I drove by an '86 944 the other day and i fell in love with it and was dead set on making it mine. but i'm wondering if it's a really bad idea...

he's got it out for $1,300. i could not help but stop for that. it runs nice, engine sounds strong, the interior is pretty clean and virtually free from cosmetic damage but the thing is that i know that it either has a cracked head or a bad head gasket - its at least one of the two. the coolent tank looks as if it had milk poured into it. it was thought to be an oil cooler problem which would have been a quick and pretty cheap fix, but ruled that out.

i know that everyone says to stay away from them if they are priced too low, but man if i am not tempted. so should i jump on it or let it go? and how much money would i expect to spend on fixing the head in parts? i don't know if it's turbo or na. for that price i'm betting na tho.

thanks in advance

- Niki

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edit: and even if i get it for that price and i decide not to fix it, couldn't i turn around and get that price for it anyway even if it's in semi-bad shape (i.e. cracked head)? i mean it still wouldn't be a bad investment, right?

 

I am fixing a similar car for a custom at the moment. If you have any milk in your coolant, then the oil cooler seals for sure are bad. If there is coolant in the oil, or you have white smoke out of the exhaust, then the headgasket is bad. In my customers case, both are bad, along with a bunch of other items. He paid $800 for the car. The bill to get it roadworthy will be over $2500.