Test drove my first 993...couple questions.
 

My wife and I test drove a '97 993 Cab today. The car had been sitting maybe an hour (after a 10 mile drive) when we got there. Upon start-up there was a pretty nifty sized cloud of gray smoke wafting around. It dissipated after about 10 seconds but it really made me think - wow, can that be normal??

Car has barely 32k miles on it (all checks out on Autocheck) and was driven by a little old lady for the past handful of years. Recently (July 2012) had $1,200 of service done to it at the local P-car dealer and has already passed CA smog test.

Car drove great, accelerated well, stopped in a straight line. Everything seemed to be in working order on the car.

So...what say you...is the smoke on start-up something to worry about? I know it probably sounds like a silly question but I owned a Testarossa in the past and a bit of smoke on startup was perfectly normal (had to do with the Boxer engine layout).

The smoke at startup is perfectly normal. It's due to the flat engine configuration. As long as the smoke only lasts for a very short time after startup, it's absolutely nothing to worry about. It usually won't happen after the car has been sitting a short time, but the longer it sits, the bigger the cloud / the longer it lasts. Anything more than 5 seconds of smoke coming out of the exhaust is more than I'd consider normal on a car of this age and mileage. That's 5 seconds of it coming out not 5 seconds for it to dissipate. How long it takes to dissipate of course depends on the size of the cloud, whether you're inside or out, there's wind, etc.

Thanks Scott !

The other things I was curious about were:

1) The AC/Fan speed switch just seems to be stuck on the highest setting. When you twist the knob, it just sorta spins freely and nothing changes. Is it a common problem on the 993? I imagine it is just some mickey mouse piece of plastic or a spring that needs replacing.

2) On the rear tail-light assembly where it says "Porsche" in the middle. All cars of this vintage seem to have the lettering completely faded or illegible. Is this an expensive facelift to do (i.e., replacing the part)?

Those 2 points you mentioned are relatively minor repairs. Although the miles are low, you have to consider the age of these cars, which means little things will pop and need replacement.

What you have to target is the bigger ticket items, such as the engine (compression/leakdown test), clutch, any visible oil leaks (valve cover gaskets) etc, look for rust spots around the windshield (these cars trap water in the corners) If it's running on factory suspension, this will most likely needed to be upgraded too since the factory monroes are terrible.

I would suggest looking into a good air-cooled shop to do a PPI. Good luck!

See this check list as a reference, although a bit extreme, ignore items that are Turbo related. Rennlist has a wealth of info if your seriously looking into the 993.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...ferrerid=66189

There is a button for max cooling for the a/c (just above the a/c button). If it's pushed, the fan will run at max speed regardless of the position of the fan speed knob.