[Editor's Note: We originally ran this article in our May 2016 edition. Some information and prices may be different.]
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First, before buying a 996 it’s absolutely essential that you be willing to pay to have a professional inspect the car. Make sure you pick someone who has lots of experience …
Wow, I wish the writer spoke to real owners first. The 996 is by far the cheapest 911 to own with regards to maintenance. To say anything else is ludicrous. Secondly, the oil pan thing is nuts again. Get an X51 pan. It has a better design to prevent oil starvation on track days. Remember these still carry a lot of oil, almost 9 qts. I can go on and on.... I agree with the garage queen analysis. Also, with regards to the pulley and water pump, do those as you would any other car, when they show actual signs of failure. The pulley can be removed and tested for noise and play and the wp, well again, check for bearing noise, leakage, etc. Common sense. The air-oil separator will give you a sign when there is smoke. The coolant reservoir is a PITA to change but should be done every so often. That IS a failure part. ....
Doesn't hurt that a 996 Carrera Coupe for $12k has almost exactly the same curb weight, horsepower and 0-60 as a 718 Cayman.
"Oil change intervals of 12 months or 6000 miles are necessary to avoid the somewhat common intermediate shaft failure."
I like how he doesn't bother to mention that the "somewhat common failure" is a tad catastrophic, requires careful monitoring over the life of the car it's the entire reason folks like myself can buy a nice 996 for Yaris money.
A nice 996 is still 20k. More like a high end civic. But, yeah, very cheap for what it is. Remember, though, I'm so is about 5%. Head studs on an air cooled 100%. Non pressure fed tensioners 100%, although, you can drive on them for a little while after they fail. I'm living proof. So is my 76.
Oh and oil changes try 5k and 6 months.
Mike wrote: Doesn't hurt that a 996 Carrera Coupe for $12k has almost exactly the same curb weight, horsepower and 0-60 as a 718 Cayman.
Yes, but... i think midrange turbo torque would honestly make my $12k 996 feel a lot more special. I am spoiled by turbo cars at this point.
In reply to Vigo:
And Hybrid power, the turbos of the future!!
I've had two, they're wonderful. Maintenance was not as bad as the horror stories you hear. Parts are a bit more expensive but if you keep up with routine work (which can almost all be performed on your own with hand tools) you shouldn't have many problems.
Crazy value cars right now.
I've read that the 996 Turbo wasn't susceptible to the intermediate shaft bearing failure because it used a different design.
Also, I think the part can be checked and only certain cars have an issue. If you see it's from the bad batch you can replace the part and that's that.
Lug_Nuts_23 said:I've read that the 996 Turbo wasn't susceptible to the intermediate shaft bearing failure because it used a different design.
Also, I think the part can be checked and only certain cars have an issue. If you see it's from the bad batch you can replace the part and that's that.
Yes the turbos do not have this issue. The turbo is still expensive to maintain. There is no bad “batch.”. It’s an imperfect design. The problem can be addressed while doing the clutch and rear main seal though. I’m in a class for these engines right now.
Turbos have a problem with coolant hoses popping off.
In reply to Mike :
And other issues I’m learning about this week. What I’m really learning is that there is no such thing as a cheap 911. If you want a driver and to have Porsche fun, the hot ticket is a 2.5 or 2.7 Boxster with good service and a fresh IMS bearing. Spec Boxster is awesome for lots of reasons.
Anthony, the turbo isn't an expensive car to maintain if you do most your own work, as the majority of this community does. My friend has well over 100k miles on his (bought it at 35k) and has done nothing but normal maintenance on it.
Mike, the coolant hose popping off thing does happen but its not all that common. It's a "while you're in there" type of job. Ie, when I eventually get around to replacing the clutch on my Turbo, I'll probably drop the whole motor, do the clutch and then reglue/pin all the coolant lines in place.
doc, you are correct. If you do your own wrenching all of these cars are more reasonable. The turbos get into more trouble when the owners get power greedy.
More hands on M96/7 engine fun.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
The Turbo motors are very robust and can easily make double their output on factory internals. Mine is very under stressed with just a tune and exhaust but I can't see putting in hybrid turbos unless one of mine blows up.
