Hi everyone, I've been a frequent visitor to this forum for several years now, and I've gotten lots of good information from all the poster here. I just want to ask for advice on what I should I do with my 88' 944 turbo S.

I've had it for almost 10 years now and I've taken great care of it. I've got tons of receipts of showing all the work I've had done throughout the years and I've always used Mobil 1. Testimony to the Mobil 1 oil is that it still has the original turbo and engine at 233,000 miles and the car runs great. The problem is that I'm ready to move on to another car and it unfortunately has 2 major problems with it.

1. the oil pan gasket has been leaking for about a year now and I've been putting it off replacing it since the leak was minor, well this last weekend it just let go, it smokes fairly consistantly now. When the car is still and idling it smokes, you can see smoke coming out from under the hood. So I've stopped driving it.

2. the steering rack has developed a bad leak in the last few months, and for some reason the steering feels very dead on center because of it. I thought maybe the dead on center feeling was from a bad bushing , ball joint, or tie rod, but they all seem good. I had both A arm changed about a year and a half ago.

I've talked to several shops in my area (I live 15 miles south of San Francisco) and theyre all quoting me $1400 for the pan gasket and $950 for the rack. Thats of course not including all the nickle and dime that happens when work is done on this car with this kind of mileage. One of the shops told me that the intake manifold needs to come out since you can get to the cross pipe exhaust bolts on the turbo with it on. I thought that this only occured with the earlier turbos? can someone verify this?

So hence my dilema, since I'm selling the car, should I put money into it to sell it by fixing the 2 major problems? or should I sell the car as a "Mechanics special"? something which I'm not thrilled of doing. But since economic sense can't be denied I must think about my alternatives, What would you do? What would you suggest I do? What is the car worth in either condition? selling it as is, or in good condition with a repaired oil pan gasket and new steering rack.

I brief description of the car: 1988 944 turbo with the S package, with 233,000 miles on the origional motor and trans, it has all the options from the dealer with the exception of heated seats, the exterior is Red, the interior is Cream leather with no rips, and NO cracks on the dash. The paint is in great condition and for the most part has no dents on the car(with the exception of the rear panel right above the license plate were its got a small dent from an "idiot in a parking lot". I've just installed new Koni yellows in back, and the clutch, belts, water pump, A arms, front seal, rear seal and a bunch of assorted gaskets all have 22k miles on them. The car is stock and always has been. Most of my miles are of course freeway miles.

So there you have it,,, my DILEMA, what should I do? are there any good shops in my area that are familiar with these cars without the hard to swallow $120/hr rate? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Ed

 

i would imagine 1400 for the gasket is a little steep, but guess i can understand taking 10 hours of labor. yes, the manifold will need to come off so the crossover pipe can be removed.

if you want to sell it for $50 so you dont have to deal with it, id be more than happy to accommodate you! j/k

here's that point where you need to assess if not performing almost $2500 in repairs will drop the value by $2500. i would guess most people, except the fools and the home mechanics will not be interested if its leaking fluids. usually a big red flag.

 

I'd guess the ~$2,500 repair cost would only partly cover an appropriate discount from the normal sales price, since the buyer has to deal with all these problems on his own time and at his risk. In other words, the needed repairs may have some stigma effect which tend to discount the car more than the nominal ~$2,500 cost to cure these issues.

 

Is it the oil pan or could it be the rear main seal? The risk with the car is that no matter how great the maintenance, a car with mileage that high is going to require constant work to keep it on the road, no matter how you slice it. I'd take a look at what other high mileage 951S's are going for and work from there. Hate to say it, but I am guessing you aren't going to find much interest. Even folks looking for track cars would shy away, as it will likely need new/rebuilt running gear to be reliable.

Regards,

 

Just as a data point, I purchased my 951S a year ago (in SoCal) for $8500 -- and she had 100k miles and needed (and still needs) some interior cosmetic work and an engine that needs freshing up (mostly rubber and gasket work).

I'd imagine that the car will fetch minimum of $5k, if not some more -- there are lots of parts in a 951S that people will want even if they are worn out (brakes/spindles, adjustable struts, rims, LSD tranny, etc...).

 

"if you want to sell it for $50 so you dont have to deal with it, id be more than happy to accommodate you! j/k" dime 1622


Yep!, Then it would REALLY need work!

 

 

Heck, I'd take it off your hands for $5K. Maybe then I could build one reliable car from the two, and have spare parts for whenever something else breaks.

 

what a great idea!

 

Ahh, Evan, you're stating to get it!

 

Right now I'm leaning towards selling the car "as is", but I haven't given up on it yet.

Does anyone know of a good shop or person in my area (15 miles south of San Francisco) that knows these cars and is not going to charge an arm and a leg ($120/hr) to work on them?

So Evan, if youre serious, I'll let you know, my car looks identical to yours.

 

I'd sell it as is since you want to get rid of it. It seems like with these cars you'll never get your money back on expensive repairs. I just spent $1400 to fix the A/C and I know I'll never get that back if I sell it. If you fix it, it might be a $7k-$8k car. If you don't fix it it would probably be a $5k car. Sounds like a wash to loss to me. I think it would be easier to sell as a fixer than a high mileage car. Most of the folks here on the board wouldn't shy away from an oil pan or a steering rack repair.

 

Edward, if you do decide to sell, I'd appreciate an e-mail with some pics and price, I may be interested.

MacsDead [at] gmail.com

Sam

 

Yes, I'm serious, although the wife is either going to really like the idea or really hate it. Of course she did already suggest once that I needed a parts car...