Arjan B.

Hello everybody!

In the last days I read a few times Melissa her topic 'Behind the wheel', and this was interesting to read.
Many people responsed, this is good and brings a lot of different information together.

Melissa brought me to a idea, [ I want to be clear, I'm not copy somebodies topic I hope. That is not my purpose!]may be we cloud do a same sort of topic with broken tings during ownership, or use of our Porsche 964's.
Not to bring the 964 in a negative spotlight, not at all, but to help everybody watch for expensive costs that premature can be solved to tell eachother where to focus on.
This could help non technical owners, new owners, potential buyers etc.

I will start with my car, an tell you all first that I am VERY HAPPY having my 964.

My car came out Italy in November 2001.
It has a full service history from Padova Porsche Center, Padova Italy starting at 0 km's untill 120000 km's.
All invoices of service came with the car, even the service book.

I start the day I bought the car, wich means at 133000 km's and what happend after that untill now, 138000 km's.

Delivery service check [icluded in buy]
1* Replace distributor for a original rebuild Porsche distributor with a Z stamped in.[vent. kit for ozone gas was already installed]
2*Oil cooler, leaking oil out of it.[right front]
3*Blower in engine compartment [left], screaming noice, bearing dry. Took it apart, did some teflon on, noice gone for 6 weeks, then completly bearing failure. Replaced blower for a used one.
4*Ignition lock elektical part [switch], spring in switch was tired, so after start lights did stay off without playing the key to the left.
5*Clutch pedal hangs after intensive use [see other topic of mine], adjusted the sping of the clutch pedal.
6*Rattle in dashbord, cable from airbag rattl against metal. Taped it.

This is my list, may be somebody can use something.

I hope somebody fells to response,

Greetings,
Arjan
964 C2 1992 Black


<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />

Jacks911

Arjan,

I also love my C2, a 91' Cab, and will not complain about maintenance, but here is what I have needed in the first year of ownership.

New Battery - the one in the car was only 6 months old and it was replaced on warranty only a labor charge during same service for....

Parking lights out on right side, caused by wiring to rear lights dropping down on exhaust pipe and shorting out, blowing fuses.

Distributor vent kit and then 2 weeks later a replacement of the distributor when belt broke (with a used unit). This is one service you can bet on, as discussed many times before.

Full wheel align to correct poor steering traits.
Though some roads just make this narrow tracked wide tire combo a bit skittish.

Other that these items the car has been great and I am fortunate that this is a very clean rust free Seattle car with only 38,000 miles.

P.S. and I now use the Porsche Battery Maintainer to keep the battery up when the car is waiting for good weather. (it is not a daily driver) <img src="graemlins/wave.gif" border="0" alt="[byebye]" />

Randall G.

Hey Arjan,

Well, considering I've owned my car since '92, there really isn't room here to list all the repairs/fixes the car has seen. That is, it's not a short read.

This isn't to say the car is a lemon--it's a Porsche, and there's no such thing as a (truly) low maintenance Porsche. Sure would be nice if 911s had the reliability of a Toyota Camry, without the Camry's personality. <img src="graemlins/sleep.gif" border="0" alt="[sleep]" />

Anyway, the complete maintenance history of my car can be found here:

<a href="http://www.porsche964.co.uk/" target="_blank">John Mile's 964 Website</a>

Click on "Reviews," look for my running report, then find the link to the "Maintenance Log" within the report.

Ade - C4 91

Hi,

Have a 91 C4 with 36K miles. I do about 4K per year of mainly weekend driving. In one year of ownership I've done the following maintanence.

1 Replaced O2 sensor (completly failed)
2 Replace Battery.
3 Full Porsche Wheel alignment
4 Replaced split steering boots.
5 Replaced Broken ashtray
6 Replace battery cable floor cover, -ve earth strap and vents in boot floor
7 Replace cracked vent hoses on intake manifold and Vacuum switches
8 Replace Coils, caps rotors and Ignition Leads
9 Replace fuel relay switch (DME) and Fuel pump.
10 Fixed faults in washer system
11 Replace Tyres with N2/N1 rated and added 17" wheels
12 Replace Door Light switches
13 Added Distributor Vent kit
14 Replace alternator/other belts
15 Replaced Oil Relay valve for Front Oil cooler
16 Replaced Failed Aircon Condenser
17 Replace Rear muffler with Cup Bypass pipe
18 Replace Rear Brake pads

The car had been little used before I bought it and I felt that a lot of minor items had been left unrepaired, resulting in fairly poor running, so I replaced them. Biggest improvement was replacing the vent pipes in the manifold.
Worst thing, adding 17" wheels, they are shaking the car to peices, and me, but they do look cool (wonder how many pople who bought their cars with 17" wheels relase what 16" wheels are like).

