Daily driving a cheap Porsche 911 (996) - what could possibly go wrong?

There's a few 996 cars local to me for under 20k. Some 6sp some tiptronic. But, all are silver

I bought my 2004 C2 in January last year, and have enjoyed it every single day since then.

My car was in very good shape - 42,000 miles on it (I've added another 13,000 so far), and bought from a dealer. I committed the cardinal sin of not having a PPI done, but after driving the car and giving it a good look over, I'm confident that I bought a good car.

My kids love riding in the back seat, and my wife loves taking "the nice car" out on the weekends.

I've done basic maintenance; oil changes, new serpentine belt, and that's it. The heater core started leaking two weeks after I bought the car, but the replacement only took two hours, and cost $35 for a used heater core on Ebay. I installed a new battery a month ago - which hurt a little at $185. The suspension is starting to show its age, so I will be looking for new struts/shocks (and springs!) soon.

I haven't replaced the IMS bearing yet, but will when the clutch goes. No sparkly bits in the oil, so I'm confident that it's in good shape.

Overall, I'm thrilled with the car. It's the highest caliber vehicle I've ever owned, and I don't plan on getting rid of it any time soon. It's easy to live with every day, puts a smile on my face every time the engine revs over 4,000 RPM, and hasn't cost me any more to own (yet) than the Mazdaspeed6 that I traded for it.

To quote Ferris Bueller: "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

wearymicrobe wrote:

maj75 wrote: Don't bother with leather conditioner on those seats. Because of the artificial finish that Porsche applies to the leather, leather conditioner can't get anywhere close to the actual leather, unless the seats are cracked to hell, and then it's too late anyway. My Boxster S seats were badly cracked and I tried several leather conditioner products and they would not soak into the seats at all. I did some research and it seems that the modern seat leather is literally painted and clear coated to give a perfectly uniform finish. This coating seals the leather and will not let conditioner soak in. You can clean dirt off and use Simple Green or Citrus cleaner, because it can't soak in and do any damage to the leather underneath.

For 85% of the 996 Porsche's this is true. The turbos and a few of the 4S cars got the exclusives tufted leather that does not have that coating.

It's also mainly true for the seats. My car has the full leather interior (ie door cards and dash are also covered in leather) and that one definitely soaks up the leather conditioner like there's no tomorrow.

mazdeuce wrote:

Winston wrote: The biggest problem for the 996 is the looming threat of a $10k engine repair, IMO.

But you have that threat with all of the older air cooled cars to some extent too. The older the 996's get the less I worry about them. The failure prone cars have failed and been fixed. You should probably spend the money on one of the IMS 'fixes' but these are a serious bargain right now. You should buy one Winston.

I probably should, but I likely won't (as much as I would love one). My Mazda2 is far too economical to replace with a 996, and my toy/project is the Spitfire. Speaking of which, more metal was melted today...

Time for the first update in a while.

I think every 996 and 986 owner will know what this photo means:

When the local specialist had the car they warned me that four of the six COPs were cracked. I didn't have it in my post-purchase budget to have them do the work, but I did have enough in it to get them from Pelican, so last weekend I swapped them out. It's a fiddly job, especially for a first timer, but not hard to do.

By the time I got around to do the work, all six COPs were showing cracks so I guess once one starts to go the others aren't far behind.

I also had the mishmash Blizzaks fitted, which kept the serious snow at bay. So far they seem to be working fine on the slush we're getting. The good news is that between the alignment the Porsche specialist did and the new tires fitted by the most clued-up tire shop around, the 996's tendency to follow even unevenness in the road like a beagle on speed has been tamed to the point where it's behaving like I expect a regular 911 to.

One semi-major annoyance is that the tire shop noticed that one of the rear rims is damaged. It has marks that we think are scrapes from a tire iron that you can only see with the tire dismounted, plus the rim has rubbed on something on the inside - maybe it was on another car before and didn't have the clearance to the strut. We don't know, but I'm half-heartedly looking for a pair of good used rear rims. The good news is that it's holding air.

I've run a few tankfuls through it by now and so far it looks like I'm averaging about 21-22mpg running up and down the mountains.

Next stop, another oil change. I know the PO changed the oil not too long ago but I don't know the exact mileage, so I guess I'll splurge on the usual 10qts of good synthetic oil and a new filter so everything is up to date.

So - this being GRM I wanted to share a recent find that will be more valuable to you 10 qt guys than the rest of us.

Walmart has a full synthetic private label called super tech. 17.50 for 5qts! I was initially concerned about wally world oil but upon some investigation a petchem review panel ranked it alongside side the other well known brands for half the price. super tech wally world synthetic oil

I'm actually using Supertech in some of our other vehicles. Not in the German ones, though - I prefer to put oil in them that meets the respective manufacturers standard. Fortunately the oil I have to buy for the wife's 500SL also meets Porsche specs so I can normally take advantage of Summit's "buy a case of 12 and get X% discount".

