guardsred944s

Hey Guys,

Bought my 87 944S about a year ago, and it's about as good inside and out as a car that old could be, this is a very clean car, and very well maintained.

I'm going to sell my daily driver (92 Mx5 Miata), because I am sick of the hassle. Besides being a blast-to-drive car, it is too small and gives me back problems on the highways and not to mention the hearing loss that I have probably already incurred from it.

That leaves me with the 944S, its got 76k mi on it and runs really well, with the exception of needing a new steering pump.

My question is what preemptive strikes I should take to keep it running as a daily driver? I was reading around that it is common to replace the Cam belt tensioner pads around this time...

It has also had a new clutch, cam belts (chains?), and power steering rack, in the past 20k mi, but I cannot find a receipt for a water pump replacement.

guardsred944s

One more thing, the car burns a quart of 20w50 every 700 miles or so... is this normal?

931guru

The factory limit is a quart every 600 miles, but oil is cheaper than a rebuild.

As long as you're not fouling plugs, keep driving it.

Dino944

If its a really nice example of a 944S, I'd probably just enjoy it on the weekends, but not use it as a daily drivier. Once you turn it into a daily driver it will see lots of wear and tear and its not really easy or cost effective to go from dd condition to really nice example.

I believe the belts are to be changed every 45,000 miles. Not sure what the time intervals are on that car. Mileage is not the only factor in determining when to change belts.

fpena944

I drove a 1991 944 S2 for five years as a daily driver and the two years before that it was a pleasure vehicle. As long as you don't mind spending weekends under the car maintaining it, then it will make a fine daily driver.

But you'll want to have either someone to take you to work as a backup or another method of getting around if necessary.

So the key is maintenance!