944 Maintenance Costs

[IamEvilHomer]

Hey everyone,
I am considering picking up a 944 as a daily driver, probably about 10k miles/year. Just wondering what kind of maintenance costs I might run in to. Thanks for any input you have.

[nightheart]

LOTS. A lot depends on if you can wrench on it yourself or if your gonna need a garage to do it.

[Icey1174]

Don't get scared away too fast. Once everything is in order, namely the timing belt and water pump it's not that bad.

Outside of the timing belt and water pump every three years you have pretty much the same maintenance as any other car. I did my belts and water pump two years ago. I have bought tires, normal wear and tear on any car, oil change, lube, the normal stuff.

I paid the Porsche dealer $1300 to do the water pump, timing belts, and new rotor and cap. I can do all the work myself now. So it's closer to $300 or so depending on parts when I do it myself every three years.

[Dave L]

2k/year has been my average. I do some work the mechanic does some work.

[IamEvilHomer]

Thanks for the replies guys. I plan on doing most if not all the wrenching myself. Well...atleast anything I can do in the parking stall of an apartment complex. So is the deal that the water pump and timing belt need to be changed every 30,000 miles?

[John_AZ]

Originally Posted by IamEvilHomer

Thanks for the replies guys. I plan on doing most if not all the wrenching myself. Well...atleast anything I can do in the parking stall of an apartment complex. So is the deal that the water pump and timing belt need to be changed every 30,000 miles?

Here is a trusted guide.
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/maint-01.htm

Remember, A cheap Porsche (purchase price), is the most expensive car you will ever own. I went 10 years (x2) before any major repair. Stuff like tires, shocks and minor stuff is usual.
If you want to have a daily driver spend the $100 or less and have your car inspected---PPI--Pre purchase inspection. If you go with your gut, you will feel it in the wallet.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/911_prepurchase/911_prepurchase.htm

New car buyer info:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/944_buyers_guide/944_buyers_guide.htm

John_AZ
1988 924S 60K+ 1987 924S 113K DD

[porsche4life]

It really depends on the car. Get one that has been well maintained and do the same and it shouldnt be too bad. I am paying the price on the Corrado and the 944 to a lesser extent. The guy the C came from talked a good game but in the end didn't walk a good walk and now I spend about 2 weekends a month under the hood. The 944 had just had the head and t-belt done(hehe wonder why) so the motor is good but some of the other parts have been trouble.

[Razorback1980]

Here is some good info on the 944.

http://www.connactivity.com/~kgross/FAQ/944faq.html

I haven't experienced "lots" as nightheart put it, but I do know that a well maintained one is a lot cheaper than one that has been neglected. If you keep them up, they are not that bad. The thing to consider though is that parts are not at the local auto parts store and often times a dealer won't have them because the car is older. It's important to know that when something does break that you may be waiting a day or two for parts to arrive from Pelican. The fact that you are in CA makes it quicker to get them from our host here. Just be prepared that if something major does break on you...it may be out of commission for a day or two. Mine is a second car for me, so it doesn't matter if it's unavailable for a couple days. My experience is that after owning one, it's hard not to have one. I bought one new in 1986 and have owned one since then. They are addictive.

My experience is along the lines of DaveL....about 2K per year as a daily driver.

[krystar]

i think the biggest points to cover are clutch+rear seal job and timing belt+front seal job. all the other things are normal for any car of this age.

[rmconner80]

In a word, expensive.

The two biggest things you are up against are these:

-It's a 20-25 year old car
-It's a Porsche (expensive parts, expensive labor rates)

Yes, you gotta do the water pump and timing belt and rollers. But there's a whole lot more you've gotta do to make the car reliable as a daily driver (i.e. taking care of vulnerabilities of a 25 year old car BEFORE they cause you to break down - think full clutch job, all coolant hoses, wheel bearings, etc) and enjoyable as a Porsche (think replacing the tired old shocks, getting the A/C running, motor mounts.

If you are gambling man, don't have to be places on time ever, just like adventure, or just want to flog the last 10,000 miles out of it before it goes to the crusher, you can skip these and wait for them to strand you.

If you buy one enthusiast owned you will pay more at purchase but less overall.

