Is It Realistic For A 1ST Time Owner To Do My Own Maintenance,Repairs,Troubleshooting

[coollx]

First, let me say I'm glad I found this site because it eases my concern that if I buy a 911 I'd be faced with having to buy parts from and have to rely on the local dealer.

I'm very close to buying my first 911, a 1986 Carrera. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but am now in a position to finally do it. Although I'm very mechanically inclined with alot of tools and a good basement workshop, I must confess to being intimidated when I look under the rear deck and very little is familiar.

Driving the car was a delight and I can see where it would be addictive. My desire is to not only enjoy driving the 911, but working on it and doing most of the maintenance, repair and troubleshooting when there's a problem. The last thing I want to do is be faced with having to drive or flatbed the car to the local Porsche dealer to get fixed and pay outrageous amounts.

I've used the search function in this site and found there is volumes of information about most problems with good details on troubleshooting. In the short time I've spent reading old threads I was probably most impressed with one that helped a fellow owner with a car that would start then stall that had a DME problem. The car owner was faced with a $1600+ repair at the dealer but was guided through inspecting and soldering a few cracked solder joints and fixing the problem themself.

So my question as the subject states is whether it is realistic for a first time 911 owner to handle the maintenance, repair and troubleshooting myself?

The dealer I'm talking with says these cars, particularly the 1984-1989, are extremely reliable and once you get familiar with them, are very easy to work on. Is he right?

I would appreciate any comments or input.

Thanks

Dom

[acapella8]

Completely. I bought my first porsche in Sept 2005 not knowing where to put the ignition key. Now almost two years later, I've installed front oil cooler (carerra), done my own timing, plugs, wires, swapped for older oil temp guage and sender, backdated heat to clean up SC compartment. And about 50 projects that I've already forgotten.

Buy Wayne's 101 projects book, then eventually get the Engine Rebuild book.

You've found the right place and are surrounded by friends.

[partrin]

I bought my '88 about 8 years ago, and have learned to do a lot of the basic restore / repair / upgrade projects .......with Bentley manual, Tech Articles, and patience. Very rewarding and fun to both tweak and drive (DE, etc) a great car.
That said, have a good pre-purchase inspection done by an independent, knowledgeable professional to be confident that the 'top end', clutch, etc are in as good as possible - some repairs are potentially quite expensive!

[KCinBR]

You can definitely do your own work if you have the tools and some experience(mechanical)

I've found that these cars are fairly simple, but it's just hard to gain access to some places.

First purchase should be a good repair manual, and keep reading this board.

I bought my car (88 Targa) in Feb 05 and have done all the repairs and improvements.

[rcecale]

Dom,

First of all, welcome to the board! You've found arguably the best resource for all things Porsche, on the entire internet. Collectively, I would say that this bbs knows more about the Porsche line of sports cars than even Dr. Porsche himself!

With that being said, have a look at this thread.

Like you, I was not a stranger to using tools, having worked on military aircraft for 20 years, but, for some reason, these cars just seemed so intimidating.

With the help and guidance of members of this bbs, you will soon be posting about how you've made a mess of your garage floor because you didn't realize your 86 held so much oil! Or maybe you'll be bragging about how you've upgraded to a Steve Wong DME chip and just can't believe the improvement!!!

Oh wait!!! You'll be one of those guys who will post about your first DE and then an Auto-X. Yes, sir! Once you get your car, it will gradually take you over, become an obsession, become your life...is this great, or what?

Once again, welcome to the bbs....it's a slippery slope, from here!

Randy

[Grady Clay]

Dom,
Welcome to the Forum.
When you get a 911 you will find a lot of help here.
It sounds like you won’t have any difficulty maintaining a Carrera yourself.

The critical issue is BEFORE you buy is a through Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI). Never buy without one or several PPIs.

Best,
Grady

[drl911]

Truth be told I get more pleasure doing "project" work on the 911 than actually driving it.

Dan

[MattAlpha]

You can certaintly do the work yourself. The guys on this site are great and will help you out.

GET A Pre-Purchase Inspection done on any 911 that you are considering!!!! You will save yourself a lot of frustration and money in the end. Trust me, I bought my 911 before I knew about this site and I've paid for it. I've completely re-built my entire suspension, brakes, many miscellaneous projects and I'm currently chasing down a few remaining electrical gremlins. Of wait, I've got a complete tune-up planned for the next month. Very painful and a PPI would have spotted them as well as a few engine issues that I've fixed as well. On the up side I very confident in my ability to diagnose problems with a 911 and fix them correctly, but I would have rathered just enjoyed my car and my wife would be happier too. This is also my daily driver by choice. I love the car.