Ade 91 C4

tom964

I purchased my C2 Cab about 1 1/2 years ago. At the time of purchase I had the following work done:
- new alternator(bearings failing)
- new distributor (belt failing) and vent kit
- new plastic flap on electric wing
- replace a portion of the wiring harness to the rear lights that had burned out
- new climate control head unit
- new tires

Since then, I've but about 12k miles on it, and I have had to replace the clock and to replace the alternator again under warranty (it turned out they used a non-Porsche alternator the first time and it failed completely in less than a year). It's running great now, but the top needs replacing pretty soon.

MelissaM

Hey, Arjan,

Great idea for a topic!

I've owned my '90 C2 Cab for almost 4.5 years, and it currently has 87000 miles on it. So what have I had to have fixed?

1. Distributor Vent kit installed.
2. Rebuilt Distributor installed after the belt broke.
3. New battery (Interstate.)
4. Tires replaced and sometimes plugged.
5. Oil leaks fixed -- oil return hoses, seals/gaskets replaced.
6. Cab top replaced.
7. Cab top cables replaced.
8. Cab top latching mechanism replaced.
9. Spark plug boot replaced.
10. Left headlight & foglight replaced due to cracked lenses.
11. Needed to buy a new lugnut wrench, as my car didn't have one. Word to the wise: make sure you have ALL the components to the your jack, and that you have a lugnut wrench BEFORE you get a flat.
12. Replaced dome light.
13. Replaced right window motor.
14. Re-charged air conditioning.

There, I think that's all. I don't even want to total up the amount of money it cost.

-- Melissa

Brian Verbeek

This is a nice topic. I would like to respond and add my $.02 as former parts manager at a Porsche dealer ship. The 964 may have earned its "bad name" because of its age combined with Porsche parts and labor prices. Compare the 964 to the later 928s, and you'll see that the 964 is much easier and cheaper to maintain. It is also older than the 993, and it's hard to compare the 964 with the much more expensive 993, it can be done, but keep in mind that 993s will reach this age as well, and then do the comparison again.. hee hee .. personally, I do like the 993, just the feel and the handling of the car.. it leaves me speachless every time, also, and that is personal as well, the Boxster and 996 are just totally different cars, they are nice in their own way, but they drifted away from the original Porsche philosophy, a true 911 can be a lifetime car, the 996 could ... well .. just not I guess. All it takes is to take a seat behind the wheel of a 996 and compare what you see and feel to a real 911. Just give the dash a tap, like a pad on the shoulder, this test alone is enough to tell you that the 996 is a different breed with its own following. As for parts that are replaced a lot in a 964 (sorry for rambling on so much ) ..

The a-arms in the front suspension, 964 341 017 06 and 964 341 018 06. (when replacing these one could opt for RS a-arms, 964 341 017 80 and 964 341 018 80, these arms have somewhat firmer bushings and are just slightly more expensive)

Calipers, corrosion may cause the U-plates in these to corrode up, the best is to replace the caliper as a unit as they are not -that- expensive and new calipers simply provide more life than refurnished ones, if the refurbishing is done at a Porsche dealer then the price difference is even less significant, new calipers look very nice as well.

The climate control unit.

Condenser/evaporator units.

Taillights with moisture problems.

Distributor.

Plug wires.

Left rear blower.

The little fan on the climate control unit, I think it's 964 659 148 00.

Resistance of blower.

Dual mass flywheel.

Clutch assemblies. (more or less 'normal' wear)

Cylinder modification, most 964s that were sold second hand through the dealer where I worked were converted to the new cylinders.

Oil lines.

M659 tachometer, the one with the 'computer' display.

02 sensor, 965 606 126 01 I think.

Boots on the tie rods.

DME relay, 993 615 227 00.

Washer system valves, 914 628 433 00 and 477 955 481 I think, and N 100 020 01 clamps for them.

Lights in bumper.

Condoms over courtesy light switches.

The above reflects the parts that were replaced -a lot-. Often these defects became known to the owner of the car while it was in for service. The number of 964s and the costs involved kinda gave them the name for being expensive to maintain, that is my personal opinion. The 993 'rarely has any problem' .. is heard just when there is another 964 which needs high cost maintanance in the shop. The 993s are getting their a-arms replaced too by now, and they cost just as much. I did notice that we had quite a number of high 'mileage' 993s in service with no problems at all, apart from regular service, wiper blades, tires, and brake pads and disks. One of those cars had done 265.000 Km when I saw it last, a '95. 996s typically had much more problems than 993s. I felt like writing and sharing, I hope I didn't ramble too much and that this info can help 964 owners. Nothing saddened me more than to see a proud new 964 owner come into our dealership only to learn that the car will need high cost maintanance. I considered the Porsche dealer pre-buy checks of high value. Alright .. enough ramblings

Brian

Randall G.

