Blown head gasket after installing chip and manual boost controller. This was my fault and would not have happened if I had not modified boost. The problem was solved with a wide fire ring head gasket.
Burst rubber turbo tube. This happened after I upped the boost. I do not believe this would have happened in stock form. The problem was solved with a silicon turbo tube.
Broken torque tube end. Again, this car is heavily modified and this occurred while the car had slick, R compound 275/40/17 racing tires in the rear. I tried to launch too hard from first gear and sheared off the end of the drive shaft where it meets the transaxle. The coupler that connects the tube to the transaxle, which I thought was the weakest link, was perfectly intact. This was done during a track day event on a race course and would not happen in stock form during regular driving conditions.
Sheared off second gear. Same as above, would not have happened under normal conditions with stock configuration.
Water pump failure. Like the timing belts the water pump on the 944 models can basically be considered a consumable item. It will need to be replaced at some point. Unlike the belts the water pump gives a very noisy warning before total failure. In my opinion this is a quality issue that Porsche should have found and fixed during the development of their front engine water cooled cars.
Power steering fluid leak. Normally this would only be a minor annoyance, but the line leaks directly onto the right sway bar bushing and degrades the rubber very quickly. And since there is an undertray below the engine the fluid will not drip out onto the ground immediately and you might not even know you have a leak. In my case I didn’t know I had a problem until the sway bar bushing actually squirmed out of place and the bar started to make an ugly clunk sound whenever I went around corners. The problem was fixed with new lines and new bushing. At around $100 USD each the lines are not cheap. I also opted to upgrade to solid bushings when I made the change.
There have been problems with the rubber water hoses degrading and leaking, but this is to be expected with a car that is 21 years old. There are kits available online that replace every water hose with new rubber and should be considered by anyone owning and driving one of these cars. It’s very good preventative maintenance and could save you a much bigger headache down the road.
Turbo seal, turbo bearing wear, and turbo failure. It is amazing to me that the stock turbo on this car lasted as long as it did under higher than stock boost settings and very hard street and track driving. At around 125,000 miles the wear on the bearings inside the turbo allowed the turbo shaft to wobble just slightly and enlarge the hole in the compressor housing where the shaft goes through and connects to the turbine wheel on the intake side of the turbo. While at first this does not noticeably affect performance while driving it does allow oil to seep through when the engine is not running. If the engine is not run frequently the amount of oil can build up to the point where it will cause the engine to suck a relatively large amount of oil into the intercooler, turbo hoses, and intake manifold and then into the combustion chambers, onto the spark plugs, and finally into the catalytic converter. The car will smoke horribly for a bit on start up until most of the oil is sucked through and burned. Not only does this coat everything internally with oil, it drains the turbo housing of its lubricant causing dry starts and thus aggravating the situation until the bearings are completely worn and your turbo starts to sound like a dentist’s drill and it is no longer able to spool up properly to make any kind of power. Extracting a turbo from a regular turbocharged car is difficult enough, but Porsche had the good sense to move the turbo away from the exhaust side of the engine to reduce the amount of heat it is exposed to and placed it under the intake manifold on the right side of the engine bay thus making a remove/rebuild/reinstall a VERY time consuming and frustrating endeavor. Not only did I have to remove and reinstall the turbo I also had to clean all of the residual oil from inside the intercooler, intake manifold, pipes and hoses, replace the spark plugs, and on top of it all I needed a new catalytic converter because the old one was almost completely blocked off. On the up side, the car was even faster than before and I gutted the old catalytic converter and now use it for track events. With the old hollow converter the car is noticeably quicker and has a much more menacing, yet not overpowering or annoying, exhaust note.
Gear shift leather worn. Easily replaced with new leather.
Gear shift select sloppy. This happens over time and is a moderately easy fix with a new lever.
Heater linkage clip broken. A new clip fixes this very annoying problem that can leave your heater set to blow super hot all the time.
Broken glove box supports. This is a really annoying problem with 944s. The plastic glove box stops can break easily and allow the glove box door to hang wide open all the way down instead of stopping when it is horizontal. New supports are cheap and the fix takes little time.
Broken armrest flip-up door. There are no hinges on the armrest storage bin door, just a folded bit of plastic that comes apart after years of use and abuse. Luckily this is another easily replaceable part, but again, Porsche went really cheap on this bit and could have avoided the problem all together with simple hinges.
Rear hatch release button does not work. I have never seen a working rear hatch release button on any 944 I’ve ever come across. There is a lock at the back of the car to release the hatch, but if the button is there and the servo is there the stupid thing should work.
