ceboyd

After my poor car has been sitting in storage a year and a half (only thing I did last year was an oil change and replaced the badly leaking valve cover gaskets)
I want to daily drive it this spring/summer and then drive it down to Phoenix to keep at my folks house there to drive when I visit there and let my dad drive it and have fun (he always has this great grin on his face when he drive's it)

anyway, my question to you daily driver folks is this:

what do I need to watch for to keep up to snuff for DD duty?

What do you think I'll need to address from the car sitting in storage besides the obvious --- I'll be getting a new battery, fresh brakes, brake fluid, oil change -- the basics.

Kika

I think you want to hear from the ones that store them for the winter, and what precautions THEY take when getting out of hibernation.

I drive my 96C2 coupe daily. I change the oil once a year, regardless of mileage (I only drive about 4K miles annually) check tire pressure once a month, keep an eye on the oil level, top off as necessary. Put gas and GO! I don't take any other "special precautions"

My belief is that Porsche were designed to be driven, and part of the "maintenance" IS to drive them.

ceboyd

thank you.. I've never had issues taking my car out of storage and right to the track after basic maintenance.. I was just curious to know if there were any gotcha's in daily driving duty to watch out for now that the 993 is older..

mhm993

I think the obvious list of checking/refreshing belts, fluids, filters, pressures, pads and a new battery ought to be it. You obviously know the drill.

Don't forget to give your dad an extra dme relay with instructions. (not instructions on how to install the relay, but rather instructions to drive daily, and call frequently to tell you about his big grin)

ceboyd

o.k. thanks...

yeah... I have to go for emissions test this year and then I'm good to go for 2 years.. I'm going to keep the car registered here in Illinois so in 2010 I'll have to figure out how I'm going to get around the stupid test or just give in and register the car in Phoenix at that point and give up my Illinois vanity plates.....

Tom W

Chris - Only difference from any other car is to pay more attention to the oil level 'cause the car burns oil. While the accuracy of the gauge versus the dip-stick might be fun for some to debate, the gauge works fine for letting you know when it's time to add (when it gets into the red).

I've had mine as a DD for 7 years and over 50k miles. (Mine gets the CA emissions test every 2 years and has never even been close to a problem.)

Robin 993DX

Actually you will have less things go wrong with the 993 if it is used as a daily driver, unless it is someone who doesn't know how to properly drive the car, then you will have clutch wearing out, gear box trashed issue.

For a regular DD just change the oil every 7k miles, air filter, pollen filter, keep an eye on the belts. And keep up with the regular maintainance items.

InTheAir

Chris's 993 is a tip, so probably not an issue.

Chris, have fun with it! Did you already part out much of your track equipment?

Terry Adams

+1

dhicks

Chris
I have used mine as a daily driver for two years - until she became a Garage Queen 6 months ago.....as a daily driver NO issues, just keep an eye on the oil level and everything should be fine. My routine now when I get her out is to start her up and immediately driver her slowly around the block, bring her back and just listen for any unusual noises, look underneath where she was stored and where she is now for any leaks, everything looks and sounds ok, go drive for a good 30 minutes, slowly at first to allow evrything to warm up and the lubrication to get everywhere, then use normally until all is hot, keep and eye on temp and oil gauge for anything odd, come home and check oil level......thats it really

Davies

My tip has been driven daily for the past five or so years. As was said in previous posts, just watch the oil level (and temps in traffic) and you'll be fine. I found driving mine daily - apart from improving my general quality of life - has also enabled me to get to know the car really well. If there's a problem, I know it immediately. (Disclosure: I've had a total of four problems in five years - Steering rack (leaked), alternator, fuel pump and bad plug wires (arcing). Also, a lot of the finnicky problem areas of these cars don't apply when they are used regularly. I'm almost up to 130k miles and have no SAI CEL or worn valve issues. Still getting 3k miles to a quart.

Leander

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned checking the radiatorlevel regularly.

993Dave

And I always keep a spare flux capacitor around.

Edward

I believe your intentional misinformation here does a grave dis-service to the seriousness of this board and its content. Everyone knows it is only the 1990-94 Carreras that need radiator checking. The 1995-98.5s employ the newer atmospheric-cooling system ...much more advanced. Please try and maintain the standards of factual accuracy and attention to detail that others have set here and that we have all come to rely upon.

Hi Chris,
In addition to the obvious items you've stated, I would also replace as a course of preventative maintenance the belts, and often overlooked is the distributor belt ...which degrades over time as much as over mileage. FWIW, I've DD my 95 since '01-present (and time-trialed it for about 3 of those years), and never had a single problem outside of routine maintenance. Enjoy the DD ...that it is a 993 is about the only thing that "saves" me from the drudgery of commuting!


Edward

ceboyd

note quite all of it YET...

but I can't get to the car until spring when it's out of storage.. (safe to drive) and I wasn't sure when I'd get time considering I'm going to have a busy track schedule with my Spec Miata and getting my comp license, etc.

BUT.. eventually the following will become available:

- big red brakes (original 993 TT ones)
- custom suspension *roock/h&R
- techart foglights with air inlets
- TRG sway bars
- custom drop links
- the custom aluminum camber adjustable strut top mounts for front (the ones that cost over $800 new IIRC)


only thing I have right now available is the Recaro seat brackets and sliders (except I misplaced one of the adjusters for the sliders so I didn't list them yet)


But the distributer belt was just changed 2 years ago so I think it's still good...

thanks for the tip on the belts, I have new belts ready to go.. and already new street tires...

and bought some trans fluid to do one more trans filter change and add fluid again...

But thanks everyone.. I'm getting excited about driving my car again this spring/summer