csertich

Agro,

You've got some great advice. I can only say I hope this works out the way you want.
Best of luck,

chuck

Speedraser

Luke,

You're very welcome. I'm anxious to hear the outcome.

Agro1

Interesting point..because the car has FAILED emmisions tests a few times per the CARFAX report...

Obviously only a PPI will uncover the cause of the CEL, but it does sound like it could be the secondary air injection/carbon issue. If it is and they won't fix it, but, they adjust the price accordingly - couldn't I take the money saved and do a top end rebuild ??

Frustrating as hell. But a freshened top end

doesn't sound all that bad...Whadda ya think ?

Thanks for all the input guys...

Phil

I am 100% certain, that If you are buying from a Dealer in CA.......the car MUST be smogged.
My CE light came on, and went away. I changed the DME......and will change the plug wires next week.
soooo Not all CE lights are related to secondary air injection/carbon issues.

Agro1

That's correct, Phil, and the car did pass smog. My point was that in the past, it did fail smog a few times. Which from what I understand, is a tale-tale sign of air injection/carbon...Again, only the PPI will tell.

Agro1

Well the car is at Herge for the PPI right now. I did some checking into the service history and here's what came up:

In Jan. of this year the PO took it into Beverly Hills Porsche. Apparently the CEL was on and it had failed emissions. They advised him that it was the secondary air injection/carbon problem and he did nothing. Also, the wiring harness was also done at Beverly Hills Porsche.

Sounds to me like the owner was getting towards the end of his warranty, and thought this thing would turn into a problem ridden 993 requireing lots of expensive maintenence. I'm sure Beverly Hills Porsche gave him some astronomical figure to fix the intake/carbon prob. and he said "F that, I'm trading this sucker in !!"

The PPI results should be back any minute, I'll keep you guys posted.

TheOtherEric

My money says that you'll NEVER see the books on this car. They'll say "sure we have the books in back. Just go ahead and sign here for the car." then later "oops, sorry we can't find the books, we'll mail you a new set". Dealers frequently throw the books out, and probably never get them if the car was ever auctioned.

Randy M '96 Silver 993

If it is the dreaded carbon buildup, mine was just flushed at Hergesheimers and it has not come back yet! (only been a few hundred miles!) They have developed a system for cleaning this problem and apparently it works pretty well. I will know soon. My CEL used to come on every 600-700 miles.

Good luck with your PPI and all.

David '96 993

Coinsidently, I was at a dinner party at a friends a few months back and sat next to Rob Morgan (owns TrueSpeed). He is a terrific guy and extremely knowledgable. He has an extensive racing background as well. He is a a Porsche enthusiast, not just a salesman. We spent then entire evening talking about Porsche stuff.

I have not done any business with him, but from what others have said about him he sounds like he would be trustworthy. It is a car though with some unknown history, so there is always some risk involved.

I bought a car with a known history from day one, and a known owner and I still ended up with the dreaded carbon build up. All part of ownership I guess

If this is what you are looking for, go for it

David '96 993

Randy M,
You have a PM.

Speedraser

Luke,

See if you can find out who the PO is, and contact him. My dealer gave me the PO's name (you may also be able to do this by getting a peak at the service records and finding the guy's name/number). I would want to know about oil consumption. If the car uses little oil, it's likely that the valve guides are in good shape, and you may not have to do a top-end rebuild to deal with the CEL issue -- the "fix" Randy mentioned may be all you need. However, if the car uses a significant amount of oil, the guides may need to be replaced -- lots more $$$. I still think that few of these cars are likely to require valve guides at 51K miles. FWIW, my 54K mile '95 uses a quart in about 3500 miles.

Agro1

Well the PPI came back. Lots of compression loss in the #1 and 2 cylinders. All the leakage is out of the exhaust manifold, not the crankcase. That indicates good cylinder and piston ring condition. But will require a top end rebuild/valve job.

The PPI was stopped at that point.

I like to find the positive in everything. To me, this is an opportunity to get a nicely rebuilt top end. After speaking to Mark at Herge, I am very impressed to say the least. Very knowledgable guy, and very straightforward. I would be very happy to have him do the work.

Brack at TruSpeed took the news in stride and never batted an eye. I told him I was still interested in the car if they picked up the tab for the teardown. He said he would speak to Mark at Herge and discuss it. Every indication was that they would in fact take care of it, as they promised.

I find this very encouraging and am actually quite stunned that TruSpeed is such a standup operation. From my limited conversations with both Brack and Rob, I can honestly say that they are great guys who both share our respective passion.

Like I said, the PPI was not finished. So, there still may be more that needs work. If so, I will leave that up to the guys at TruSpeed to do as they see fit. There is one side of me that feels that they SHOULD fix everything, and another side of me that is just greatful to have found such honest straight shooting guys. That being said, I don't plan on buying the car until the PPI checks out clean. Either way, I feel it is my duty as a Porsche enthusiast to make sure no one else out there gets stuck with a bum ride, and to see to it that this car gets revived and lives to fight another day.

We have the technology, we can rebuild it - we can make it stronger. The Bionic Porsche.

Did I mention the upgrades that are possible when you pull the motor

PS - Eric86Red911, I'll take that bet...

Brack did in fact get all the (limited) paperwork, owners manual (no stamps) and the spare keys.

Stay tuned, more to come...

ca993twin

Hmmmm... I smell port work, cams, hi performance valve guides and better springs and retainers. And jeepers... the engine is already out... how much more can it be for a 3.8 liter kit? LWF and clutch assy, RS mounts, and shoot... you have the gearbox out... may as well re-gear the sucker.

Ahhhh, the slippery slope just nailed another victim! Good luck with this project.

Agro1

I didn't see "TPC" in there anywhere

You do have a point though. As long as it's apart and they're paying for the labor and parts, why the hell not pay the difference for better parts ?? I'd be stupid not to.

Eddy

Update? I saw the car from the toll road parked out front ot Truspeed on my way home yesterday. When I was looking at a car there they found a large oil leak. Instead of fixing it, they said they returned it to the seller, what's happening with the 993?