Interior clock light does not work. I don’t remember if this is a burnt bulb or a wiring problem, but the thing is impossible to get to without dismantling half the dashboard.
Rear hatch glass squeaks and leaks. After time the weight of the rear hatch glass has caused the glass to pull partially out of the frame and has broken the seal. This allows water to get in and also causes the glass to move inside the frame and make an annoying squeak. There is a fix for this, but it involves removing the hatch, very heavy, and basically resealing and refitting it. It’s a pain to do, but it did fix the problem.
Sunroof, door, and window seals leak. The rubber gets old and dry and the seals fail. They are moderately expensive to replace and it is time consuming work. I don’t think this is a 944 or even a Porsche unique problem. Any car that is 21 years old could probably use new seals.
Transaxle fluid leaks. Some 944 Turbo transaxles have a cooling tube that runs out the front right side of the housing, coils around, and then reenters at the rear of the housing. There are no gaskets or seals where the tube goes in and out so these areas can leak fluid if they are not tight. Easy fix, just loosen the bolts, give the ends and ports a good cleaning and tighten it all back up nice and snug.
Forward sunroof manual fasteners break. These cheap plastic fasteners can break if you are not careful when fitting the sunroof back in place after removing it. There are metal fasteners available and make for a quick and easy fix.
Leaky or broken vacuum hoses and fitting. The stock vacuum lines, joints, and fittings are made of hard plastic tubing that gets very brittle and breaks easily. This can wreak all kinds of havoc with the turbo control computer and other engine management devices. This is easily fixed with aftermarket silicone tubing and metal joints and fittings.
Torsion tube problems. In order to save un-sprung weight in the rear Porsche used torsion tubes instead of springs for the rear suspension. There are two torsion tubes in the rear, one for the left wheel and one for the right. Over time these tubes get weak just like regular coil springs. When the torsion tubes get weak the rear end will tend to squat under acceleration and cause the rear suspension of the car to be much softer overall than the front. For everyday street driving this is almost a good thing because it helps absorbs some of the torque being transferred to the rear tires on acceleration and allows the rear tires a better chance to grip before losing traction. During aggressive cornering or race track driving conditions the difference in relative stiffness between the front and the rear can, depending on conditions, cause the rear of the car to either get loose in corners or cause understeer problems while braking into a corner. Unlike coil springs which can be changed or replaced fairly easily, torsion tubes require the entire rear suspension to be dropped from the chassis. The torsion tubes also control the rear ride height of the car and this must be taken into account when replacing them. The ride height is adjusted by indexing the splines at the end of the tubes for the desired ride height. This indexing must be done on both sides to assure that the height of the rear of the car is the same on both sides.
Overheating issues. The liquid cooling system on the 944 cars is very susceptible to overheating if not maintained properly. If the system has been flushed or if it has lost water due to overheating or leaking it is very easy for pockets of air to get trapped in the system and cause hot spots in the cooling system that can cause the engine to overheat. There is a manual air bleed port on the top of the engine that allows you to bleed the air out of the system while the car is running, but it is hard to get to and use. If the water gets too hot and the pressure gets too great the plastic overflow/reservoir can become deformed and over time it can develop holes that will leak and it will need to be replaced. In my opinion Porsche has never really gotten the hang of water cooling.
Distributor rotor coming loose. Unlike most rotors on most cars there is no keyway or slot to position the rotor on the shaft. On the 944 the rotor is set in place by a screw that holds it steady on the shaft. Somehow my rotor holding screw came loose and the rotor basically moved on the shaft changing the timing as it moved. It was a ridiculously difficult thing to diagnose this problem and had me scratching my head for hours. It acted just like it would if it had fuel delivery problems, a coil problem, a plug or plug wire problem, a sensor malfunction, a boost or vacuum leak, or any other number of problems that would account for sporadic running and power loss. It would idle rough then smooth. It would actually drive for a while and then sputter out and quit outright. After trying to chase down this gremlin for what seemed an eternity I inspected the distributor cap for contact issues and everything looked normal. I checked the rotor contact and it looked fine too. It wasn’t spinning freely on the shaft and was actually still fairly tight so it wasn’t obviously loose. I decided to check the timing to see if the dreaded timing belt had skipped a tooth and was on its way to catastrophic failure. When it reached top dead center I noticed that the rotor was between contact points. At that point I thought I was in for massive deconstructive surgery to replace the belts. That's when I noticed the screw on the rotor. I took hold of the rotor and gave it a twist and sure enough it moved. I felt like a complete idiot for not checking it first thing. I realigned the rotor, tightened the screw, and added a dab of superglue to keep the stupid thing in place until I changed it. The rotor position is not adjustable; there is a hole that the screw screws into in the shaft so I have no idea why Porsche did not use a guide slot to keep the rotor from changing position, but they didn’t.
