Questions: Wires....

[dblclutch]

Couple of questions for a noob lookin for his first Porsche.

1. Why does there always seem to be wires hanging down from under the dash of most earlier model cars? Something you have to live with or are people too lazy to tack them up?

2. Seems like there are a couple of cars Ive seen where the add says the odometer "stopped working" for a while. Does this happen with earlier models?

3. Was there a better or worse year for the 964 model. I have read about a lot of seal leaking issues and the dist belts. Easy fixes or reason to avoid? ( I realize personal opinions differ )

Thanks, probably have more as I look.

[David E. Clark]

1. Why does there always seem to be wires hanging down from under the dash of most earlier model cars? Something you have to live with or are people too lazy to tack them up?

The cars weren't designed with wires hanging down from the dash! I'd have to conclude that either the owner is really lazy or there is some repair issue that is being neglected. For example a stereo that keeps blowing a fuse. In either case, I'd stay away from these cars since you never know what other routine maintenance issues the owner neglected.

2. Seems like there are a couple of cars Ive seen where the add says the odometer "stopped working" for a while. Does this happen with earlier models?

Yes, certain cars have odometer "issues" but as I said above I'd wonder about any car where an owner neglected such an easy fix. See, Porsche Dashboard Gauge Repair and Refurbishment in the technical articles section.

3. Was there a better or worse year for the 964 model. I have read about a lot of seal leaking issues and the dist belts. Easy fixes or reason to avoid? ( I realize personal opinions differ )

This is not my area, perhaps someone more knowledgeable about these cars will chip in, but you might want to surf the Porsche 964 & 993 forum for a while. I'm sure there is lots of good information there. As I'm sure others will tell you, the function at the top of the page is your best friend! Hope this helps a little.

[MattAlpha]

What do you mean by early cars?

When I say early cars I refer to '65-'73.

The 964's seem to be under-valued right now, but yes its hard to find a good one. Do not settle though, there are a lot out in the market, be cautious and leary of vehicles with obvious problems. The odometers should not just stop working. If they do an owner who takes proper care of his car will get it fixed immediately.

After you find the "right car" insist on a PPI before you buy it. Have the PPI done with a mechanic that is very familiar with the model of 911 that you are purchasing and make sure he takes an indepth look throughout the vehicle.

Happy searching,
Matt

[dlagerstrom]

Early cars had a mechanical TRIP odometer that would stop working if you reset it while moving. There are some little plastic gears that would break. The odometer itself should still work. Non-functional trip odo is a very common issue.

Wires under that dash? Well, yeah. I guess there are some wires. They didn't really 'finish' the under the dash area and parts of the wire harness can sag a bit after all these years. I don't think I would consider it a character flaw or assume other things aren't taken care of.

Don't know about 964s. Too new for me.

[dblclutch]

Thanks guys! I'll do some more searching but good info.

Dave

[Jay H]

Originally posted by dblclutch
3. Was there a better or worse year for the 964 model. I have read about a lot of seal leaking issues and the dist belts. Easy fixes or reason to avoid?

964's are sometimes broken up between the early ones (1989 to 1991) and the late ones (1992 to 1994).

Early cars can have some issues. One is the cylinder to head leak. This leak isn't common, but can appear on these early 964's. Porsche fixed the problem with the addition of head gaskets in late 1991. The repair on the early cars is to machine the heads and add a gasket. It's expensive to do, but once done, the leak is fixed forever. However, some cars were fixed while under warranty. Others will never leak. Some are leaking now, but not enough to dump $5000 to $7000 on having the machine work done to fix it.

After spending about 7+ years on these bulletin boards and looking at various 964s and talking with club members, I know of 4 964's that have this leak. One was on a raced car that was leaking very badly. Two had weeping that will probably never need to fixed. The fourth was on a lower milage car for sale that was discounted heavily due to the leak. It was a severe leak.

So, it's relatively rare, but you should have it checked for during the PPI process.

The Freudenberg Dual Mass flywheels are not that robust. Many cars have had this flywheel replaced with the more robust LUK flywheel (used by Porsche from 1992 and forward). These things are so old now that this is starting to be less and less of an issue as more and more cars are getting new clutches and having the flywheel updated at the same time, or the old Freudenbergs failed years ago.

Cars built before model year 1993 didn't have a dual distributor vent kit installed. This simple tube forces air into the distributors to help vent ozone which is thought to cause premature dual distributor belt failure. The vent kit is $16 and takes a 1/2 hour to install. Essentially a non issue since it's so cheap and doesn't take much labor.

However, since all of these cars are up there in age, the dual distributor belt should probably be replaced every 50,000 miles or 5-7 years as good preventative maintenance. I think this would be a safe practice for the 993 cars as well.

Other than these issues, the early 964's are just as solid as the later ones. I still think the 1993 and 1994 964's are some of the most solid 911's built other than maybe the '89 3.2 Carrera. There are just no major issues with these '93 and '94 cars.

Hope this helps,

Jay
90 964, 84 3.2

[dblclutch]

Jay, eaxactly what I needed! Thanks!