Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I've been looking for a 928 and have actually bought one (subject to an inspection) off ebay, it's the dark blue one with polished alloys. It appears to be the later digital dash, and the seller has set the bar pretty high by saying it's faultless/unmarked and in show condition. Cam belt/water pump done and FSH, plus just serviced. "Won" it for £5000.
Anyway, my main question is WHY is that light blue one on ebay (B2 MDA) so popular? It went to a massive £7600 reserve not met and was relisted...it's already at £4100 after one day. It's low mileage but states that it's had bodywork and the paint doesn't match on the lower panels, in fact you can see it on the photo's. Why is it so special? The buy it now price is £12,000!

Hi

As a guess , the seller has a "FRIEND" bidding on it to raise the price lol...

You couldn't get 12k for an S2 if it was gold plated...hes living in never never land....for 12k you could get a fairly decent GTS...

All the best Brett

eBay is prone to the well-known scam of "shill bidding", perpetrated either as Brett describes, or even by seller themselves behind cloak of mtiple identities.

Unless the 928 in question has been transported in a Tardis from Zuffenhausen, then treat any high activity on a 928 auction with extreme suspicion. Apart from anything else, a knowledgeable bidder will only bid in closing moments of auction anyway.

There must be something like that going on, or the seller would have "let it go" for the £7600 high bid.

The one I've bought is in Daventry...South East of Birmingham by the look of it.

One question I have, I keep hearing mention of a "flexplate" and have no idea what it is, or where it is on the car. All I've read is that it can ruin the engine if "incorrectly set". What is this flexplate, where is it, and what does it do? Can I check it myself?

The flexplate is the equivalent of a flywheel on an automatic. The problem with the 928 is the torque tube slowly pushes the crankshaft forward & if left can destroy the crank & block. The fixis every service to loosen the clamp bolt & then let the flex plate centralise & do the clamp up. Quite why auto 944s don't do this I don't know.

Edited to add this link.

http://www.928.org.uk/resources/75-info ... ilure.html

Hi

Flex plate is very easy to check and yes you can do it yourself, but its rare for it to go ...but if it does move too much it can destroy the crank and ruin the engine, but its a 5 minute check once a year....

All the best Brett

If it's near Daventry I don't mind having a look at it for you.

Thanks for that offer, I sent you a PM.

Regarding the "flexplate" I asked the seller about that and he's never looked at it since he got the car in 2001, but has only done 7,000 miles since then.
I guess I'm going to have to get that checked as a priority then. My local garage should be able to do it? It looks like an easy job, not needing any special skills/928 knowledge, but I don't have a ramp, only axle stands.

Hi

When you have the car, I would take it to Paul Anderson at Stroud...he can check the Flex plate in 5 minutes and let you know if you have any other problems....

He is the foremost expert on 928s in the UK...bar none......he ONLY fixes 928s and races them as well, hes also a GREAT down to earth guy and you will really like him

All the best Brett

The flexplate is an easy check on non-cat cars, even with only axle stands.

On cat cars it is a more difficult job - at least first time - as you have to drop front exhaust to allow clearance for two of bolts on bell housing. Once they're out you can shorten them and replace, or just leave them out (4 more do the usual over- engineered 928 job perfectly well).

Still possible with stands but I was glad to be able to do this job on the commercial ramps another 928 Tipec owner was kind enough to let me use. He also helped remove exhaust bolts which can be a pain if rusted.

Trip to Paul A best then!

Adrian

I checked this 928 that I "won" on ebay with the DVLA and it comes up red flagged mileage. Shows 103,000 in 1999 and then 83,000 in 2001. The seller said that the DVLA were wrong. I asked the seller to provide the V5 ref or MOT number (it was MOT'd this week) and I could check the history but he wouldn't provide the information.
To be honest I should have checked before I bid, but I forgot.
He said I was a timewaster and I guess I should have satisfied myself as to the condition of the car etc before bidding.
I'm fed up now! Will almost certainly get neg feedback and still no 928! I'm not too worried about the mileage but it means there's a big hole in the service history from 2000 to now, he can't find the MOT's from when he bought the car in 2001 until now (which would show current mileage at the time) and it has just put me off the car.

Hi

As he has missrepresented the mileage he should not be able to leave you negative feedback on Ebay......threaten him with the same and he will soon back off....

Do not be put off by this, when you eventually buy a good 928 you will be hugely pleased...there is no other car quite like them.....and I have owned a lot of high performance cars including Ferraris.....

The 928 is a unique and great Supercar...

All the best Brett

I have now received the MOT number, and V5 reference number from the seller.
However it does not really help at the moment. Lengthy phone calls to VOSA and the DVLA have failed to explain the mileage in their records for the car going from 111,000 in 2000 to 83,000 in 2001.
The seller insists that it's a mistake, and claims that the DVLA have messed up. He says he's done 7000 miles since 2001.

On the surface it looks like the car was clocked in 2001 from 111,000 to 83,000 and then did 36,000 miles to reach its current total of 119,000. (true total about 148,000)

What I did find out was that the car has been on SORN since 2005. The first MOT since 2005 was issued on Monday of this week. Sadly the DVLA don't have MOT records before 2005, as that is when they went on to a new system.

I've asked the seller if he can provide or find any MOT's from 2001 to 2005, which will give an indication of the mileage. (should be between 111,000 and 119,000) He said he's misplaced them but will try to contact the garages that carried them out and perhaps copies could be produced.

There's a full service history up to 2000, but after that the seller has serviced it himself, as he is a mechanic and owned a garage until recently.

I'd still be interested if the mileage can be proven at 119,000 as it appears to be otherwise OK.

Hi

Hmmm....well I service mine and as I am a qualified mechanic its done properly and I never bother to stamp the service book, but with 143,000 on mine nobody would be bothered....

The mileage on your one...(even at 148,000) would not bother me if buying a GOOD 928 but it DOES affect the price....

To be honest , I have inspected too many cars not to know that unusual excuses normally means RUN AWAY !

But your choice....

All the best Brett

He's come up with 3 old MOT certificates. 2002/3 mileage 112,000.....2003/4 mileage 115,000.....2004/5 mileage 118,000.....then SORN until now.

He's even emailed me a photo of them all.

Looks like the DVLA have incorrect data.