1985 Porsche 944
Discussion
Brave lad. That's an early 2.5 with the 924-esque dashboard (not the 'oval dash' which came on later cars) and the early offset suspension. It will be lighter and a more nimble drive than the later ones but a little slower. When working properly it will be a lovely car.
However it'll take a lot of work to get to that point. It's rusty. VERY rusty. Once 944's start to show rust on their sills then you know it's far gone - a bit of investigation will throw up some real horrors, I can pretty much guarantee. If you don't do the welding yourself then you're in for a big bill. Sorry to be so blunt. The repair panels themselves aren't that cheap to buy either. Add in the cost of some paint and you'll be well into four figures, the first one of which may well be a 2 or a 3.
The good news is that the mechanics are probably fine if it runs; the engines and gearboxes were fairly bulletproof (the gearbox is an Audi item) and the suspension on that will be pressed steel so new bushes are easily purchased and installed (as opposed to the aluminium cast suspension members on the later cars which were much more expensive to rebuild). The brake calipers will be rebuildable with some new seals and new disks and pads aren't going to cost much.
The photos of the interior look OK. Interior parts can be hard to get hold of so hopefully you won't need too many of them.
Join the PCGB website forum (it's free but you need to sign up before you can view it). There are some very knowledgeable people on there. Link here:
https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/
All the best with it. The purchase price plus cost of the work on it may well exceed the value of the car once done but if you intend it do be a long term keeper then you are probably on to a good thing. Once it's fully sorted out mechanically you will find it a very nice thing to drive indeed.
However it'll take a lot of work to get to that point. It's rusty. VERY rusty. Once 944's start to show rust on their sills then you know it's far gone - a bit of investigation will throw up some real horrors, I can pretty much guarantee. If you don't do the welding yourself then you're in for a big bill. Sorry to be so blunt. The repair panels themselves aren't that cheap to buy either. Add in the cost of some paint and you'll be well into four figures, the first one of which may well be a 2 or a 3.
The good news is that the mechanics are probably fine if it runs; the engines and gearboxes were fairly bulletproof (the gearbox is an Audi item) and the suspension on that will be pressed steel so new bushes are easily purchased and installed (as opposed to the aluminium cast suspension members on the later cars which were much more expensive to rebuild). The brake calipers will be rebuildable with some new seals and new disks and pads aren't going to cost much.
The photos of the interior look OK. Interior parts can be hard to get hold of so hopefully you won't need too many of them.
Join the PCGB website forum (it's free but you need to sign up before you can view it). There are some very knowledgeable people on there. Link here:
https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/
All the best with it. The purchase price plus cost of the work on it may well exceed the value of the car once done but if you intend it do be a long term keeper then you are probably on to a good thing. Once it's fully sorted out mechanically you will find it a very nice thing to drive indeed.
Im aware of what im getting into regards the amount of work and ££££ involved! ive always liked tinkering with cars and now it will be nice to do bits without having to worry about getting the car back on the road as its not my daily driver, i will have the luxury of pushing it back into the garage and shutting the door until the next parts arrive!
Meh - even if you end up chucking a few grand at the paint and welding, for what they sell for I think you’ll still be up. Plus you could spend the cost of the welding on what you think is a good un and end up spending that again putting it right. So using my (probably massively flawed) logic, I think you’ve done ok OP well in.
MC Bodge said:
This and the 996?
too much time on my hands and too many wines! in regards to the welding etc it will be done by a competent person! its in no means going to be a concours restoration i just want a car to do a bit of mechanics on and drive occasionally when its on the road! if i spend more on it than its worth then in my experience thats the way it goes with cars! Good luck with the project.
I’m on my third transaxle car and they are really solid cars.... apart from the sills on the 944, which are a weak point. And early dashboards, obviously. So ignore some of the doom. Specialists are used to doing the sills. Not a cheap job, but not crazy expensive either.
I’m on my third transaxle car and they are really solid cars.... apart from the sills on the 944, which are a weak point. And early dashboards, obviously. So ignore some of the doom. Specialists are used to doing the sills. Not a cheap job, but not crazy expensive either.
Right so i finally made a start on the car! put some fresh fuel in as i think it was about out, put the battery on that came with the car after it has been on charge for about 18 hours and nothing really happened, one or two lights on dash but wouldnt turn over! so i took the battery off my Fiesta van which i know is good and tried that! car turns over but doesnt start... the decision was then made to push it out the garage and start on the other jobs!
First up was to find a suitable bonnet stay!
Secondly was replacing the flat tyre that doesnt hold air with the spare which luckily does! the spare was hard to get at due to a broken boot latch! which when trying to undo both bolts snapped... job for another day!
At this point dad decided that he was the man for un seizing the front brake!