With that said don't be afraid to pour money into it. I think it is worth it. Just don't expect to ever be able to sell it for what you put into it. Think of it as an investment in the time and joy of owning and driving the car.

[Aslet]

If you do most or all of the work yourself, it is not bad though. To change the belts, rollers, and water pump will cost you around $500 in parts. The belts will be good for 30k miles and the pump for 60k. Other than that its basic maintenance you should do on any car. Occasionally weird issues do come up, but if you stay on top of them they shouldn't amount to much. For example one of the gaskets on the intake manifold was leaking on my car. Got the new gaskets for $16 and spent ~$50 to get a hose line I broke, but that wasn't a hard job. So depending how lucky you are that year and if you do any larger projects like the belts, it may cost you only hundreds for oil changes and some misc. If you aren't lucky, it can cost a lot.

Since the start of this year I have spent $900 on needed maintenance and and I'm currently spending $1500 upgrading my suspension, but only needed to replace the shocks (so a ~$400 needed bill).

YMMV

[nightheart]

2k/year, I think is a lot for maint/repairs. The flipside is like 300/month for a car payment, means you'll be saving money (sort of). MOST of my expenses are from trying to fix things that were wrong with my car when I bought it, oh so many years ago. If you realize that these are 20-30 year old sports cars, that still carry the porsche cost in parts and labour, then it isn't too bad. The people that expect to just put gas in them and go, are the ones in for a shock. As for a DD, maybe, but I'd never rely on a 25 year old car for my sole means of transportation.

[Dave L]

I should also clarify that I didnt really "NEED" the Konis, sways bars, springs, wheels, tires, R compound tires, strut bar etc. etc.

[1985porsche944]

Although if you do use the 944 as a DD I would have a backup car so when you do work on the car you can drive the other car. Currently I use my 944's as daily drivers. Older one is having the clutch replaced. Although I will say I have never been stranded while driving the car although I have had a few close calls.

[WestonP22]

944's can be expensive, but they really don't have to be. It all depends on your mechanical knowledge/skills and your experience with 944's in particular. These cars are generally pretty easy to work on yourself, but if you take it to a mechanic you're still going to pay the p-car tax and it'll get super expensive fast.

When I bought my '83 a few years ago, I already had plenty of mechanical experience with other cars, but I had pretty much zero 944 knowledge. As a result, it took me some time to properly diagnose and repair problems, and I bought several hundred dollars worth of parts that I didn't really need. I was one of the original 4 guys to start racing 944-Spec in the Rocky Mountain region, so I had to pretty much learn all this stuff for myself. Fortunately, there's no such thing as buying parts you don't need when you have a race car, because you'll need a spare at some point, or someone else will. Now I've worked on more 944's than I can even remember and have done pretty much every job that you can do to them, and I realize how dirt cheap these cars could potentially be as street cars.

I'm currently kind of in the market for a cheap 944 as a street car myself, and I actually want to find one that has problems because that will lower the price a lot and I can fix most things easily. Here are the things I'm more cautious about...

1) Clutch condition (and if it was replaced with a spring-centered disc at some point, the car is worth a bit more to me). The clutch job is doable, but it's more trouble than anything else I've done, and the parts can get expensive.

2) Timing belt problems. If it just needs to be replaced as preventative maintenance, that's no big deal and can help the price. But if it snapped or skipped time, then the head is probably in pretty bad shape, and the car is worth $500 less to me (parts cost less than that, but it'll take me an evening to swap the head).

3) Rod knock. With most of the cases I've seen, I can fix this for under $100 in parts, but you don't know the extent of the damage until you get in there... you might buy it thinking it only needs rod bearings, and find that it needs a whole rebuild.

4) Cracked windshield. This is simple enough, but is more expensive than other cars. The cheapest price I've seen is $200-250 for an early 944; late ones cost more.

5) Interior/exterior condition. Body work isn't hard, but paint will cost money. A decent condition interior can be hard to come by, and is worth more money.

6) Coolant/oil mix (aka "milkshake"). This is almost always just the oil cooler seal, but can be the head gasket, and worst case is a crack in the block. Although the first two aren't a big deal for me to fix, and the worst case is pretty rare, the fact that coolant got into the oil can trash the bearings.