1986 Porsche 928 S from North America - Comments

Since I have owned this car;

1) the interior light fuse periodically blew. After securing all possible candidates for shorts in the lamp housings themselves, I finally discovered that the power cable ribbon was chafing between roof and the hatch, under the rear headliner. Fixed this myself.

2) The master relay for the 2 ECUs failed. Ending up fixing this in 5 minutes AFTER I had to get towed very late at night, because I was unprepared and didn't have a relay puller in the car. Obtain a Porsche tow-eye for your car, if your car doesn't have one. KNOW how to use it, pending needing a tow. BE prepared, with extra fuses, relay-puller, fuse and relay location diagrams, pliers, screw drivers and common wrenches. Failure to do this will result in being tempted to give your soul for a common tool out in the middle of no-where.

I live in Md and purchased this car from a Northern California owner. After taking delivery, I immediately drove it 4000 miles in a sight-seeing trip across the U.S. with no serious issues or delays. This underscores the importance of necessary steps in buying one of these fascinating cars: 1) seek out cars sold by mechanically savvy owners possessing demonstrable knowledge, receipts and maintenance history of critical items (like water pump, timing belt, tensioner, belts, hoses, axle rebuilds, fuel system and so on). Remember, these cars are generally 20+ years old. Precede purchase with a pre-purchase inspection, by a QUALIFIED shop. Negotiate (if possible) with the seller to get necessary repairs. Buy the car and at this point you're on your own. Ownership goes so much cheaper if you do much of your own maintenance. Indeed; I've found the process of maintaining a fundamentally good example to be enjoyable and relaxing, as hobbies should be. User community forums like rennlist.com are a huge help in shortening trouble-shooting efforts. But unless you follow the aforementioned purchasing process, ownership can become prohibitively expensive.

Would you believe it? No sooner had I submitted this review than I'm chasing a problem that is looking like the ignition ECU (computer). These units cost around a kilobuck. The car cost $6700. Look at the ratio. I'm also investigating other aftermarket options, in an endeavor to bring the cost of the repair down... all my own labor of course. Its still a great car, but beware if you aren't prepared to get dirty (and occasionally embarrassed) by ownership.

Last (and final) owner update, for the sake of potential owners:

With 20+ year old cars, including Porsches, one cannot make withdrawals without making deposits as well. I took 4k miles up front with no problems, and then the bank demanded a deposit. The problem I just experienced is likely not an ECU, but is more likely one of the several chafed and bare connections in the hostile environment, under a 21 year old hood. The immediate task under way is to systematically go through, repairing at-risk connections and cleaning grounds. Sage advise: do this soon after taking ownership; as it will minimize road-side experiences.