We then had all four wheels off the floor to check they spin correctly! the rear passenger side needed a bit of freeing off also!
Followed by having all four wheels off so we could get a decent amount of air into them for rolling it about
After getting the car at least move able it was time to start looking into why it doesn't start! first up i found there was no power to the fuel pump! this led us to putting a 12V feed to it and it works we are now checking the DME relay as this is apparently a common issue on them! i have ordered a new battery from halfrauds and some fuses, the rust on the car does appear to be catastrophic... but there is definatly some attention required in the future! i think the electrical issues are going to take a while to go thru!
this also arrived in the post as there wasnt one with the car!
once i have collected the battery i will make sure the relay is working! and if it is check that i have fuel and spark at the engine...
First up was to find a suitable bonnet stay!
Secondly was replacing the flat tyre that doesnt hold air with the spare which luckily does! the spare was hard to get at due to a broken boot latch! which when trying to undo both bolts snapped... job for another day!
At this point dad decided that he was the man for un seizing the front brake!
We then had all four wheels off the floor to check they spin correctly! the rear passenger side needed a bit of freeing off also!
Followed by having all four wheels off so we could get a decent amount of air into them for rolling it about
After getting the car at least move able it was time to start looking into why it doesn't start! first up i found there was no power to the fuel pump! this led us to putting a 12V feed to it and it works we are now checking the DME relay as this is apparently a common issue on them! i have ordered a new battery from halfrauds and some fuses, the rust on the car does appear to be catastrophic... but there is definatly some attention required in the future! i think the electrical issues are going to take a while to go thru!
this also arrived in the post as there wasnt one with the car!
once i have collected the battery i will make sure the relay is working! and if it is check that i have fuel and spark at the engine...
Ok so todays update! i fitted the new battery... checked we have spark which we did! re fitted the DME relay which didnt appear to be faulty but the fuel pump still didnt prime/run with it installed, we also checked we had fuel coming out of the injectors with the relay by passed
that was what we were greeted with! so we drained the tank until it was alot clearer and smelt more like petrol! also one of the injectors is faulty, even after trying it with a plug off a working one! after draining some of the bad fuel the car started and i drove it a short distance before it stopped and wouldnt start! i then pushed it back to the garage and drained the entire tank and purchased 20L of fresh petrol but it wouldnt start... i swapped a few fuses and now the heater fans work and the headlights pop up and work!
A new DME relay is on order and currently searching for an injector and fuel filter
that was what we were greeted with! so we drained the tank until it was alot clearer and smelt more like petrol! also one of the injectors is faulty, even after trying it with a plug off a working one! after draining some of the bad fuel the car started and i drove it a short distance before it stopped and wouldnt start! i then pushed it back to the garage and drained the entire tank and purchased 20L of fresh petrol but it wouldnt start... i swapped a few fuses and now the heater fans work and the headlights pop up and work!
A new DME relay is on order and currently searching for an injector and fuel filter
Cool thread. 996 is a cool choice as well.
I have a 1982 which is the same early shape as yours and a 1989 2.7. I bought the 1982 after it had been sat for about 5 years as a non runner and have become pretty familiar with non starting 2.5 944s in the process.
You can make a temporary jumper for the DME relay just to test that as an option, apologies if you’ve tried that and I missed it.
Most importantly in the diagnosing of your non starting problem, does your rev needle bounce when the car is cranking? This is a huge tell tale with these non starting 944s and what the fault is.
Once again sorry if I’ve missed anything or you’ve covered these points already, I’d just be very keen to see you get the thing started.
I have a 1982 which is the same early shape as yours and a 1989 2.7. I bought the 1982 after it had been sat for about 5 years as a non runner and have become pretty familiar with non starting 2.5 944s in the process.
You can make a temporary jumper for the DME relay just to test that as an option, apologies if you’ve tried that and I missed it.
Most importantly in the diagnosing of your non starting problem, does your rev needle bounce when the car is cranking? This is a huge tell tale with these non starting 944s and what the fault is.
Once again sorry if I’ve missed anything or you’ve covered these points already, I’d just be very keen to see you get the thing started.