Battery drain. Probably the most annoying of all the minor problems I have had with this car is the battery drain. If the car is not run for more than a couple of days the battery will be completely dead. I thought maybe the battery was just old so I replaced it with a brand new Optima battery hoping that would solve my problems; it did not. Since I use the car mainly for spirited weekend driving and track day events I decided not to try and chase down the cause of the power drain and I just installed an SCCA legal kill switch with a removable key. As long as I remember to keep the switch on for a while after driving to allow the turbo water pump and cooling fans to do their job and then turn it off I have no more battery issues. This is not a good fix for a daily driver however and if you are having the same problem you should find the source of the drain and figure out how to stop it.
The 944 Turbo is one of the most underrated sports cars ever.
In stock form these cars are very fast. With even minor performance modifications these cars can turn into super handling turbocharged rockets.
Besides my formula race car with a custom molded carbon fiber seat I have never felt more connected and in tune with any other car I have driven. That includes the 997 911TT, Dodge Viper GTS, Corvette C6 Z06, Ferrari F40, and many purpose built race cars. Even with stock seats and steering wheel it just feels perfect.
With the modifications I have done to my 944T I have run into very few street legal cars that can keep up with it, both in a straight line and in the twisty bits. With the chip modification increasing the rev limiter, and thus the top speed, around 170mph, I have even outrun sport bikes in races from 60mph to 150mph. There is nothing more satisfying than pulling away from a pack of guys on crotch rockets and then slowing down to wait for them to catch up and see them try to express their disbelief with their helmets on. I give them one or two more tries to keep up, then I slow down to cruising speed and let them go on their way, their sense of bike vs. car invincibility seriously in question.
At this point the only thing I really fear as far as street legal cars go would be a supercharged corvette Z06 or a true supercar like a Porsche Carrera GT, Saleen S7, Mclaren SLR, or of course an Enzo. Normally this would not pose a problem to most people since these cars are super rare, but since I live about 15 minutes from Microsoft there is a real possibility of me actually getting the chance to get schooled by one of these monsters. I have run against cars like that at track events and been blown away, but the cars were prepped for the track and not the street so it would be interesting to see just how devastatingly I would be beaten.
As far as “tuner” cars go, I don’t even waste my fuel. If someone in a supped up Honda or Mustang is insistent, I just drop it into 3rd gear, push the pedal to the floor, and like magic they disappear behind me into the distance.
The most impressive aspect of this car for me is the fact that with good maintenance and a bit of care this 21 year old car with almost 170,000 miles of very hard driving has not had a major malfunction that was not at least partly my fault. The worst thing that has happened has been a blown head gasket and that could have been avoided if I had upgraded the head gasket to the recommended stronger gasket when I modified the turbo system.
Even now after almost 200,000 miles of consistently high boost, very high speeds, and race track abuse it still has the power to scare the living daylights out of almost any passenger, handily dispatch almost all challengers, and, most importantly, it still makes me feel as though I am one with an amazing machine, not simply driving a fast car.
If you think you have the mechanical skill and driving ability to live with and maintain a 944Turbo go out and test drive one. If you do not find it at the very least a surprisingly impressive sports car you are a very tough person to please indeed.
Just like an exotic pet these cars are not for everyone. They need a lot of care and if you are not careful they can bite you very hard. And if you are reckless one of these cars could easily be the end of you.
This has got to be one of the most informative, well-written and interesting reviews I've ever seen in this site.
Love it.. I just bought an 84' 944 S2, with 118,000KM.. I just love how she purrs!!
Man that's a nice review. I own a Porsche 951 86 and I just love it. Good luck.
Very nice review. Thanks!
I wish the same distributor-rotor solution could solve also my problem.. When pressing the pedal, not even fully, but reaching the 3500 rpm region, and trying the turbo pointer to cross the 0.8 value, the car starts resonating and does not provide power. Releasing the pedal it drives again OK.
The whole thing started like 800 km after changing the sparks, the fuel filter, and cleaning the distributor rotor pins (I do it once a year).
