996 turbo - what are the things to look for?

[Sifly]

I'm going to look at a 996 turbo for a mate who lives miles away. He will have an inspection carried out before purchasing the car if it looks promising.

What are the BIG gotchas on the 996t?
Should the clutch feel fairly light if theres plenty of life left in it?

Cheers

[DJFish]

Over-revs on the dme log.
Rattling engine bay heat shields.
Corroded front radiators.
Plus the usual consumables.
Light clutch = good.

[Sifly]

how big a deal is a rattling heat shield?

Edited by Sifly on Monday 10th October 21:45

[NickBB]

What to look for?

...the Police!

But to answer your Q, i had one for 3yrs, driving it hard, and never experienced any issues. I sold it at 50k miles and despite a Manthey re-map running to 1.2b, it was still on the original clutch. Even mpg was reasonable (about 26 IIRC).

I recently thot about a 993tt,,, did some searches on the forums and made some calls. I was v surprised to see that many had had serious engine or g/box rebuilds etc. I know the 6tt is newer, but u see very few posts about serious iussues with them.

I'm buying a 7tt (tmro in fact), but if i didnt want to fork out for that, i would happily settle for (good)6tt.

The main thing is the rads are prone to corrode given their position. All 3 would be about £3k to replace i think. Aside from that, i would say the usual rules apply,,, get it checked and make sure it's been looked after.

cheers
N

[Fessal]

All 3 rads cost around £700 to buy (OEM) and around £250 labour. all plus VAT, these are Porsche specialist pricing, having
done mine recently.

But having owned one for 2 years, they are awesome and super reliable, look for one which has been well looked after and
get it inspected and you will be fine, lots of scaremongers out there, at the end of the day its a german super car...........

Fes

[NickBB]

Fessal said:

All 3 rads cost around £700 to buy (OEM) and around £250 labour. all plus VAT, these are Porsche specialist pricing, having
done mine recently.

Fes

I stand corrected. (mine were done as part of the OPC check/warranty when i bought it. Maybe it was £2k then given OPC labour etc).

[Nobby Diesel]

OK - the usual things to look out for:-
Clutch
Accumulator
Rads
A/C Condensors
Discs/pads
Heat shields

Less critical, but still worth checking:-
Plugs changed at correct intervals
Coil packs
Suspension

Minors:-
If it's been tracked extensively, look at front wheel bearing condition
Can be hard on rear tyres
Battery
Alternators are not bullet proof - some strting to give up

All in all though, solid cars.

[anonymous-user]

Don't forget to see how much life is left on the tyres. An expensive consumable too.
Also look for evidence of previous crash damage as with all cars.

[Homer J]

Fessal said:

All 3 rads cost around £700 to buy (OEM) and around £250 labour. all plus VAT, these are Porsche specialist pricing, having
done mine recently.

But having owned one for 2 years, they are awesome and super reliable, look for one which has been well looked after and
get it inspected and you will be fine, lots of scaremongers out there, at the end of the day its a german super car...........

Fes

+1 on the rad price.

Had mine done earlier this year by Specialist Cars. Bill was about £1200-£1300 and that included installing new mesh behind the grill's to protect the new rads.

PS, If you get one without mesh, it's a worth while investment getting some installed.

[melvster]

Evo magazine did a full buying guide a couple of years ago plus i am sure some of the Porsche mags will have done a buying guide, might be worth trying to find them as they will most probably be the best source of info.

[Rockster]

Sifly said:

I'm going to look at a 996 turbo for a mate who lives miles away. He will have an inspection carried out before purchasing the car if it looks promising.

What are the BIG gotchas on the 996t?
Should the clutch feel fairly light if theres plenty of life left in it?

Cheers

The suggestion to read some published buyers guides a good one.

The 996 Turbo is just a used car so a thorough used car check out can help one eliminate a lot of bad used Turbo cars.

The biggest gotchas? Well, the engine I guess, but you can't or shouldn't focus on that solely to the exclusion of other possible big problems.

So, I always advise one subject the car to a thorough test ride then drive.

Be sure the car/engine is cold. Turn off the A/C. Be sure the check engine light and all warning lights come on then go out when the engine is started.

Let the engine start and idle. Idle should be fast, a bit over 1K and it can be a bit rough courtesy of the VarioCam Plus and the DME using this to adjust timing and lift to reduce cold start emissions and warm up the converters quickly.

As the engine idles and warms up the rpms should drop and the engine should smooth out.

After 10 minutes or so of idling and the engine remaining free of scary ticking, knocking noises have the seller take you on a 15 mile test ride. The route wants to give the seller a chance to demo the car, all aspects of the car. That is idling and stop/go traffic, low to medium speed cruising, highway speed cruising, hard acceleration from a stop with the engine just off idle to redline and through at least 2 gears.

Once back at the starting point and if all is ok up 'til now, take the car out as the driver and follow the same route, drive the car the same way.

You want to give the engine plenty of time to get nice and hot and for the oil to thin and give any noises a chance to make themselves known. You want the DME to have every opportunity to flag an error and turn on the check engine light.

Also, once everything is hot any leaks may appear. They may not be visible from outside the car but after the test ride/drive and after you've checked the car over like a good used car buyer should the PPI gets the car in the air and he can look the underside of the car over for any signs of fluid leaks.

I'd like to see a stack of service invoices and especially I'd like to see what oil was used. There seems to be a movement of some Turbo owners to run some turbo diesel oil which among other things is touted to quiet noisy Turbo engines.

I do not believe this turbo diesel oil or any diesel oil is appropriate for these engines. When I listen to a Turbo engine I want to hear it with an approved oil in it, not some thicker non-approved oil.

Besides the engine check out the test ride and drive give you a chance to experience all other aspects of the car, how it sounds, rides, steers, brakes, handles, rattles (if it does) and so on.

Then the othere areas are that the underneath the engine, the transmission (check along both sides where shafts/rods enter/leave the transmission housing) the CV boots, the cardan shaft, the hoses, oil lines and this includes the turbo oil lines, radiators, power steering, clutch hydraulic fluid lines, every fluid line and fitting, seal, gasket is fluid tight and shows no signs of exceptional cleaning.

I like to see N-rate tires and in reasonably good shape though if new I'd like to see an alignment work sheet.

If the tires are not new, worn, but not worn unevenly that's ok. Of course you factor in new tires/alignment into your offer.

Brakes can be worn but should not show signs of overheating, cracking and so on. The holes should be dust/dirt free.

Carpets should be dry and well the car should just like someone loved the car and treated it right, serviced it right.

There's more but no time. Get ahold of one or more buyer's guides.

Sincerely,

Rockster.

[daveyb662]

Next time I want to buy a car...I'm taking Rockster with me!! Haha