'95 993 purchase question

[tobeto87]

I am seriously looking at the purchase of a 1995 993 with 78000 miles. The car is out of state and I am trying to make an intelligent purchase from 1000 miles away. I have had a PPI conducted and everything checks out with the exception of the leakdown. The compression across all cylinders is consistent and is approaching 200 psi. The leakdown on 5 of the 6 cylinders is between 5 to 8 percent with the number three cylinder having a leakdown valve of 35%. The car runs out strong and idles smoothly. If there were a serious problem with number three, I would imagine that the car would run rough at idle and be down on power, is this assumption reasonable. The car has been used infrequently over the past 5 years and the owner has been asked to run the car hard for approximately 100 miles so that the leakdown can be conducted again. The technician maintains that due to the infrequent use of the car the number 3 valve seats may have some carbon buildup and running the car hard may clean it out. The owner has been fastidious about the maintenance of the car, all necessary or required service has been done, and necessary repairs have been made without fail. Should I run from this potential purchase.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Dave
Colorado
1982 SC
1961 356

[hdemas]

This all sounds reasonable. I assume there isn't any significant oil leaking around the cylinder that has the leak-down issue. With the leak-down, you can sometimes figure out where the leak is (exhaust, intake, or into the case or head) by using a stethescope to listen for it...many mechanics have these. Anyway, having the car run hard for 100 miles and checking again seems like a reasonable thing to do if the car has been sitting a lot. If the car checks out ok after that, then you should be ok. If not, then the question is why?

Harry