odurandina

not gonna get in a pissing match over Audiesque parts reliability. my car had AC pump bearing failure at 67 k miles and the second failure within 500 miles of the first interval. it convinced me they should just be added to the to-do list, since the Gates belts have a service life of up to 60 k miles and beyond. Maybe on California roads you'll see less failures with less potholes, divots, and garbage roads.

there was a guy who kept an online diary of his 968 service a few years ago. it was an education. almost the same repairs as my 968's history. and i never had a timing belt or cam failure. i did a lot of scheduled maintenance, and overall, escaped relatively unscathed. sometimes the car seemed very good for a few thousand miles.

at other times, the car seemed like the semi-exotic Audi ownership nightmares from the '80s, '90s, '00s, and '10s you read so much about. i still think the 968 is great, despite my bitter discovery, and gradual acceptance that 4 cylinder engines basically suck.

brian0473

Glad Porsche doesn't make a crappy 4 cylinder anymore...oh wait...

Back to OP - A well sorted 968 is a rare treat so hang in there!

Boeing 717

Thanks man.

flwbyu

I understand since I just had my radiator completely replaced along with the pump. The car still tries to overheat and the cooling is adequate at best. I love this car but it's getting old. Soon, I will need to have the engine rebuilt and I can only imagine what that will cost depending on a top or bottom or god forbid the whole thing. Which is what I'm expecting. This is definitely one of the more expensive cars i've owned. Not as bad as a 928 but pretty close. It's a true love hate relationship! ;-)

Boeing 717

I got out my UV leak detector today and saw no evidence of leaks in the front half of the ac system so it must be in the dash area. If I remove all that paneling above the firewall will I be able to see anything around the expansion valve or evaporator?

Jason @ Paragon Products

Jerry, make sure your driver side steering rack bushing hasn't deteriorated and allowed your rack to move side to side. That would explain the steering wheel orientation issue.

Boeing 717

Thank you I am taking car for alignment tomorrow and will have them check it.

Boeing 717

Jason the steering bushings were worn and did have play. Not sure that's what is causing the mis-alignment but they can't align it until I replace those anyway. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Jason @ Paragon Products

We have them in rubber or delrin. The drivers side unit is the one that controls side to side play so you'll at least want to replace that one.

Steering Rack Bushings

Boeing 717

Which do you recommend? And do you have front control arm bushings?

Jason @ Paragon Products

Nothing wrong with rubber and certainly they're less expensive. Nice thing about delrin is that it's not sensitive to oil and P/S fluid that swells and destroys the rubber over time. Some folks will use delrin on the left/driver side because it controls the side to side movement and then still use rubber on the passenger side.

We have all types of control arm bushings. I'm guessing you're talking about the front mounting position of the arms and not the caster blocks. Options:

Rubber

Delrin

Poly

Boeing 717

Ok thank you.
The control arm bushing that was bad was the passenger side aft bushing. I guess destroyed by my power steering leak over time.

Jason @ Paragon Products

Caster Block Bushing

Boeing 717

Thanks for the info.

LTDzak

Jerry, hang in there. My 968 had been driven only sporadically for about a year before I got it at the beginning of last summer. It shook so bad between idle and 1100 rpm that I was afraid to drive it to Jeff's for a onceover.

Did replace the passenger motor mount with a genuine Porsche one, which quelled vibration noticeably. But what also seemed to work was just driving it, I ran one tank of gas with Chevron Techron injector cleaner. Last winter I used marine grade Stabil when storing the car for the winter. The more I drive it the smoother it seems to run, at least in the 700 to 1500 rpm range, it has always pulled pretty strong for a 230 hp engine (mine doesn't even have the holes drilled in the airbox).

Mine had a R134a conversion done the year before I bought it, and when engaged it does seem to make the engine idle a bit rough. Cosmetically the interior is that of a 40 K mile car, but the exterior does show its 179 K miles.