I fitted the new DME relay today and the new second had injector! so we had all four injectors firing fresh fuel! which is probably a good thing when trying to get a car to start...
it still wouldnt start! which was nice so we checked for spark which we had last week as it started briefly! no spark... dad had always thought the clifford alarm was causing issues with the starting and so the wires were traced back from it to where they are spliced in and all removed! we also checked the reference sensors with the mulitmeter and the air flow meter all appear to be working as they should,
after a bit more turning over it finally decided to jump into life! it then was turn off and fired straight back up! i even took it a little drive to the end of the street and reversed back! a little later i decided to run it up to temperature to see if the fan kicks in, the need got to red but no fan, and i noticed the coolant wasnt circulating at all as the header tank was cold, so out came the thermostat to check it!
sat in boiling water from the kettle and nothing! so a new one has been ordered! i put the hose back on the car and filled up the header tank to check the water pump is actually working and not seized... turned the key and it turns over but refused to start! so it was pushed back into the garage until next time!
it still wouldnt start! which was nice so we checked for spark which we had last week as it started briefly! no spark... dad had always thought the clifford alarm was causing issues with the starting and so the wires were traced back from it to where they are spliced in and all removed! we also checked the reference sensors with the mulitmeter and the air flow meter all appear to be working as they should,
after a bit more turning over it finally decided to jump into life! it then was turn off and fired straight back up! i even took it a little drive to the end of the street and reversed back! a little later i decided to run it up to temperature to see if the fan kicks in, the need got to red but no fan, and i noticed the coolant wasnt circulating at all as the header tank was cold, so out came the thermostat to check it!
sat in boiling water from the kettle and nothing! so a new one has been ordered! i put the hose back on the car and filled up the header tank to check the water pump is actually working and not seized... turned the key and it turns over but refused to start! so it was pushed back into the garage until next time!
Therumbandit said:
Right so i finally made a start on the car! put some fresh fuel in as i think it was about out, put the battery on that came with the car after it has been on charge for about 18 hours and nothing really happened, one or two lights on dash but wouldnt turn over! so i took the battery off my Fiesta van which i know is good and tried that! car turns over but doesnt start... the decision was then made to push it out the garage and start on the other jobs!
First up was to find a suitable bonnet stay!
Secondly was replacing the flat tyre that doesnt hold air with the spare which luckily does! the spare was hard to get at due to a broken boot latch! which when trying to undo both bolts snapped... job for another day!
At this point dad decided that he was the man for un seizing the front brake!
We then had all four wheels off the floor to check they spin correctly! the rear passenger side needed a bit of freeing off also!
Followed by having all four wheels off so we could get a decent amount of air into them for rolling it about
After getting the car at least move able it was time to start looking into why it doesn't start! first up i found there was no power to the fuel pump! this led us to putting a 12V feed to it and it works we are now checking the DME relay as this is apparently a common issue on them! i have ordered a new battery from halfrauds and some fuses, the rust on the car does appear to be catastrophic... but there is definatly some attention required in the future! i think the electrical issues are going to take a while to go thru!
this also arrived in the post as there wasnt one with the car!
once i have collected the battery i will make sure the relay is working! and if it is check that i have fuel and spark at the engine...
I don't think I'd chance putting my legs underneath it while propped up!First up was to find a suitable bonnet stay!
Secondly was replacing the flat tyre that doesnt hold air with the spare which luckily does! the spare was hard to get at due to a broken boot latch! which when trying to undo both bolts snapped... job for another day!
At this point dad decided that he was the man for un seizing the front brake!
We then had all four wheels off the floor to check they spin correctly! the rear passenger side needed a bit of freeing off also!
Followed by having all four wheels off so we could get a decent amount of air into them for rolling it about
After getting the car at least move able it was time to start looking into why it doesn't start! first up i found there was no power to the fuel pump! this led us to putting a 12V feed to it and it works we are now checking the DME relay as this is apparently a common issue on them! i have ordered a new battery from halfrauds and some fuses, the rust on the car does appear to be catastrophic... but there is definatly some attention required in the future! i think the electrical issues are going to take a while to go thru!
this also arrived in the post as there wasnt one with the car!
once i have collected the battery i will make sure the relay is working! and if it is check that i have fuel and spark at the engine...
And here we go again! decided that id start off with a nice simple task and ignore the non starting for now and try to get the fuel gauge working! the gauge has always read close to zero but did move a bit when it was driven the other day, so i figured the gauge is ok and the float is probably sticking on the sender or a loose connection
First job was to remove the tools/spares from the boot
i then pulled back the cover to reveal the top of the sender and the wiring! all attached and looking ok
Sender out and fuel drained out of it, and i could hear the float moving slowly, so i sprayed some brake/clutch cleaner in and turn it upside down and around a few times
once it was all freely moving i checked the resistance against a table i found on the internet and it gave near enough readings for empty and full and slowly changed between the two as the float moved, the terminals were cleaned up and it was re fitted
Battery on a ignition on and the gauge moved to 1/4! result... onto the next job, i was advised to check the wiring to the fuel pump near the fuel filter as it can be corroded etc, i found what i thought was a broken wire but i think its just where sumbody has spliced in previously so i taped it up for now to stop it shorting out
I then cable tied the fuel pump back up out the way as it was hanging loose from when i drained the tank previously
Back under the bonnet and checked for spark by pulling a plug and had a very good spark! right back onto fuel, i took the end off the fuel rail to see if there was fuel to the injectors as we think there may be a pressure problem, a tiny dribble came out so its not holding pressure my next plan was to jump the fuel pump to build pressure up in the rail and try starting the car again, all i got from the fuel pump was a click it wasnt running as it had previously so out it came!
i ran a wire direct from the battery to it and it just clicked so a new one is on order! while i had the hoses clamped and the car in the air i fitted the new fuel filter!
