Hello again,

I have a couple 240's in the family, but just bought this 92 944 Turbo. Seller advised that it runs "poorly", and won't exceed about 40mph. I test drove thru his neighborhood, and just as advertised it won't do much about that speed. Oddly, if left in 1st gear (Automatic AW71) it will rev to 4500rpm, and proportional in other gears, but really won't exceed around 40mph. It is very weak in reverse for some reason. Seller did tell me that the vehicle "got hot" when a heater hose/valve let loose on his daughter. Claims to have gotten all repaired (I can only see hoses, mixing valve must be inside cabin?), and it ran fine for another 8 months or so. Then one day, while wife driving, suddenly lame....claims it faded thru the day, not just a step from OK to LAME suddenly, but who knows for sure. I'm concerned about the aluminum head if it really got that hot, or an minium the HG. She has 190K on the clock, which is still functional.

I'm reposting a long list (from Turbobricks) of things I've already inspected/tested/some replaced, thus far still without success. Please give me a hand (or an mouse) to getting another redblock running again as my new daily driver. BTW, Turbo does spool up to the edge of the white zone on dash gage.

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Here is what I checked out this evening, based on feedback in top of this thread:

1. Vacuum leaks - found a pair of hoses cracked; turbo line and FPR, replaced both. No other vacuum leaks were found. Test running, no improvement.

2. AMM - several suggested a dead/dying unit. Pulled one from a well running 94 940 Turbo (also a 016 AMM), plugged in with better air filter. Test running no improvement.

NOTE: car will idle reasonably well, with only a slight lope. I did have to turn UP the idle speed quite a bit using the plastic stud cable attachment (takeup). Makes me wonder if the IAC valve is stopped up. I watched it at idle and did NOT observe any collapsing hoses, indicative of stuck unit. Might read my Bentley manual for IAC trouble shooting later.....

3. Intake side leaks between turbo and throttle plate - checked all IC hoses, also coupling hose at turbo, also at throttle; no loose clamps, no split hoses. While iding, no observation of any collapsed hoses.

4. Timing belt - pulled the upper observation cover off, so to index the motor manually and look for stripped teeth; none found, belt appears to be in excellent condition. From records delivered with car, it seems the last belt was changed around 50K miles ago.

5. Manual rotation of engine using crank snout bolt inside HB. Rotating the cam thru 360 (all 4 compression strokes of the crank) I can feel a very different torque in the 4 postions....makes me think it might have either a valvetrain issue, or otherwise back to the headgasket. I know that isn't a cranking test, but it still should I suspect give a rough indication of the torque required at TDC compression stroke of each piston.