Buying Porsche 997 advice

[p4cks]

My mate's 24K mile C4S was certainly no pup when it needed a £14K Hartech rebuild. Nor was his mate's 50K 997.1 C2 when that needed £11K spent at Hartech. Thankfully my 86K 996.2 rebuild was done on the cheap at a mere £4K.

I know the Porsche purists here will villify me, but I can only speak of my experience and that of the people I know. Coincidentally though all of our ownership experiences are very similar to the other internet horror stories that many, many other people have posted.

These cars are a total lottery, and even if you do hit the jackpot and it doesn't need a rebuild in your ownership there's far more engaging cars out there for the budget.

[JohnBRG]

I've had 4 Porsches - one air-cooled and three water cooled M96/7 - a 996 C4S, a Cayman S and my current 997S.

One engine rebuild so far - yes, the air-cooled one!

[ooid]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

A.C. cars may need engine rebuilds, (some at 100k or early).. the difference is, they would NOT grenade themselves like watercooled examples. The rebuilds usually top-end and to avoid oil leaks and etc...

[996Targa]

The only one of our four Porsches, 3.2 Carrera, Boxster, 996 and 991 to require an engine rebuild was the 3.2, albeit at 112,000 miles. That was for scored bores, so new barrels and pistons.

In the early 90's people were worried about the engine wrecking potential of cam chain failure due to lack of lubrication, this applied to all pre 84 model 911's. 964 owners were worried about the engine wrecking potential of a failed distributor belt due to ozone building up.

[RiccardoG]

996Targa said:

964 owners were worried about the engine wrecking potential of a failed distributor belt due to ozone building up.

To be fair, the 964 dizzy vent kit went a long way to dissipating that particular concern / issue and was factory fitted after late 1991, I think.

However, as a 964 owner in 2001-2 (back when they were the runt of the litter), it was a widely shared story that the potential for a top end rebuild was quite a high occurence, usually for for low compression and oil leaks. Indeed, that "paranoia" is partially why I sold mine, as I didn't have the £5~6k slush fund required at the time for a top-end rebuild.

So, when I bought the 997 I was already mentally prepared for this type of paranoia. Ultimately I decided that the car I really wanted was the 997, so I accept the bork risk as part of the ownership proposition.

[Mariosbt]

RiccardoG said:

To be fair, the 964 dizzy vent kit went a long way to dissipating that particular concern / issue and was factory fitted after late 1991, I think.

However, as a 964 owner in 2001-2 (back when they were the runt of the litter), it was a widely shared story that the potential for a top end rebuild was quite a high occurence, usually for for low compression and oil leaks. Indeed, that "paranoia" is partially why I sold mine, as I didn't have the £5~6k slush fund required at the time for a top-end rebuild.

So, when I bought the 997 I was already mentally prepared for this type of paranoia. Ultimately I decided that the car I really wanted was the 997, so I accept the bork risk as part of the ownership proposition.

Do you still have your 997 and have there been any issues so far.

[RiccardoG]

Mariosbt said:

Do you still have your 997 and have there been any issues so far.

Had it 8 years now and no issues thus far, apart from usual 997 "stuff" such as rads, coolant hoses, alternator cable, suspension items, etc.

[Andyoz]

RiccardoG said:

To be fair, the 964 dizzy vent kit went a long way to dissipating that particular concern / issue and was factory fitted after late 1991, I think.

However, as a 964 owner in 2001-2 (back when they were the runt of the litter), it was a widely shared story that the potential for a top end rebuild was quite a high occurence, usually for for low compression and oil leaks. Indeed, that "paranoia" is partially why I sold mine, as I didn't have the £5~6k slush fund required at the time for a top-end rebuild.

So, when I bought the 997 I was already mentally prepared for this type of paranoia. Ultimately I decided that the car I really wanted was the 997, so I accept the bork risk as part of the ownership proposition.

This is the sort of thing I was getting at but I think my point was missed.
With time, these massive issues can become slightly less so...

[RiccardoG]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not sure what year you're referring to, I assume 2005?

When I was looking I used the following guidelines, they come from the Porsche shop manual and show the larger IMS bearing cover and nut were installed at engine number:
- 69507475 : 3.6L Carrera
- 68509791 : 3.8L Carrera S

Bit more detailed discussion on the larger IMS bearing on Rennlist

[gollum2018]

Still on my search but in no rush will keep looking until right car comes along.

Looked at one last week and the exhaust tip on near side looked quite wet after he took me on test drive.
Is this the signs of borescore. I took a photo attached.
Car seemed to drive with no undue noises.

[ATM]

I'd say No. Bore Score is where the surface of the bore at the bottom - or centre in a boxer engine - starts to break up and scratches the piston too. There are lots of images on Google images so I wont post any in particular. I cant see how this would make the exhaust gasses more damp. All that can happen is the compression starts to deteriorate and this might lead to oil getting from the sump into the combustion chamber when it explodes but I doubt it would make the exhaust tip damp. You can either hear a knocking with bore scoring as it gets worse or in the early stages you need to get a camera down the spark plug hole to see what the bores look like.

[gollum2018]

When I said wet I meant the n/s is sooted up more than the o/s.
I thought that's a indication of Borescoring.

[gollum2018]

I know on a 996/997 its said that if left tail pipe gets sootier deposits it can be a indication as per quote :

One tailpipe more sooty than the other(this is often thought to be related the the failure occurrence, but it actually is a symptom of the equation that creates this failure!)Sooty tailpipes are more common on the driver’s side of 996/997 cars, but can happen on either side if the issue is limited to one bank of cylinders. In situations where both cylinder banks have one or more failing cylinders, both tailpipes, or even the bumper may have signs of soot deposits.

[ATM]

Yes soot is different to moisture. Soot implies burning oil which can be a sign of problems. But just leaving the car parked at an angle can cause one side to soot up more so it is not definitive.