Took the car out for its first snowy drive. Still have to get used to the way it feels on a slippery surface (the Evo feels much more planted) but it happily made its way over the pass in a snow storm.

I am not able to confirm or deny it but rumour has it that it's even pretty easy to catch when things go a little sideways.

Do you have a link to the supertech testing you referred to? Id love to read it, as Mobil is fricking expensive.

I guess it depends - I just bought a bunch of Mobil 1 5w30 for the wife's Range Rover and the price difference at Wally World was something like 9 bucks for the 5qt container. Obviously noticeable, but not super cheap.

My 996 is about to hit 60,000 miles, and I plan on doing the spark plugs/coils at that time - did you pull the mufflers off to allow for more room, or did you just work around them?

And for what it's worth, I've run both Mobil 1 0w-40 and Rotella T6 5w-40 at 5000 mile intervals. The Rotella keeps the engine much quieter when it's hot out. You won't need the whole 10 quarts, at least I haven't. I use between 8.5 to 9 per oil change.

I'm running the Mobil 1 0w-40 for the winter because the Rotella seems just a little too thick for my comfort when it's cold . Another option is Mobil 1 5w-50, it's Porsche approved just like the 0w-40.

While you're at it, replace the oil filter cover. It's cheap insurance, as the bypass valve resides inside, and it'll include a new filter element and o-ring too. I think mine was something like $27.00.

thewheelman wrote: My 996 is about to hit 60,000 miles, and I plan on doing the spark plugs/coils at that time - did you pull the mufflers off to allow for more room, or did you just work around them?

I worked around them. It's a bit fiddly but with a small ratchet, the coils are reasonably accessible.

Regarding the Supertech Synthetic discussion. It was 14.50 at Wally world today!

Test results links Supertech PQI America Review Bob Is The Oil Guy Review

To clarify I think that the Supertech in my experience has been of the same quality as the other major brand synthetics I've run in my 335I and my GTI not better or worse. There are certainly finnicky vehicles that like one over another but given that this is GRM $9/ oil change is 62% cheaper than than the others.

I change my synthetic every 5k and my standard every 3k. At this price I've started running the Synthetic in Wifee's Denali instead of standard. Curious to see if oil consumption in the 5.3 gets better or worse with the change...

84FSP wrote: I change my synthetic every 5k and my standard every 3k. At this price I've started running the Synthetic in Wifee's Denali instead of standard. Curious to see if oil consumption in the 5.3 gets better or worse with the change...

Sorry for the thread jack... What year Denali? I thought they were all 6.0's or 6.2 Liters. Does yours tap a little when its cold, my wifes 6.2 liter does which I have heard is common.

It's an 06 Denali with the 5.3. They all seem to have some oil consumption as they age and it does tap a little when cold and especially if a bit low on oil.

Haven't updated the thread in a while...

It was making a rattling, potentially expensive noise on cold start so I had to take it back to the local Porsche specialist. They diagnosed collapsed lifters (not uncommon after a certain age/mileage) and found a little debris from the camchain guides in the oil filter. Following their advice, I had them replace just the lifters (guides is an engine-out job) and fortunately, the noise went away, together with about $900 that disappeared from my wallet.

All was good.

Until yesterday, when the noise came back. Let's see what they have to say about that...

What's that sound? I think it's the audience quietly closing our craigslist search windows.

It's been in the shop for a few days, they've managed to reproduce the noise but when they got serious and went at the car with stetoscopes to locate the source of the noise, they couldn't reproduce it.

Hope they'll have more luck on Monday as it's stuck in the shop until we figure out what the problem is.

It took a few days to get serious? Seriously?

Step one: attach Chassis Ears around engine. Step two: make noise happen. Step three: locate noise with Chassis Ears.

It's that easy. If your shop doesn't have THESE and know how to use them, it's time to find a new shop.

The problem at this point in time is making the noise happen. The car has to sit overnight for it to occur and it doesn't do it 100% of the time...

Having three mechanics attached to the car doesn't help if you can't reproduce what they're supposed to listen for.

That's my point. You hook up the probes and whenever you (they) drive or start the car they listen. One guy. Set it up and leave it for days. That tool is under $200. There is no excuse a shop doesn't have at least one.

And we have the first update from the shop...

Engine has to come out. At this point in time everything points at the timing chain guides disintegrating, but you can't get at them without pulling the motor. While they're in there, they'll also do the IMS bearing unless it's been replaced recently.

If it's "just" chain guides and IMS bearing, the bill will come in a little over $4k.

If there's anything else, well, that'll be a credit card bill I'll end up chewing on for a while, or we'll end up trying to source a low mileage engine for it.

Is this the "What could go wrong?" part?

I suspect so. That together with some other E36 M3 that happened today doesn't make for a good Tuesday.