lucycan

So goes my quest to buy a 993....

ALL the mechanics I have talked to said a leakdown is a must. I feel like before I shell out $80k+ for a car I would like to know its full health picture.

The cars I have been looking at are between 15k and 35k. To be fair, one with 18k FAILED the leakdown.

I have talked to 2 sellers that would not submit to a leakdown. Both site the fact that this expensive piece of machinery should not be submitted to more than the necessary abuse. Abuse being pulling the plugs and the potential to do "something bad". They say a PPI is fine, but no leakdown. I reply that its not any more "abuse" than just changing the plugs.

What am I missing? Maybe they are scared of the results? One seller (a dealer) says he has NEVER had a leakdown before a sale and he sells a fair amount of 993s.

To me its like going in for a physical, the Dr. looking you up and down and saying "you look great! See you next year".

Am I crazy? Please help me out. Thanks!

jimhsu

a leakdown is a must, unless you like playing Russian Roulette with the flat six shooter just to save a few hundred bucks.

Leakdown is not an abuse: a machinery is not an organism, where you have to cut into tissues to do exploratory surgery. Nuts and bolts are undone, and put back on again, no harm done to the engine.

I would avoid the dealers that refuse a leakdown, just as I avoided a TT with a very good price, but the dealer insisted on not letting the car off the lot for a PPI....

....He said "bring your mechanic for a house call to my shop." I thought "you are dishonest or ignorant or too pompous" if he thought it was a good idea for me to have my mechanic on his turf doing PPI without the usual equipments. Good luck to the person who bought THAT TT: Russian roulette.

MarkD

Dealers (and the wierdness they provide) aside, as a seller I would be concerned that a good, reputable independant shop was doing the PPI on one of these cars.
There is a lot to remove to get a leakdown done. I wouldn't trust just anyone to do it.

eclou

Tell the sellers you will have new plugs put in at the same time. They shouldn't balk anymore

badabing

sorry, i i'm a noobie...........what's a PPI

911/Q45

Pre Purchase Inspection

Turbodan

Don't walk...run. Leakdown is a must. they don't want you to know what they know about their car.

sfbanchs

New member must post pics!

Receiver

Most of the time they don't have a clue as they didn't do one before they bought the car themselves

bandits47

What is considered "acceptable" or safe when it comes to leakdown numbers, I'm getting differing information. Kevin was very helpful in discussing a 993 TT I'm looking at, and his numbers were considerably lower than some info on a PCA website. Is there anything "official" out there? (Kevin, I sent you a PM). Thanks for the help!

WHB Porsche

I recall Kevin saying 4% and lower. I'd trust him more than a PCA website. My car was I believe 2-2-2-3-3-4 (in no particular order).

bandits47

Out of curiosity, how many miles did your TT have when you purchased it, and who performed the leakdown? Did they send you any type of printout showing the percentages? I'm trying to remain optomistic here, but it's becoming more difficult. Thanks.

WHB Porsche

My TT had ~36,500 miles. The PPI was done by Reggie at ProSport Performance in Marietta, GA. He hand-wrote the numbers on the invoice, and whatever tool he used for the compression test spit out a sticker with those numbers, which he also attached to the invoice and then photocopied.

Jean

Just make sure you don't give up a good deal because you have seen 6+% leak down numbers across all cylinders, that is perfectly good and can last many many 000s miles if all else is good.. Yes 2% is better of course!

TT Surgeon

Up to 8-10% is acceptable on a 12tr old car, as long as it's stable across all cylinders. If you have 5 cylinders at 2% and one at 8%, that's an issue, all six cylinders at 7% is not an issue on a car with 50k miles. Leakdown test the amount of leakage(compression in psi) past the valves/rings at TDC under full compression with both intake and exhaust valves closed. It's never 0%. It's actually very easy to do, not rocket science at all.