nine-44

Did some much needed work to the 86 NA. Belts, front seals, balance housing rear seals, valve springs, steele A-arm swap, injector seals, head gasket set, etc. I still need to do the rack and front wheel bearings. Oh yeah, fuel filter also.

The main reason for this post...

The debate has been(atleast for me), at 345K miles on the clock, has the motor been gone through??? At 310K miles I did rod and main bearings, there was no significant wear on the ORIGINAL brearings. I had two valve springs that were broken resulting in premature valve float about 5200 revs. I decided that I should just pull the head and get a look at the bores while I had the cam housing off for the springs. I pull the cam housing off, Original gasket! The head gasket was also. End of dispute, 345K miles on the original head gasket, no signs of seepage or leakage! The cylinders are absolutely beautiful as well! The oil that has been run since new is Shell Rotella 15w40. I'll keep it that way too!

Ok, pics...

Scott M.

Nice! Good for another 20 years.

But it begs the question.... what is the highest recorded mileage 944? Your is the most i've seen.

xsboost90

but does it have that Woo WOO?

Charlie

345K amazing. Mine is low mileage 120K.

Scott at Team Harco

Awesome!! Gives me plenty of hope on my nearly new car with only 187,000 miles.

One question though - how can the engine have used 15W40 since new? Do you mean since that relatively new oil blend became available a couple of years ago? That type of oil certainly has not been around since 1986. Plus - you were way too young to drive in 1986.

Show us the documentation. I smell something funny here....

Rock

I think he means new to him, after he got it from the PO.

That car is solid and it sounds real good too. Many good memories of the little trooper.

xsboost90

that is the oil that is in the dealer manual....15w40 shell.....and the car was dealer maintained.

Scott at Team Harco

Is that the same as the service log? It just struck me as odd to claim that grade of oil has been used since new. 15W40 and 0 weight and similar grades are relatively new to the scene.

It used to be all you could get was 10W30, 10W40 and 20W50 (and straight 30, 40, 50 weight) oils. And get this - oil used to come in cans. And believe it or not, you needed a special combination can opener/spout to get the oil out of the can and into your engine. How many of you young puppies have one of those old spouts? Still have mine (just in case we deplete the world's supply of plastic jugs) stored away in a Crown Royal bag.

Now help me out a little - what's the "woo woo" reference? That's not the whistle tips that Bub Rubb made famous? I want one for my car too...

Legoland951

Damn Scott, you are mentioning things that remind me of how old I am...

Motation

Scott, 944 owners are not all youngsters. I have one of those oil can spout/ openers in my toolbox. I was gonna use it on a can of Hawaiian punch

mpd425

I got a couple of them (oil can spout/ openers), I think i have a couple cans of oil sitting around also.

nine-44

Ok, sorry, I know that the dealer that I worked at(and serviced this car it's whole life) used Shell lubricants. I assumed that it had been the Rotella 15w40 the whole time, I guess just more recently. This car was a one owner car, the records were offered to me, I never pursued it. I plan to keep this car. The trans was rebuilt around 260K, I assisted, lol. I also recall saying someting like...why spend so much money on an old worn out 944???? Here I am, over 80K later dumping more money into the same car, lol.

I've heard of a couple of 944s that were at or past 500K. We'll see if she'll make the trip! The previous plan was to realisticly shoot for 350K. It's pushing damn close to that now and still looking pretty clean inside. I've been thinking of getting a sticker printed for the side of the hatch..300,000 mile club!