/

Capt. Earl Gillstrom

https://rennlist.com/forums/members/...gillstrom.html

No_Substitute

I feel exactly the same about my shark, even though the only "fix" it has needed in 2 years was a Temp II sensor. It runs fine. I'm the problem. I'm paranoid.

I think part of the problem is seeing all the photos here of torn apart cars, knowing I could do that part...but never get it all back together.

The last thing I want is a Porsche 928 lawn ornament.

I've thought of selling mine as well, and picking up something simpler...perhaps an old Riviera.

You're not alone. Good luck.

robot808

You have nothing to fear...

norcoastal

Yeah, maybe it's just new ownership jitters...

Mike Frye

Danglerb,

If you look at the list of things Andrew did to this car, you'll agree that 90% of the 'maintenance items' have been addressed. The rest of the issues (MM/PG) have been disclosed. This car was not sold as being 'fully sorted out', merely in great shape and having had many of these issues addressed. The fact that the flex plate was checked/released by someone who actually knows what he's doing is huge, as are the fact that it's got a porkensioner, Pklamp and new fuel lines.

Offer's still good. I'm afraid this weekend would have been perfect (Giants are on Monday night!!!) but I'm going to be spending Saturday at Tass' place and Sunday I should spend time with the family. Let me know your availability for next weekend.
This is completely understandable. We all get that, but usually it's not this soon after taking ownership or we are just more prepared for it.

My advice:
There are four issues you've raised about the car so far (here or in previous posts):
1. Failed emissions for exhaust
2. Rough idle/low RPM issues.
3. Tensioner warning goes off
4. ABS warning goes off

OK, there's nothing that frosts my *** more than driving my pride and joy and having the dash light up like a Christmas tree, especially when it's a bogus warning like a tensioner that's not even part of my car (or in my case, the taillight warning when I know they work, got that fixed a while ago but it used to make me nuts).

Additionally, now that you know the car has these issues it's going to be difficult to sell it without fixing them so I think you're in for fixing these either way at this point. Once you've gotten them sorted out two things will have happened: 1. You will have gotten more familiar with your car and will have more confidence that you can deal with more things that come up and 2. Your car will be fixed so you can drive it with confidence and less stress.

So looking at each of the above issues:
1. You need catalytic converters to pass inspection in NJ. You can get a pair of high flow cats and I can help you install them or you can take them to a shop and have them put in. The shop would do a better job, I would do it for free. Your call.
2. Rough idle/low RPM issues: I offered to go through the LH/EZK test plan with you here in my garage which is equipped with a beer fridge, and heat/AC (though no cable at this point). We'll check the Temp II first back at the harness and then make sure all of the grounds/battery straps are good and clean and show perfect connections. I'm betting this will show that as Andrew suggested, the Temp II is not grounded properly.
3. While we're in there doing #2, we'll make sure to ground the Tensioner warning light and that will NEVER come on again.
4. ABS warning goes off. I'm not sure how this circuit works, but we'll go through all connections and check the wires and make sure nothing is rubbing anywhere and the connections are all clean. Cleaning grounds and connections fixes lots of things you didn't even know were a problem.

If, after all of this you still want to sell the car you'll be able to do it with a good inspection sticker and no warning lights.

Let me know.

PS- I'm going to lay it out for you. I will help you do whatever you want to do with your car if it's in my power/ability to do so. I won't do it for you though. If you want someone to fix it and give it back, I second (is it third or forth now?) the suggestion to take it to Captain Earl. He has a great reputation on here and will get it sorted out.