One day the car just lost the power during a soft acceleration:
Simply at 3500rpm started not to deliver any more power as if there is no fuel.
I thought the engine stopped, while I pressed the clutch (the car was still moving).
But when dropping the rpms, and not pressing the pedal too much, the car droved again smoothly.
I tried it several times, till like 0.8 bar everything is OK, if the pedal is not pressed too much.
Mrn-att-post-dott-cz.
Hello World, I am the original poster of the carsurvey.org 1986 Porsche 944Turbo post titled "Absolute automotive Nirvana!". First off thank you for the positive comments about my post, I really appreciate the feedback. I am adding this post to try and help diagnose and hopefully fix the problem described in the Sep 23rd 2007 comment to my post. Here goes.
I read your response to my 944 Turbo post on carsurvey.org. It sounds to me like you might have a blown turbo tube. This is the rubber hose that runs from the turbo up to the metal pipe that leads into the intercooler. These rubber tubes can get worn and burst from the pressure of the air coming out of the turbo. When the burst they usually have a barley noticeable split in them, you can barely tell that there is even a problem just by looking at it while it's still on the engine.
The problem is that they are a bit difficult to get to, you must remove the air cleaner box and some other hoses to get to the bottom clamp on the turbo side to get them off. This happened to my car and it did exactly what you are describing. The reason it will run OK at low boost is because the tear or hole in the tube will actually stay closed and hold pressure up to a certain boost level before it is forced open by the boost pressure. Once the boost is high enough, it lets all your boost out and the engine either bogs way down with no power or it dies. The 944 Turbo will not run without a sealed, positive pressure intake system, so the turbo hoses would be the first thing I would check.
With the hood open stand at the front of the car with the engine running and listen for the sound of leaking air around the turbo hoses and tubes. While you are there have a friend bring the RPMs of the car up to spool the turbo and create some boost. If you hear a whooshing sound or even a small air leak sound coming from the front of the engine, find out exactly where it's coming from and see if it isn't a burst tube or a loose clamp where the rubber hoses connect to the metal hard pipes. The rubber turbo tube is by far the weakest link in the intake system and thankfully the easiest and cheapest to fix.
The other things it could be are a leak in the intercooler, a problem with the cycling valve, the airflow meter, vacuum tubes, the tubes coming off the passenger side of the intake manifold, or, God forbid, your turbo bearings could be going bad and keeping the turbo from spooling properly. The bearings usually make a horrible noise when they start to fail, so if your car sounds like a dentists drill, that could be your problem.
There is also the possibility that the chip in the ECU that monitors the turbo boost pressure might be getting a false reading making it think your car is overboosting, in which case the computer will switch everything off until it thinks the boost levels are safe again.
I don't mean to frighten you with all of these scenarios, but there are many systems at work and if one fails the whole thing will get thrown into chaos.
I know this might sound like a dumb question, but have you checked your intake air filter to make sure that it is not totally clogged? If the air cleaner has not been changed or cleaned it could possibly restrict the airflow enough that your turbo can't suck enough air to spool up past a certain boost level.
Also the catalytic converters in our cars can get so clogged that the exhaust can't escape fast enough to allow the turbo to spin freely, and will cause the problem that you are describing.
All that being said, I would start with what I believe is the most likely cause of your problem, and that is the rubber turbo tube. Check that and the other turbo hoses first before you start taking the whole car apart. Like I said earlier, when my tube burst the car acted just like you described, it would idle fine and it would drive OK if the boost pressure remained low. I could get around OK until I gave it enough throttle to bring the boost up and then the car would bog down, and then almost stall and die. So open the hood, make sure that all the clamps and connectors are tight, rev the engine a few times and listen for a leak. I really hope it's just a bad tube or a loose fitting.
Hope this helps!
Best of luck with your car.
Please feel free to email me with any questions. Also, please email me and and post a comment on carsurvey.org to let me and the other interested people know what the problem turned out to be and how you figured it out and how you fixed it.
Thanks.
Rusty.
I am about to own my first Turbo 944. I know this might be a weird question. But what is that whistling noise right at the driver side mirror?
My hatch release works. :-)
I read every review and every comment here, some posters and comments so good I pose this query of you all:
Some background:
About 15 years ago I had a 924. It wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but started in seconds and very, very cheap. Within months, I had the same problems with every used car I owned before and after (over a dozen) : c-ya to water pump, radiator core and alternator. So I wasn't surprised and fixed them myself. What got me most was the shift linkage breaking at 2nd gear, and the independent dealer asking 1000 just to "look at it". I could have fixed it if my hands were small enough. Not cool. I replaced it with a Starion Turbo that got horseshoed by an SUV.
