scargo70

Looking at a 1988 S4.
Is there any particular issues that I should look for in this model versus an earlier or later car?
Also were these cars offered with full leather interior?
(this particular car has leather everywhere-dash, headliner etc)
thanks

Nicole

Is this a US model? Where are you located?

Landseer

Yes, there are some critical items to inspect that can steal your money.

Answer Nicole, and tell us whether its manual or automatic, and we can go from there.

scargo70

I and the car is in Chicago.
It is an automatic

Nicole

1988 was offered with lots of leather, but in the US, leather dash, leather console, and leather arm rests were not a standard option at this time. This is because they had too many problems with leather dashes in earlier years - the glue softened in the sun, leather lifted and shrunk, and eventually pulled away from the defroster vents. Not a problem unique to Porsche, but causing very ugly results on the 928...

However, if you twisted the dealer's arms a bit, and waved with a thick enough waddle of $100 bills, you could custom order these.

We know of a very unique pearl ivory car with pearl white interior that is all leather (because there would be no other way to match the colors). I've also seen an 88 that had everything in the interior in leather, except the dash (which I assume was replaced on warranty because of leather shrinkage).

In other parts of the world, full leather was always available.

Another possibility could be that someone had a cracked dash recovered in leather, and made the console to match.

In either case, the door arm rests should be in matching leather.

Before you buy the car, make sure you have a thorough PPI done by a qualified mechanic. A 911 mechanic won't do - he MUST have extensive Porsche 928 experience.

Make sure the mechanic checks the flex plate and crank end play.

Best of luck!

SQLGuy

Common things that don't work or need to be replaced (a partial list off the top of my head, and not specific to 1988):

Motor mounts
A/C
Missing belly pans
Leaking power steering rack, hoses, and/or reservoir
Leaking valve cover gaskets (leading to puddles of oil in the spark plug wells)
Idle stabilization and/or vacuum leak problems (car should start without throttle, initially idle a bit over 1K RPM, then slowly reduce to about 675 RPM).
Drive/Reverse/Park lights intermittent or not lighting on tach
Window switches
Sunroof switch/motor/guides/cables
Rear hatch release
Oil pressure sender (gauge should peg 5 when first started and at most times besides a warmed up idle)
Seat and mirror memory and motors
Vacuum modulator and its lines (should shift smoothly under hard acceleration)
Cruise control

Hopefully a local Chicago member can recommend a good PPI shop or maybe take a look...

Randy V

A man of few words.

John Speake

The critical thing to ask is "...have the flex plate tension and crank end float been checked this year ?"

If you get a bewildered look or suspect answer then beware. If you know nothing much about 928s then get a local 928 expert to do a PPI. It is money well invested.

scargo70

Thanks for all the answers and input.
I wasn't trying to be taciturn in my responses.

The car is a neighbors and so far this much I know about the car:
He obtained it from a friend who had parked the car due to a blown engine.
He had the engine replaced by someone in NC who is a guru with 928 and had the car completely re-done; inside and out.
The all leather interior was done by a specialist in Detroit.

He says he has about 50K in the work done.
Since the restoration in 2009/09 he has driven the car about 2k miles which I can attest to since he rarely take it out of the garage.
I plan to go for a test drive today if the weather holds up (he doesn't want to drive it in the rain or if it isn't a nice sunny day)
I will get much more info today including pictures.

scargo70

have the flex plate tension and crank end float been checked this year ?"
what is this?

mickster

Search is your friend. Sounds like the engine was done by 928 Specialists. +928
Sounds like Rob Budd did the interior. +928

Go to the top post in this forum and read through it to learn what you need to know/check. It contains years of knowledge and all that has been learned from other's mistakes.

If this car was kept well since it was fixed/restored then it is probably a very sound car.

S4ordie

if Dave Roberts (928 Specialists) of Spruce Pine, NC and Rob Budd (Classic 9 Leather Shop) of Dearborn Heights, MI (near Detroit) did the work, you have a very nice car. Pics please if you have them. I would not hesitate to own a car massaged, tickled, restored, repaired, by these two highly knowledgeable 928 experts. They and their work are both respected here.

NC928S4

This sounds like my 89S4...Don't forget the Torque Tube bearings being noisy.

scargo70

Had a chance to drive the car today adn to take a few pictures. The interior was done by Rob Dudd and the engine by 928 specialist (he has invoices for both).
Here a few answers to some of the concerns:
Motor mounts : new when engine was replaced
A/C : both front and rear works well
Missing belly pans: yes
Leaking power steering rack, hoses, and/or reservoir : yes
Leaking valve cover gaskets (leading to puddles of oil in the spark plug wells): no
Idle stabilization and/or vacuum leak problems (car should start without throttle, initially idle a bit over 1K RPM, then slowly reduce to about 675 RPM). : yes
Drive/Reverse/Park lights intermittent or not lighting on tach: all working
Window switches; working
Sunroof switch/motor/guides/cables : sunroof working
Rear hatch release : broken, but he has replacement part.
Oil pressure sender (gauge should peg 5 when first started and at most times besides a warmed up idle) : yes
Seat and mirror memory and motors : did not check bt seat adjustments worked
Vacuum modulator and its lines (should shift smoothly under hard acceleration) : yes
Cruise control : did not check since the drive was local streets

Overall, it is a very presentable car; the interior is very nice with leather everywhere

scargo70

The rear was upgraded to the electronically limited slip rear diff when the new engine was put in