kjack498230

Hello all,

First topic posting. Looking at an '83 928 with low miles. The owner told me that he put some additive last year to the fuel and cooling system. The problem is he switched by accident the additive and put the cooling system additive to the fuel and the fuel additive to the cooling system. If I get this beautiful car, what would be the first things I do?

I would think, drain the tank and cooling system. Next replace the fuel lines and filters, then possibility the injectors?

Anything else before I turn it over for the first time? Thanks in advance.

bureau13

Did he run (or try to run) it that way? What's going on with it now? I can't imagine he did that, realized it and said "Oh f*** I don't know what will happen now, I'd better sell it."

kjack498230

He did run it briefly and noticed it rand very ruff. My main concern is the fuel delivery system needs to be either thoroughly cleaned out or replaced due to the additive in the cooling system additive, the type that plugs up holes.

hacker-pschorr

He put bars leak in the gas tank?????

bureau13

Ugh I was hoping it was just Water Wetter or something....

Ignoring for a moment what that might do to the fuel system, if he put a stop leak type product in the radiator, he must have been losing coolant somewhere.

Jetdriver69

...and MMO in the coolant reservoir.

Yeah, who knows, the head gaskets may be shot and leaking coolant. Mine were gone at 80K miles.

Uh, who knows what will get gummed up with a radiator sealant in the fuel tank.

Hopefully just the strainer and filter get messed up. But the pump may get clogged or fried, fuel lines both hard and soft and the injectors may have to be addressed.

You will need to pull the fuel tank for a flush at a minimum.

It depends on how small the coolant sealant particles are when floating in solution.

Believe me, no matter how low miles or pristine the car, you will find plenty of other things to fix, replace, rebuilt, etc, etc, etc. without buying an example with a potentially royally screwed fuel system.

kjack498230

I'm going to see it again next week, I'll ask for more specifics on the actual product he put in. Regardless, It'll need some work.

Kiln_Red

US or Euro? What's the asking price?

I'd hesitate to offer much more than what I would be willing for a car with a known bad engine. I don't know that I'd trust the seller's story. Then again, I don't ever listen to the seller. I might look at whatever receipts or other documentation they have. Beyond that, the seller isn't much use to me.

kjack498230

He wouldn't say, he's an acquaintance so I don't want to seem overly critical of his baby by pointing out all that's wrong with it. I guess I should go in with the mindset of dropping 5Gs into it and go from there. The body and interior are super clean. I'll make sure to take some pics when I go see it.

Cameron

I agree with the comment about pricing it the same as a car with a known bad engine. If the car doesn't run and owner refuses to try to start it due to 'blah blah blah', you would be assuming all the risk associated with getting it sorted. That risk might lead you to something simple, or to a rebuild or replacement.

When you run a race, they don't give you the medal before the starters gun goes off. If he wants to price it as a car with a running engine, tell him to get the engine running.

Wisconsin Joe

Well, if he dumped MMO, Seafoam or a similar petroleum product in the coolant reservoir and only ran it a little bit, I'd kind of expect it to all be in the reservoir still. Oil & water don' t mix. And if the coolant never got up to temp and didn't circulate, then the chances of it not moving are even better.

You may have to replace the reservoir, but that's a comparatively minor job (again't pulling heads or the entire cooling system).

Stop Leak (or similar) in the fuel would be a bigger problem. If it's L-jet, plan on replacing the filter, fuel pump, pressure regulator, dampers and fuel injectors. Plus a full flush of the tank and all the lines. Some of that may be able to be cleaned out, but Stop Leak is a persistent thing. If you don't get every last little bit out, it will continue to cause problems.

If it's a Euro S with K-jet...

Total cleanout of the system. It's a far more finicky system, so the cleanout would have to be very thorough. Some stuff would have to be replaced or rebuilt. 928 Classics is a good place to start when looking at K-jet.

As was mentioned above, I'd be concerned as to why he put the stuff in the radiator to begin with.
Leaks? That's a whole can of worms in itself.

My starting point would be exactly what & exactly why he was dumping stuff in the two systems.
If you can't get good answers to those questions, either walk away or offer a price based on an engine rebuild/replacement.

kjack498230

Thank you all for your valuable information. I'm crossing my fingers that what ever he did didn't do any major harm to this piece of art. This is the closest I've come to owning one so I may end up biting off more than I can chew. I'll keep all of this freash in my mind when I dive deeper into this next week. I'll let you all know how it turned out, hopefully for the better. Thanks again.

bureau13

Just don't go in thinking you're definitely getting it. Decide on your price, based on an objective review of the risks, and if he doesn't want to sell it for that, there are plenty of other nice cars out there.

Also, I never take my own advice...but that doesn't mean it's not sound!

Daniel5691

I am an idiot.
I know very little about 928s, mechanically and otherwise,
and even less about appropriately valuating and pricing and negotiating to a fair point.

But this series of events, even if as benign as theoretically possible given the description, sounds like a haunted ghost car of misery.

Please, especially if this is a good friend/acquaintance of yours, just smile and let this one pass on by...

Why? Because with even the slightest amount of time and advice here on RL, I am confident that you can come across a wonderful 928, even one that is already sorted out and appropriately loved, and you'll end up with far more smiles as well as dollars in the end.

Just my 0.02, adjusted for inflation, of course.

Walk away,

Dan

Charley B

I call BS on the sellers pathetic story. I always tell buyers that story when I want them to buy my car without seeing how ****ty it runs.