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Ok, after much ballyhoo and failed attempts I finally managed to bag my first Shark. This one is interesting, 1986 928S automatic, 104,000 miles, last 4 digits of vin are 2789, timing belt done at 65k miles, sat up on a lot in PA for a year, bought on Ebay, runs but....
Drove up today after a winning bid (6300). Car is in surprisingly good shape, paint OK, looks original, interior is complete and aside from some damage on the driver's chair it looks to be pretty ok. Took it out for a test drive, it was a basket case.
Car had little power and was stalling at idle. Good part is the timing belt light did not come on, temp came up to bar 1, oil went to 5 bar then down to 3 at idle once warmed up, voltage between 12 and 14 (all good from my 944S knowledge), and the horn went off in a turn which scared the hell out of me. I thought it blew open the intake box or something. Handles exceptionally well, good brakes, car has a S/N over 2,000 so I think it has the big brakes, one pad dragging but cleared with a reverse brake, not much power but good enough to get home.
Stuff that don't work:
AC no go.
Radio Blaupunkt comes on, no sound.
Heat check valve leaks, hot air coming from vents
Driver's side window don't work
Side mirrors don't work (that was odd)
Sunroof (do any work?)
Passenger window works, roll down, long drive home.
Shifts a bit hard, but that may just be me not knowing much about tranny
Gas may have been sitting for a year. Ug...
Shift handle fell off (on great). Still works.
Cruise control: Odd: Pressing the accel in will cause the car to slowly accel when foot off gas but does not hold speed when released. Hm......
So I bought it, got transport tags, and proceeded to drive it back from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. Not too great driving to highway but got it on the highway, got it up to 65 or so and car held speed. Did something I remembered on my 944S, then engine would seem to stumble on accel but have top end power. On the S I tried everything before realizing there was an anti-knock computer in addition to the DME and that was on the fritz. May be the same thing.
Anyway on the road it held on the mountain drives, got better. Pulled over on the highway to chat with my dad (who drove up with me and had an Envoy in case we needed to tow) then walked back realizing it was idling fine. Hopped in, hit gas, car was at 70mph instantly. Good power. Drove it down to 1/2 tank, filled it with 94 octane fuel, drove home, seems happier held idle with no problem at end of 4 hour drive. Temps did not go past middle of the two temp bars, oil still good pressure, nothing flaming under the hood. Realized that manipulating the throttle in the engine bay could get your fingers sliced off by fan, thinking about that.
Things that went wrong on trip:
Scratching from rear driver's wheel at times, dragging brake or worn pads
Fault: Brake Pad (yes, the wear sensors, ok)
Fault: Antilock (Hm. Came on after awhile, may be a bad sensor)
Fault: Rear tail light (came on in tunnel, scared heck out of me)
Most of the drive had the big red ! light on, brakes.
Brakes however were fine, no pulling.
Had a vibration past 70 mph probably flat spots on tires. No pulling or other suspension issues.
I drove it all the way home in my safety driving mode. 2k RPM cruise, no RPM over 3k, no playing with any buttons lest they crash the engine. Watch temps and pressure like a hawk.
Handles like a dream.
Got it home, let it run to cool down, shut down. Tomorrow I'll see what is leaking from under it and will start compiling a list of what is up and what to check. It made it 240 miles, that's a good start. Will see where to go next...
But I now have a real 928S....
Last edited by Christopher Zach; 07-20-2017 at 06:27 AM.
Reason: Adding things to the does not work pile....
You mentioned the transmission shifted hard. Manual or Auto?
Before you go much further, read this thread. In its entirety:
And, get ready to spend alot of money. Well worth it, though!
Thank you. This should be an interesting adventure, I always liked the water cooled Porsches, these seem to have a lot of bells and such to fiddle with.
Read whole thread, including owner's manual. Lot there. Will read again tonight.
Yeah, these things like money. As I mentioned to the guy selling it, a big problem is they have 911 priced parts in a car that seems inexpensive used. Then you buy the switches. But the switches are hand crafted in Stuttgart by Hans from a mixture of Id and Ego....
I'll make plans to attend. Hopefully I will have it tagged and inspected (MD inspection) by then, lot of small and big things to work on in the meantime.
Absolutely. 86.5 has desireable suspension and especially brake size changes of the S4 released in 87. Brake calipers are shared iirc with 951, though bleeders may be in different orientation. Congrats, looks great. On automatic the kickdown cable can stretch enough that it doesn't downshift, making it seem sluggish. There is also a mech kickdown switch linkage behind gas pedal that sometimes needs adjustment. In other words sometimes minor tweaks are all it takes. Like disturb cap corrosion or coil wire corrosion or nicks. Smart to keep your foot light until you sort out things like timing belt. Beautiful color.
07-19-2017, 11:31 PM
Ok, finally bought and drove home a 928S!