Great list Brian, much appreciated! In 9 years of ownership, my car has had replaced/fixed many items on your list:

-Climate control unit, quite recently. Would not start oil cooler fan.
-Replaced leaking, then sealed, then cracked ("star shaped") right-rear taillight.
-Distributor belt replaced.
-Rear heater (or left) blower.
-DMF
-Boots on tie-rods
-Condoms on courtesy light switches.

George Stevens

I have owned my 964 since July last year, I bought it as a very neglected scruffy example (very cheap!!) and since July I have had the following work carried out;

Complete Clutch including master cylinder and flywheel

New starter motor

De-cat conversion and Roock re-chip (engine was down 40 bhp on power due to a blocked cat)

Complete suspension re-build including two new dampers and new cones

Four new Magnesium cup wheels (missing from car) and four new SO2's

New washer jets and non-return valves

New Battery

Replacement rear screen rubber

Complete new carpet set

Great car though and now very, very quick, although sometimes financialy painful, worth all the expenditure!!

JW Hubbers

Interesting topic.

Since october 2001 I had to fix:
- replaced a seized alternator, which also caused replacement of belt and pulley
- replaced some bulbs in the center console
- replaced the strip with the rear fog lights and reversing lights (mounting points broken of)
- replaced the rubber seal of the righthandside skirt
- alignment
- front brakes cleaned up
- re-attach the driver side door sill (black plastic strip)- respray of rear bumper, courtesy of a not very observant driver behind me <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />
- fix a tear in the leather of the driver's seat

All minor stuff except for the alternator, but that was covered by warranty. I only paid for the fixing of the driver's seat (I missed that on my PPI).

Cheers, JW

Drew_K

I've owned by 92 C2 coupe for about a year and a half. Purchased with 36K miles; it now has about 56K miles.

Aside from routine maintenance, I've had to do the following:

1. Replaced battery and transmission ground strap
2. Replaced light bulb in front bumper
3. Replaced distributor belt at 50K miles as a precautionary measure. It wasn't broken.
4. My clutch roll pin came out, leaving the clutch inoperative. Only time the car has left me stranded. $80 fix by the dealer, and now I know how to fix it.

That's it.

Drew

Arjan B.

Very nice!!!!

So many people respone on this topic, great!

Please go on, and put your experience on this topic, everybody can use this information.

Thanks for now .

Arjan
964 C2 1992 Black <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

DaveK

Hi,
I've owned my 964 since September 2001 - done 121K when I bought it, and just hit 127K. So far I've replaced:

- Front reflector (cracked)
- Battery
- Distributor caps / rotor arms (very worn and causing lots of hunting / stalling at idle)
- Clock (stopped ABS / AWD lights going off until 2500rpm)
- Electrical connector for sunroof (dodgy connection so it opened then refused to shut)
- Cat bypass pipe fitted (cat had collapsed)
- Temp sensor fan
- Motor for left hand side heater flaps
- Air con re-gassed
- Heated rear window relay
- Door switches

I think that's about it - get the impression the previous owner took the approach that as long as it ran, it didn't really matter if other things broke.

Dave
90 C4

Arjan B.

Thanks for so far given input in this topic!!

As we see, a few things are coming back every time in different cars.
We all have pretty reliable cars, the one more then the other, depends how you use the car and service it.

Porsche serviced cars and Porsche specialist serviced cars are more reliable then cars who are serviced at unknown garages and by people who are not interested in Porsches.
When you buy a well serviced car, the costs will keep low in the first couple of miles.

My last repair experiece is that I have some oil spots on the engine, not drops but greasy spots around the power steering pump and crankshaft pully.
Not that I am to worried about that, but I observe these things with more interest.

The second thing I noticed is, that my right brake caliper at the front of the car is losing paint,
It is oxidating. Mayvbe I buy a used one who is 100%.
Also is one of the condoms of one of the four cylinders from the brake caliper broke, I repaired it for now with some rubber repair glue.
No dust and water can com in for now.

My oil use in 2000 km's is 0,50 liter BP visco 7000 0W40 synthetic oil. I think that is o.k. for a 138000 km car.

For now, the car drives and drives and dr........
and I am happy with it.


Good luck you all,
Arjan
964 C2 1992 Black <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Steve Nugent

Bought my '91 C2 Coupe one year ago, during which time I've put on 6,000 miles and, other than normal maintenance, I've had to replace the following -
*blower fan resistor
*front blinker bulb
*courtesy light condoms
*front/rear speakers
*heat shield clips
*brake light wiring relay

Now that I've gone through my receipts to compile this list, its really not that bad - I'm not really sure why my wife is always yelling at me about the car! Oh yeah, its probably all those discretionary upgrades.