You really have to be willing to do the normal maintenance yourself on one of these. The dealer wanted $1300 in labor alone to do spark plugs and coil packs on it. That's with my 10% PCA discount too! Considering that it took me 3.5 hours, going slowly and having never done it before, that's an insane quote. I'm sure the tech could do it in 2 hours, which means they're billing $650/hour. Uh, no thanks, I'll handle that myself...
When the clutch goes I'll have a decision to make as the tools I'd need to buy to do the clutch cost about 1/2 the labor from an indy shop to do the job. At that point it may not make sense for me to do it.
I’ve been hanging out all week with guys that build engines. One thing I’ve learned is that all Porsche engines have weaknesses. The M96 IMS bearing is just the current most famous one. The turbo motors are good, but they aren’t perfect either.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
Hi Anthony,
You mentioned you're taking a class. What class is that?
Thanks,
G.
smash said:In reply to AnthonyGS :
Hi Anthony,
You mentioned you're taking a class. What class is that?
Thanks,
G.
I took the class. It was the knowledge gruppe m96/97 engine class. You have to watch their website. They have a live hands on class once or twice a year. They have classes for many Porsche engine variants.
AnthonyGS said:I’ve been hanging out all week with guys that build engines. One thing I’ve learned is that all Porsche engines have weaknesses. The M96 IMS bearing is just the current most famous one. The turbo motors are good, but they aren’t perfect either.
My impression so far is that the modern 9A1 series engines are bucking this trend and seem to be showing themselves to be exceptionally reliable, but I’m just a casual observer. What would the folks you’ve been around recently have to say about weaknesses in these?
AnthonyGS said:In reply to Mike :
And other issues I’m learning about this week. What I’m really learning is that there is no such thing as a cheap 911. If you want a driver and to have Porsche fun, the hot ticket is a 2.5 or 2.7 Boxster with good service and a fresh IMS bearing. Spec Boxster is awesome for lots of reasons.
Truth. I had an 03 Carrera 2 and a 98 Boxster 2.5L. The Boxster was more fun and the looming IMS boogieman was less stressful. The 996 is a great car but, for me, the early 986 pushed all the same buttons for 1/3 the price. I drove the Boxster more as I was less worried about it, pushed it harder b/c it wasn't as powerful, and actually took it on some long distance trips due to the double trunks.
In reply to MrFancypants :
The M97 and 9A1 also have their concerns. I grew around domestic V8 engines and auto racing. After seeing the guts of my first Porsche flat six, I realized a lot. These are really super light, exotic material, high output, really stressed engines. There is no magic cure for that. When I was in the class, one of the instructors has already had 9A1 rebuilds for customers of failed engines. They still make most of their money on air cooled engines. M96/97 work is expensive and the demand is high but most balk at the cost. At about 100 hp/liter of the new Porsche engines it's pretty silly to think they will last as long as domestic V8s. A boxer engine also has other issues compared to an inline or vee type engine.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
Cool that you're taking a class on that. Sounds interesting to me--I'm fascinated by the design of mechanical items!
(Just looked here again after a while so I only just saw your reply to my comment -- too bad that there's no complete IMS fix. Oh well.)
In reply to AnthonyGS :
What sort of issues do boxer engines have compared to inline/V, out of curiosity? Supposedly they're well-balanced, though I've also read that the best-balanced engines are inline-6 and V-12.
100hp/liter doesn't seem that high these days...Honda Civic Si's have had that kind of power for over a decade, for instance. And the non-turbo ones have quite good reliability despite a high redline.
Of course naturally-aspirated engines usually fall below 100hp/liter and lower power density = lower stress = longer life. (One reason why trucks tend to last a long time--lots of heavy-duty, understressed parts.)
In reply to Lug_Nuts_23 :
There is an IMS fix. You can replace the roller bearing with an oil fed plain bearing. I will very likely be doing one this winter. I will post photos.
Flat engines have oil return issues from the cylinder heads compared to V engines. The M96 uses scavenging pumps to return oil and they can get overwhelmed in high g corners. You also can have fuel puddle at the bottom of the cylinder. You also have gravity aiding wear on cold startups. All of this leads to cylinder out of round issues compared to V and inline engines.
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