My '02 Pontiac GT1 was just paid for, and true to fashion, every month since (5) something breaks. It has 39,000 miles.
The Opportunity:
While the GT1 was having it's latest suspension repair, there is an exotic dealer across the street. They sell 300k 916, 20K 911 targa for SCCA, 50k Healeys and the like, and saw this car: 86 944 Turbo, Guards Red, factory sports tuned, 31,000 miles. 17,000 dollars US. I drooled.
The dealers, selling the car on consignment were meticulous and most informative. Immediate repair records (owned by a dealer employee), immediate carfax (2 owners) and their own inspection report. The noted discrepancy: replaced battery, the engine hood was repainted because it was several microns thicker than the other surfaces.
The conundrum:
Needless to say, I'm now obsessing over getting the car. Except for reliability of vital parts and maintenance cost concern me. I'm not interested in replacing a hefty car payment with hefty repair bills. I have no intention of "ricing" it out past urethane bushings and some other basic stuff. I might run it at some PCA time trials.
My other options: the new BMW 135CSi, or if used an MR2 turbo. I very much appreciate everyone's thoughts.
Maybe there's TMI, my apologies. Thank you all!
Awesome review. very very informative and a huge help on a lot of issues. I have a 1987 944S do you have any performance advice for the non-turbos? I honestly don't know if anyone is even modifying the non-turbos. Thanks for your help. Any comments would be great.
Cory.
Hi,
The 944 Turbo is truly a amazing rocket. I bought mine for about 5000 euros in England. It has amazing acceleration, does scare all the lady passengers, 3rd gear at 100 mph especially. I told the neighbor that it cost a quarter of a million euros and he believed me.
The paint job is in Guards red, seats are red leather, have added 4 lines of red chille colored lights inside, looks ******* amazing at night, this also was to fix not being able to see where the key hole is at night.
Everyone is totally amazed at the car, kids chasing me on their bikes, just about everyone wanting to race me, not just in 1s or 2s, but like 7 cars on a freeway at once.
I was not in the mood but got in the mood and left them flashing their lights at me in the far distance.
Lots of people confuse it with a Ferrari, even had a person arguing why I had put a Porsche badge on what was clearly a Ferrari??? All great stuff.
I also own 2 Ducati motorbikes, but wind resistance and pure thoughts of DEATH keep me to about 170 kms on either of them, but not the Porsche, Got to 230 kms, no discomfort, could have gone faster but the thought of death scared me. Was disappointed on how the car did not scare me though at this speed, as it was extremely smooth, just the speedometer that scared me.
I have raced new Audis with w10 engines, embarrassed them, new BMWs, same, totally modified Mazda RX7s same.
I felt sorry for these people for paying so much money and insurance for slow cars.
Was pulled over by the law 3 times, just to have a chat and a drool, even once when pulled over doing 220 kms by a new BMW unmarked police car, they just told me to slow down, as I let them pass at 200 they went to max of 220 and I could not get past them but was on their tail. This is when they flashed blue lights to tell me to stay off their tail.
You need dark sunglasses, because of all the stares people give you.
I changed the oil, air filter, oil filter and do the maintenance myself, ie broken parts etc, got tyres at performance car shop, because the Porsche dealer charged more for 1 tyre than the whole set to be replaced for same tyres. a lot of parts I buy at the local knowledgeable car parts shop, as a lot of Audi parts are used in the Porsche 944. Other parts are acquired off EBAY, German ebay, English ebay, US EBAY.
Bought the car, now I have a girlfriend who is a model, a hot blond as well. If you're getting a Porsche 944, get a RED one, as other colored ones look lame.
Ciao.
Cool, way to go. Over here in the USA there is still a huge following on these cars. Lots of younger kids are finding out the potential and prestige of owning a Porsche for nearly the same price as a rice burner.
In reality, for the up keep over here, it's not that much more than you would spend on a Honda. Parts are still readily available at good prices.
Typical pricing on these cars reflect the condition/miles. Seen them sell for as low as $4k up to $15k plus.
I just bought an 86 with an 87 motor, Fuchs, LSD w/cooler, heated seats, new interior, low miles for $5k. Has a stage 1 autothority chip for plus 40 HP.
Lots of mods can be added to these cars, just open your checkbook. However, some guys over here are getting 300 plus HP out of their 4 cyl. engines.
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