Considering buying a 944

[deafasapost]

all good advice, something that if you dont know the 944 its worth taking on board. i bought mine last year (sept) and got advice here first as i knew nowt about the cars and what to look for. i looked at a few before buying the one i have now and that was after a pre purchase inspection (well worth the couple of hundred quid imo, and you could always recoup in the asking price). i dont think i would have bought one without or at least without taking someone along who knew these cars inside out.

they are a cracking car to own, swift, great handling and still look superb and stand out from the crowd. for the money a good one goes for at the moment, they are a bargain. you wont regret it one bit.

 

[jonnyporsche]

Lots has been said all is true. The important thing is it doesn't matter what car it is the rules are the same. Do your home work, we have all learnt by experience. I have bought a turbo with high milage for little money bul major engine work by Porsche specialist and really good body work repairs, ie new sills and bottom wings done by owner. THey are brilliant cars mine was best part of £40,000 new 24 years ago, they need time, money and appreciation spending on them. Look at lots if you can find them and remember . Buyer beware .

 

[craiginuk]

Thanks all - going to look at an S2 in Dunstable on Thursday. Might be out of my overall budget but looks clean etc. I'm a bit confused about the S2 though. I understand the cambelt is a bit more involved to change but I've also read about them having a timing chain that needs changing every 100k miles?? Am I getting the wrong end of the stick?

Edit - just read up some more. It's the secondary timing chain I'm on about. Do people change these at the recommended 100k? Is it an involved job?

Craig

 

[Hairyarse]

The timing chain is not a service item specified by Porsche if I recall correctly. However, the opinion of all is to replace all belts and the chain every 4 years or 40,000 miles, whichever comes first. This should include the tensioners for the chain too

Cheers
Andy

 

[zcacogp]

Craig,

On an S2, the timing belt drives one cam, and the other cam is driven from the first one by a short chain that simply runs over them both.

As Andy said, the chain isn't part of the Porsche-written service schedule, and hence wouldn't be changed by a dealer. However it is a wear part and should be changed occasionally. Opinions differ as to how frequently, but more frequently is better than less frequently. The problem isn't so much the chain as the sprockets on the cams that it runs on; when the chain wears it stretches, and this then causes wear on the sprockets. This then puts you in line for a new pair of cams, which is VERY expensive.

Any S2 you look at will have a milage such that the chain should have already been replaced, I'd have thought. An inspection of the chain and cam sprockets is something that a good PPI would include. (My indie uses a sensitive contact microphone held on the cam cover, with a small pair of headphones. He claims he can tell the state of the chain and cams by listening to the noise it makes.)


Oli.

ETA: Is it an involved job? It's a good hour (maybe 2) extra on the belt change job. Getting the bolt out of the end of the camshaft belt pulley can be difficult as they are often tight.

40,000 miles for each chain change? If that's the case then my chain is well, well overdue for changing. This sounds over-frequent to me (although this isn't a bad thing.) I'd have thought that every other belt change (so, every 70-80k miles) would be OK, and it pretty much the interval I work on. Bear in mind that the chain won't deteriorate with time, which the belts do.