The car has clearly had a bit of fault finding in the past as i have a few spare relays and switches with it so i decide to test a few!
I test the five window switches and a sunroof switch which wasnt fitted, i found that four of the window switches work and one is bad and the sunroof switch is bad, luckily i only need three so i still have a spare!
First job was to remove the tools/spares from the boot
i then pulled back the cover to reveal the top of the sender and the wiring! all attached and looking ok
Sender out and fuel drained out of it, and i could hear the float moving slowly, so i sprayed some brake/clutch cleaner in and turn it upside down and around a few times
once it was all freely moving i checked the resistance against a table i found on the internet and it gave near enough readings for empty and full and slowly changed between the two as the float moved, the terminals were cleaned up and it was re fitted
Battery on a ignition on and the gauge moved to 1/4! result... onto the next job, i was advised to check the wiring to the fuel pump near the fuel filter as it can be corroded etc, i found what i thought was a broken wire but i think its just where sumbody has spliced in previously so i taped it up for now to stop it shorting out
I then cable tied the fuel pump back up out the way as it was hanging loose from when i drained the tank previously
Back under the bonnet and checked for spark by pulling a plug and had a very good spark! right back onto fuel, i took the end off the fuel rail to see if there was fuel to the injectors as we think there may be a pressure problem, a tiny dribble came out so its not holding pressure my next plan was to jump the fuel pump to build pressure up in the rail and try starting the car again, all i got from the fuel pump was a click it wasnt running as it had previously so out it came!
i ran a wire direct from the battery to it and it just clicked so a new one is on order! while i had the hoses clamped and the car in the air i fitted the new fuel filter!
The car has clearly had a bit of fault finding in the past as i have a few spare relays and switches with it so i decide to test a few!
I test the five window switches and a sunroof switch which wasnt fitted, i found that four of the window switches work and one is bad and the sunroof switch is bad, luckily i only need three so i still have a spare!
Small update today! still waiting for the new fuel pump to arrive so nothing on the starting/running front has been done, so it was back to electric problems and we made progress!
First job was the electric windows/mirrors now that i know some of the window switches are ok, plugged in three switches and tried drivers side nothing, so off with the door card, the motor was trying to do sumthing so clearly the mechanism was jammed, i removed the motor and cleaned the mechanism up and freed it off and it worked!
the passenger side would also open from the drivers side but not the passenger side, this was cured by swapping the two switches in the drivers side over as one wasnt sending power to the passenger side!
whilst the door card was off it was very obvious why the electric mirrors do not work, the wires from the switch go nowhere and after removing the mirror it isnt even electric! next up was the sunroof! we checked the fuses and they had power, the switch had power so we checked the motor! this worked manually with a socket so wasnt seized up, next to check was the micro switch which is pressed when sunroof is closed this appeared to work intermittently so was removed and the wires joined as a temp measure and the sunroof mechanism worked perfectly off the switch, the brake lights also did not work which is the switch as when i pulled the plug off it the terminal off the switch came with it, a quick bridge across the plug and they worked fine, i have now ordered more new bits and have sumbody coming to quote the welding on monday!
First job was the electric windows/mirrors now that i know some of the window switches are ok, plugged in three switches and tried drivers side nothing, so off with the door card, the motor was trying to do sumthing so clearly the mechanism was jammed, i removed the motor and cleaned the mechanism up and freed it off and it worked!
the passenger side would also open from the drivers side but not the passenger side, this was cured by swapping the two switches in the drivers side over as one wasnt sending power to the passenger side!
whilst the door card was off it was very obvious why the electric mirrors do not work, the wires from the switch go nowhere and after removing the mirror it isnt even electric! next up was the sunroof! we checked the fuses and they had power, the switch had power so we checked the motor! this worked manually with a socket so wasnt seized up, next to check was the micro switch which is pressed when sunroof is closed this appeared to work intermittently so was removed and the wires joined as a temp measure and the sunroof mechanism worked perfectly off the switch, the brake lights also did not work which is the switch as when i pulled the plug off it the terminal off the switch came with it, a quick bridge across the plug and they worked fine, i have now ordered more new bits and have sumbody coming to quote the welding on monday!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff