Advice for a 928 Newbie

Hi all,

First of all, I can't begin to say how great this forum is and how helpful people here seems. Please keep it going!

I joined the ranks of 928 owners last August. I have to admit that I kinda just jumped right into it without knowing what I was getting myself into. I have a '85 928S, Manual, 150k miles. The body and interior are in excellent condition, but I have already had to replace the belt, the radiator and water pump. The oil pan and valve cover gaskets are also leaking oil and will have to be replaced soon.

I absolutely love the car, but I'm starting to have doubts whether the fun is worth the money and hassle. Owning my 928 is a bit like having a super hot but bipolar girlfriend - everything is great until she decides to flip out. What I would like to ask you seasoned 928 owners out there is how much can I expect to have to spend on maintenance to keep my shark happy? What sort of repair can I look forward to in the next few years?

P.S. Any shark owners out here in the Puget Sound area?

Cheers,
Julian

Julian,
Owning a 928 is like having a high maintenance girlfriend:You have to figure out ahead of time what will make her happy. Get all the deferred maintenance caught up before that maintenance item bites you, and she can make you happy in return.

You can look through www.928oc.org/regional_information.htm for a local regional contact (if nobody on this forum responds directly).

With regard to the 928, the key issue is how much deferred maintenance you have to catch up. Once the maintenance is caught up, keeping the car in good running order should not be too expensive, particularly if you are able and willing to work on it yourself.

928's are GREAT cars, they can even make GREAT Daily Drivers. That said, most of the cars that you find for sale (especially if they are cheap) have issues that need to be ironed out before they will be that SUPER COOL DD car you can rely on every day. It is just the way it is. How many Honda's or ANY OTHER CAR with 150k miles and 25+ years old are as good as a 928...PERIOD?! The answer is NOT MANY and fewer still will reward with the driving and ownership experience of a 928!

I am fairly new (December) myself. So far I have lucked out (although the A/C is looming before me;;
The seller (whom I work with) did some preventative maint before I bought it. New, coil, new battery, some new boots, a new battery ground strap and a new Bosch alternator. Some other general things like checking all the ground points you can get to, flushing the radiator, getting a (CORRECTLY) done alignment, see other postings about that. I have very few small leaks on the engine and trans, so I think I got a relatively good specimen to start with.

Now I am spending money on little things inside to update it mostly, but in a couple of weeks I am going to swap out the battery cable to the engine with size 0 and have fuel/air mix and 02 sensor checked/replaced, replace the fuel sending unit and a few other smaller things.

Once that is done, the next on the list is fixing the A/C which was broken when I got it, some people disable them on purpose. That one can get expensive depending on what is wrong.

So if I had to take a guess (and it could vary widly!) you are talking about 1-3k including what you might also want to upgrade cosmetically. That can be doen over time of course. I am also hoping, as Stan mentioned, that once it is stable and in shape, it should not take much to keep it up. Preventative maintenance is definitely the key...spend a little to save a lot.

There are some very good papers on general maintenance out the forums to give you an idea. A lot has to do with what year you have. Having an 83 16v, saves me a few headaches it seems. I have less power though but that will come later.

I hope you enjoy your fairly rare, exceptional Porsche, I think you are getting the fever like us!

The majority of 928 owners do not have the luxury of having a local mechanic familiar to 928s to perform the work for them. Even if you are that fortunate to locate a mechanic who is willing and able to work on it, it's usually going to cost you a fortune to let someone else catch up all of the deferred maintenance on your car for you.

I'd bet, conservatively, that better than 75% of all 928s with current registrations are maintained 100% by their owners. With that said, it really isn't that difficult to spin wrenches on these things IMO. There is an infinite amount of resources available to 928 owners, via the internet, that no one should really ever need to take their car to let someone else work on it for almost any reason. All you need is tools and a patient mind.

No way Austin...you are WAY, WAY to high! I bet it is less than 50%! I know of way less than half of the Austin 928's are maintained by their owners and we have some really capable owners and shops in town...

pcar928fan;4522 wrote:

No way Austin...you are WAY, WAY to high! I bet it is less than 50%! I know of way less than half of the Austin 928's are maintained by their owners and we have some really capable owners and shops in town...

I imagine things are a bit different in TX with such a high number of 928s being located there. There are folks down there who have figured out they can still make money working on old 928s... people like Sean, for example. You'd be up the creek in Nashville. The only "928 mechanic" this town ever had committed suicide a long time ago. No kidding.

I'd bet you'd be surprised by how many 928s, nationwide, are maintained solely by their owners, James. It would be neat to know the exact figure.

Thank you all for the input!

I did find a local shop that knows how to work on 928s. 928s aren't that uncommon in the Seattle/Bellevue area. Sometimes you wonder how many Porsches you can squeeze into a parking lot in Seattle Working on it on my own isn't really an option as I live in an apartment.

At this point, I am most worried about the transmission. At 150k, it will need a rebuild pretty soon. Shifting into first feels awkward. Is this a sign that the tranny is on its way out? How much would a rebuild cost?

I've spent $15k on the car already. For a 85' Manual with 150K, current belt, new water pump, new radiator, excellent exterior and decent interior. It is a really hard decision to make, but How much can I expect to fetch if I do decide to part with it?

I mean the shifting to first is awkward in that I have to bring the shifter all the way to the left to the point of running out of space, and then it would take way too much effort to engage the gear. Sometimes it would not engage at all. 3rd gear is also problematic - I feel like I'm fiddling in the dark to find the right gate, but I've learned to deal with that.

You could just have a linkage issue with the transmission, it is a common problem. If you don't have grinding of gears, then the transmission might be fine, and an '85 should have the upgrade synchros.

While you may not do the work yourself, it is good to understand the issue and therefore the possible causes. Here is one search result that might help: www.928intl.com/tips/artcl_04.html

P.S. You don't want to know what I would pay for an '85 with suspect transmission

I had the same problem with my 87 5speed. I thought was the shifter ball cup but as I removed the old shifterhandle to replace theshift rod ,I found that the C-clips that hold the rod to the linkage were missing. Insulating foam from the surround had jammed into the springs and caused the sloppy shifting. To check will require 5 min. Pull up hard on the shift knob to remove it. Remove the rubber boot and this will expose the shifter rod. Pictures and stepby step instructions are at 928 international site for short shifter install. Very easy to doand no tools required. You can tell right away if something is broken or as in my case missing.

I agree with Stan, you don't want to ask the "what is it worth" question. No good will come from it! A $15k '85 5spd car with high-ish miles would need to be in CONCOURS WINNING CONDITION to be worth anything close to $15k! You can get an '87/'88 S4 5spd in close to Concours Winning Condition for $15k...certainly you can get one that will only take elbow grease to get it to that condition!