Looking to buy '84 Porsche 944, got questions
 

Hi errbody, family looking to buy a porsche 944 as DD for either me or my dad. Really love this model and found one recently on craigslist. Heard from youtube that there are a few faulty 944's that repeatedly need to be serviced. This particular one i found has all the receipts and service records from the past 2 years. He is the 3rd owner and has around 140mi on it. from the post, it seems he has had alot of the faulty stuff on the 944 replaced last year and has spent around $2000 on it.

Does the long service record mean the car is slightly more reliable or does that mean the car is problematic?

it is a pretty good price, in the cheaper mid range for cars this model and age.

Any Porsche especially the 944's are a labour of love.
Expect frequent and sometimes pricey maintenance regardless of whats been done in the past.

Timing belt timing belt timing belt.
Clutch is also an expensive job as you have to drop everything out right to the rear diff.
Did I say timing belt?

Newer cars are better built, but have less VW and more Porsche parts.

All Porsche VDO odometers from the 80s have a little gear in side made out of plastic that melt. Unless the car has been stored in doors it's entire life and no one has ever turned the heat on... it has failed at some point.

Now some people may have fixed it right away, other's may have waited years. It's a cheap part and easy to replace, but it's also easy to fiddle with the mileage when its out.

I'd never trust the mileage on an '80s Porsche... but on 30 year old cars, its all about condition,mileage really doesn't mean that much anymore.


For example:

'84 944 control arm (same as VW rabbit) $25
'88 944 control arm (Porsche alluminum) $700 new ($300 used)

etc....

-Clutch job = $$$$$

-fuel pump relay goes without a warning. best to buy a spare and keep it in your glove box.

-hatch seals go bad, so you'll end up smelling the exhaust.

- some oil leaks

- leaky sunroofs (most come with the huge sunroof panel that is removeable)

- rust isnt too bad on those cars.. not a big concern

- cracked dashboards, seats and the sorts.

- Clutch master and slave tend to go. very very common problem.

I've owned one before, driving them daily wasnt a bad experience. feels like a quality and solid car. I wouldnt really recommend the earlier cars, as the later cars had a much better interior and got rid of the VW switchgears.

but fixing / repairing.. damn it. it was a headache. the earlier cars with the SOHC head werent too expensive to fix. getting a S / S2 version, or turbo... then things get pricey.

Seems like most things are hit on the head here. Long maintenance list can be a little bit of both, if it was a bad car and didn't get maintained for a year or two, you may find one invoice that was its first pit stop at the local Porsche indy and the new owner replaced everything. If you can see that every time it went for an oil change (along the likings) and other things were replaced, could be the owner was very religious about taking care of the issues as they came up. The best part about service records is the mileage and date on when parts were replaced, if the previous owner has a clutch invoice from a year ago, one less thing you have to worry about right off the bat unless it has been abused.

thanks for all the contribution!
in the end, we opted not to get this car :S