jford

Thank you to everyone on the board for all of the help and advice during my search. Read alot of threads, started a few of my own and hit the search button more times than I can count.....kind of sorry that part of the experience is over actually. The supprt of this board, and the Porsche community in general, is a very large part of what I love about having the good fortune to own one of these cars. Well, here it is...............

forums.rennlist.com/upload/jcar962.jpg

jford

Wanted my first "new owner" post to be positive so thought I would make this a seperate thread. Picked up the car Thursday and made the 4 hour drive home from Md. to NJ. car ran great. Drove the car only a few miles Friday. Woke up Saturday morning and, with sunny skies and mild temps, hopped into the car for some more seat time. Ten minutes into the ride I get the CEL. Now, I had read tons of post regarding this issue before purchasing so I was ready for the possibility, just not in the first 48 hours of ownership...car has only 37k miles. Imediately went to buy a OBDII reader. Yes, the carbon buildup issue. Reset the light. Light has come back on 2 times already and it looks like I will have to keep the reader at the ready in the car. This is a bit of a buzz kill to say the least.

Had gotton a PPI done and asked about this issue. Told the tech that the PO did not seem to know about it and did not use Techron or anything like it. Told the tech that i planned to track the car and he said that he thought that GB (forget the rest of the number here) was better than techron and that if i tracked the car I would not have to worry about this buildup anyway.

Liked the PO alot and am wondering if he new of this issue....not that there is really any recourse I guess. PO said car used about 1qt. every 5k miles. Car was purchased at the low end of the price curve. I think that if i sold the car I would feel obliged to disclose this to a potential buyer. Wondering also if the PPI should have picked this up, my guess is that it is not detectable w/o the CEL being on or an extensive inspection. Maybe I just happend to be at the wheel when it first reared its ugly head.

I realise that I am not the only one with this problem and might be whinning here just a bit. Just a bit frustrated and needed to vent a bit. Thanks for listening.

Speedraser

Truly sorry to hear that. However...

You said the car is in excellent condition, and the mileage is pretty low. You paid what is, IMO, quite a low price given the condition and mileage. There are a few recent threads on less-expensive potential options for fixing the carbon problem. You have what is otherwise, hopefully, an extraordinary automobile. It may not turn out to be the bargain you thought you got, but if you can fix the issue without the whole valve-job expense, you should still be in good shape.

I'd watch the oil-consumption closely to see whether your results are similar to what the PO told you.

You'll get through this, and it's worth it.

SLVR

Congrats, beautifull clean car, just needs to be put on RoWs to lower a bit.

Sorry to hear that the CEL is buggin you and seems a bit sudden if you were fine for the PPI and on the previous two days of driving. Look up the thread of Steve C4S on the CEL. Somebody in that thread suggested it might be an airpump related problem rather than carbon build up that triggers the light. My 2c, good luck.

OldGuy

Dont feel too bad, I got my car and the clutch went out in
less than 48 hours. I dont know which solution is more
expensive though.

johnt53

see a recent thread on this topic (Finally a legal Secondary Air Inj Fix! posted 11/14). Good luck!

Randy M '96 Silver 993

Congratulations. My experience is similar to yours. Good PPI, PO stated no problems, 175 miles and the CEL popped up!

Welcome to the Support group. Enjoy the car. It is still a Porsche, even with the stupid CEL on!!

jford

Thanks everyone. I am in it for the long haul. Have read and re-read almost everything here on the issue. I will watch oil consumption closely and, if within acceptable range, will continue to reset the CEL with the reader. If not, I suppose I will get the valve work done.

Suspension is first on my list of mods as soon as I feel more comforatable with the CEL issue. That is, as soon as I determine the valve fix is not an imediate requirement.

chris walrod

Dont feel bad, you got a great car, great price and seems you are really happy with it. I think in time, the creative people here will find a less invasive procedure to clear out those ports since its becoming more and more common.

Maybe we need to contract a micro roto-rooter man to snake out those ports!

Much worse would be finding out the CEL bulb had been removed by the PO! Could be coincidence, or our friend, Mr. Murphy and his book of laws?

Good luck and drive hard!

p_carfan

Same problem as Chris, when I bought my car the PPI was fine. Got the car home to Texas it wouldn't pass the OBD II emissions test. The PO had removed the CEL bulb. After quite a bit of expensive digonistic work we found the PO had swapped-out the DME computer with that of a '96. If Texas didn't have the testing I would of never known. After a couple of discussions with my attorney and some very heated discussions with the PO , I was reimbursed. Other than that the car has been a dream.

My good freind Alan, (AlanC2S) always sez "you got to knock the fleas of 'em ", I've learned this to be very true.

Good Luck!!

akolodesh

Sorry to hear about your cel problem - I'm sure its very correctable (though a bit of a downer). After posting my horror story last month w/ my 993 targa purchase I purchase a number of the 993 buyer's guides. One of the best IMHO is 911 Secrets Revealed (web site is http://www.performance2and4.co.uk/guides993_n.htm). I'm sure most people on this site know of it, but for those that don't its a very informative read (and it would have saved me all sorts of headaches).

jford

Ok...feeling a little better now. Figuring that the CEL is an unknown and it can occur at anytime, seemingly w/o warning. Todd, you are correct that I did get a good deal..pd 33.5k for the car, so a little sorting out doesn't change the fact. Just took it out for a very spirited drive. Figured I'd nock a little buildup out...I think it would thank me if it could.

Steve, your story is unreal. How, in good consience, somone could sell a car in that manner is beyond me. Glad you got agreable resolution.

fluid15

jford - great looking car! Looks almost identical to mine when I picked it up except mine has a soft top. I'm really happy with the gray interior. I won't get into suggestions for next mods ... that's a separate thread.

I truly hope you get your issue resolved with the least money out of pocket and least inconvenience. I'll continue to monitor these threads for any learnings I can pick up in case I fall under the same conditions.

I know this is a pain in the a** right now, but once you get over this hurdle you may enjoy the car for many trouble-free months/years. Like a few guys who posted above, I had a thorough PPI done when I purchased my 3.2 Cab and then the clutch went out while taking someone for the first ride in the first few days I owned it (didn't match the 48hrs of OG). After biting the bullet on that one I never encountered another problem with the car for the remaining 2 years I owned it!

ON TIME

nice looking car

johnt53

Congratulations--the real fun starts now! Enjoy it.