Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I got my S2 last weekend

I'm pretty rubbish when it comes to cars but my check list was:

Check body panels line up and are equally spaced
Check paint – look for areas of different texture and overspray in engine bay
Check for leaks (stains, rusty bits) around sunroof, passenger footwell (check battery tray in engine bay for acid leaks EDIT - found out at time that battery is in the boot!), hatch area
Check oil – if brown froth on dipstick or brown residue in coolant then needs seals replacing immediately
Raise headlights and look for leaks below lights (for power steering leaks)
Check hatch electrical release
Check power windows (listen for straining/grinding)
Check for cracks in windshield
Listen to how it starts – if hard then might be dirty fuel injectors
Check car idles ok (not too much vibration) – if vibration disappears at 1200rpm then motor mount is bad
Drive it and check for clutch backlash
Timing belt and balance shaft belt were changed when? (no more than 45k miles ago)

Now I didn't check underneath which meant I missed quite a few things (I didn't check cos tbh I don't really know what I'm looking for). From the list above there was literally nothing wrong that I could tell other than a lot of minor paint bubbling on the sills

What I missed:

leaks - I should have checked where the car was stored overnight
rust on brakepipes - needed to replace quite a few
back plate on handbrake - literally wired in place to stop it rattling....

but fortunately nothing more serious - lots of minor things, fairly hefty bill at £1200 on top but fortunately I got it at a cheap price so not too worried.

One thing that has annoyed me is that the alarm has a problem and needs replacing - thats £400 on top of that bill and I'm sure the previous owner must have known.

Firstly, are you sure? Cobalt blue wasn't available in 1989 - is it Baltic blue?

Secondly what common gearbox problem? I'm not aware of one. They can get a bit whiney, but they all do that and almost always it doesn't indicate any problem. The S2 clutch centre can break up with little warning, but that's at the front and the gearbox is at the back so it's hard to confuse them. The 968 had a common gearbox problem, but it's a 6 speeder and totally different.

You'll know clutch backlash if the car has it. On/off the power there is slack then a thump as the centre and outer of the friction plate hit each other.

You need to check the camshafts on an S2. If they need replacing for broken teeth or failing case hardening then its £1k or so minimum to fix them. I would always buy cheap to allow for replacing them or a car that has ideally had a pair of cams relatively recently. Failing that one that someone I trust has looked at very recently might set my mind at ease. Personally I don't subscribe to just replacing the chain as I believe you do chain and sprockets or you don't do the job right. Both my S2s needed cams, but the second one I bought cheap enough that I didn't get burned.

You also need to be very critical of any corrosion on the sills. If there is a blister on the outside it's rotten as they go from the inside out. Clearly it's repairable but you're looking at £500+, probably a big plus unless you know a bodyshop that is cheap and you know do good work.

I wouldn't worry about some stuff like windows, tailgate release etc. as it's all buttons to fix and can be used as bargaining chips to get the price down.

All S2s start slowly so don't be too critical of that so long as it starts (big cylinders and needs a few rpm before it will fire the plugs). It should idle totally smoothly not just fairly smoothly, and it should be creamy smooth right through the revs with a noticeable increase in urgency around 4,500 rpm. It might not feel desperately quick depending what you have been used to.

older clutches have a rubber centre do-nut which breaks down, so when you go from trailing
throttle to power the car jerks as the backlash taken up

check footwells for water, also staining to rear seats, and sides of boot for water, also light seals go so may see water inside rear lights, this will not be present if car is garaged

cream sludge in oil filler cap may be due to condensation as filler neck is very long, or due to short journeys

check sills for corrosion as S2 has plastic lower sill skirts and these are a water trap

check fuel and brake pipes for corrosion at rear as these are expensive

Fuel pipes especially are a good point I forgot. Specifically over the rear axle as it's loads of labour to replace. You can use "alternative" fixes but different people have different views on how good they are. If you're keeping the car long term then to my mind you fix it with proper parts so they last, and that makes it a pricey repair (think £600+).

yeah - sounds familiar - my garage informed me that the previous owner of mine had obviously had things bodged just to get it through an MOT (eg rubber fuel pipe replacement....). I'm now trying to rectify that...

Just to help you, mine's a 1991 Cobalt Blue - see the picture on the left. It has full 'classic grey' leather interior.

It also needs the bottoms of the wings looking at. If there are rust bubbles at the bottom of the front wings behind the wheel, and the back wings in front of the wheel then poke it hard and see if you can feel if it's rotted through.

That's Baltic blue, and the interior will quite likely be Linen, which is a light cream - lighter than I'd consider sand. Most Linen or Marine blue were as the other interior options 1n 1989 (black or burgundy) didn't go with blue.

BTW John it's probably just the photo, but if you'd asked me what colour the car in your avatar is I'd have said Turquoise blue.

This is definitely Cobalt (and now RIP unfortunately):


This is Baltic:


I've never owned a Turquoise car so I don't have a pic of one to hand.

It's probably the picture. Mine's definitely Cobalt Blue. It was always that colour, but after the two bulls ran into the side of the car it was given a full Porsche respray in 2006 in Cobalt Blue. If you notice, both of your photos look different, but according to the painters there are a few shades of Cobalt, something to do with the red content... don't ask me, I don't know.

It is a very nice colour though, and quite rare too. It's definitely better than white.......

I put that for the reaction

My photos are of different colours!

I did think it was the photo and I agree its a good and rare colour (nicest of the darker blues to my eye with Baltic in second and Turquoise & Tahoe being 2 I don't care for much). I really like the 944 in white, though it has to be clean and tidy or it can look scruffy; it's Guards pink that I really don't see the attraction of. Oh, and Silver Rose pinky silver...

had to be white for me - just felt right.

agree about keeping it clean and tidy tho

My first one, ten years ago, was Guards Red. This time (November 2005) I quite fancied a white one with a blue interior, but my wife wouldn't let me have a white one. It doesn't matter what colour your car is, if it's an older model and you don't keep it clean - it just looks like a dirty old car. But when they're clean they can hold their own against anything. Keeping the wheels clean is especially important, and very difficult to do. So if you've got any good ideas....

My 944 has anthracite wheels, my Mini has satin black wheels and my Jeep looks better covered in mud. I have no problem

Remove the air vent on the trailing edge of the door opening, below the B pillar. Look inside the void using a small bright torch. Rust will be evident here before it shows on the outside.

All the best with your new '44s. The adiction starts here.

Well I had my cookie cutters refurbished about three years ago.They re silver and have a shiny lacquered look about them,but when I clean them all I need is water and the black dust comes off easily.After our recent Isle of Skye trip they were pretty dirty but just a rinse off with water cleaned them up fine.I think it must be the matt surfaces that are difficult to clean.