BTW, by the Bentley repair manual as well. Much more detailed than Wayne's book and a great resource. I love Wayne's 101 Projects and his Engine Re-build book, but the Bentley has the correct time period info, while Wayne tries to give an overview describing each 911 year period.

Let us know how your search goes,
Matt

[Walko]

It is addictive

Welcome to the joys of owning a 911

Michael

[Hugh R]

My first search was with my car because the auto heat didn't work. I'm looking at the wiring diagram saying to myself "oh fu(k!). Did a search and the first thing I found was there is a ball and socket assembly that is made out of plastic and the socket sometimes pops off. I though to my self, "no way". Pulled the cover off the auto heat and sure enough, that was the problem! Right then, I knew this board was way too cool.

[RWebb]

These cars, even the later ones like you are looking at are basically very simple cars.

I would not say they are easy to work on however, b/c access is usually fairly difficult. They are in between a BMW and a Ferrari if that makes sense to you. Or if you are good at yoga or a professional contortionist, you'll have it made. The later cars will require more crap to be moved out of the way than the early cars.

Be sure to get a PPI and don't buy the first one you see. These are not rare cars.

Good Luck!

[UK Carrera]

Go for it.

It's really a very simple car - no ABS, no power steering and a minimum of electronic gubbins.

This board is likely to be your source of help and inspiration.

Nothing like 'bonding' with your car through some deeply satisfying project.

[livi]

Welcome Dom!

Absolutely. I have been an academic all my life. Never even changed oil before I got my Carrera. Courtesy of the experts on this nice forum I now do all my basic maintenance and upgrades myself. I was very intimidated at first. Did not trust myself with any tools at all. Turns out the basic stuff is very easy albeit often time consuming and sometimes frustrating - but, the reward when succeeded is tremendous.

That said, having owned my car almost three years now, nothing has broken and these little cars seems over-engineered and very well put together.

[coollx]

WOW!!!!!

I'm blown away by the response. Thank you everyone.

Randy, I appreciate you providing the link to your thread about fixing your transmission. If that thread doesn't give a prospective first time owner a hugh shot of confidence, nothing will.

One thing I noticed with the 1986 I'm considering buying is that when slowing down to come to a stop, you have to wait until you are stopped to put the transmission in 1st gear. Upshifting and downshifting to and from all other gears is fine.

The dealer said this is a normal characteristic of the 915 transmission once the syncros start to wear. He thought I would probably need to rebuild the transmission in a year or two to improve shift quality.

Is he being truthful, or is this indicative of a bigger problem?

Dom

[Barrpete]

That is probably true & not untypical of the 915.

Oh, & when you do buy your 911 protocol is to post a pic. Good luck - you will find this board invaluable. I have done many projects/upgrades in the 2 years I've had mine that would have been impossible without the help of fellow Pelicans.

[livi]

I would not claim that a rebuild is necessarily needed within a couple of years. Depending on how the box is used from now on it may last a long time - given of course that it will still be a bit of a bother going into first gear. Also make sure the gear shift bushings are solid and fresh as well as the clutch. Fresh gear lube like Swepco 201 for example. My first gear has been like that without changing to the worse the last 15k miles. At least.

[livi]

I would not claim that a rebuild is necessarily needed within a couple of years. Depending on how the box is used from now on it may last a long time - given of course that it will still be a bit of a bother going into first gear. Also make sure the gear shift bushings are solid and fresh as well as the clutch. Fresh gear lube like Swepco 201 for example. My first gear has been like that without changing for the worse the last 15k miles. At least.

[livi]

I would not claim that a rebuild is necessarily needed within a couple of years. Depending on how the box is used from now on it may last a long time - given of course that it will still be a bit of a bother going into first gear. Also make sure the gear shift bushings are solid and fresh as well as the clutch. Fresh gear lube like Swepco 201 for example. My first gear has been like that without changing for the worse the last 15k miles. At least.

[Barrpete]

Livi makes a good point. Just because it won't shift into 1st easily doesn't necessarily mean a rebuild is needed. The 1st gear synchro probably is worn, but if it shifts fine otherwise you can run many years without a needing to rebuild.

[Wickd89]

I think you can easily do it..

My issue is space and time. Little free time after work, the wife, the kids and my aging other relatives.

Most of the time I feel I am paying a mechanic for something I can easily do given a couple of weekends, but that is life.