I have a conundrum
Discussion
I have two cars to chose from one a W reg 996 with 63k miles from a dealer the other a 2003 03 reg 996 with 87k private.
Both cars are hpi clear and the price difrence is negligible.
I've seen the W reg and driven it and its lovley, I'll be viewing the 2003 tomorow.
Spec, kit and insurance seem the same although I know the 2003 has the 3.6 rather than the 3.4 that the W reg one has.
Is there anything else that could sway me one way or another ?
Both cars are hpi clear and the price difrence is negligible.
I've seen the W reg and driven it and its lovley, I'll be viewing the 2003 tomorow.
Spec, kit and insurance seem the same although I know the 2003 has the 3.6 rather than the 3.4 that the W reg one has.
Is there anything else that could sway me one way or another ?
both the same colour + same interior and no this is NOT a bragging thread its taken me a while to sort the funds out and I'm more a tubbily built wage slave than a powerfully built co director.
all history will be inspected with a fine tooth comb.
Even the insurance is the same ( well £7.46 more for the 03 )
all history will be inspected with a fine tooth comb.
Even the insurance is the same ( well £7.46 more for the 03 )
Fastdruid said:
911 (996)? 3.6 every time. Unless you want to enter the 911 exploding engine lottery! 
The man would still be in the lottery with a 3.6...As an ex - 996 owner, who has had his fair share of problems with the model, and become a reluctant expert on the 996...
If the early one is a tiptronic - walk away now. Early cars had the ZF 5HP-19 box, which is a useless bunch of metal rubbish. Turbos and 3.6's had the Mercedes auto box which is trouble free.
Manual boxes in both models are ok.
Both 3.4 and 3.6 engines share the same architecture, i.e. both suffer from problems with RMS leakage, IMS bearing failure and cylinder deck 'ovaling'.
The only engines that escape this fault are the GT3 / GT2 and turbo motors, and the latest 997.2 direct injection and onwards models.
The general accepted wisdom is that if a 996 engine has got past about 40 / 50k without problems, it will continue to give trouble free service for big mileages with regard to RMS / IMS faults. If they're gonna fail, it's usually before 40/50k.
Cylinder ovaling affects *most* engines with higher mileages - but depends on the start / stop and heat cycles, i.e a higher motorway mileage car will probably be less likely to start failing at a similar mileage to a short mileage per cycle / town car. The fault is that the cylinder bores have an open deck design at the heads, i.e. the barrels do not have solid support within the casting, and have no support at the head joint, which means they can eventually go 'out of round' at the tops, which results in the obvious lack of compression and cylinder blow-by.
There are no significant mechanical differences between 3.4 and 3.6 cars, apart from the increased bore size, they are the same. The only changes are cosmetic, things like the front lamps and front PU etc. Internally they are identical for all intents and purposes, with the last of the line 3.4's and all 3.6's having electronic boot / engine lid releases instead of cable operated mechanical devices.
In the trade, it is generally easier to sell on the facelift 3.6 cars, and these models, despite not being all that different mechanically, are certainly more desirable in the second hand market - mainly due to the more acceptable front headlamp design.
There are also a myriad of other faults that you should check for first for either model - and I would recommend someone like JZ Machtech or Peter Morgan to inspect a vehicle for you prior to purchase.
Other faults which they SHOULD check for are:
Coil packs
Exhaust headers and studs
Coolant bottles (they split)
Door seal membranes (they fail and leak rain into the car)
Front suspension bushes (they start to squeak)
Engine mounts
Discs and pads
Ignition switch (they break up internally but can be replaced with a VW part for 15 quid)
Air Mass sensor (Bosch parts can be bought from motor factors for half the price of OPC - but check they are genuine German parts - there are Ebay rip-offs about)
The aforementioned RMS seal leakage
IMS bearing - it is possible to hold a stethoscope to the rear of the engine and listen for a noisy bearing that is starting to fail
And finally the health of the battery - 996's don't like old / failing batteries - they start to display a multitude of wierd electrical faults if the battery gets a bit tired.
Other than all that - they're great cars, lol! I would personally always go for the later / facelift model - it WILL be easier to sell for you when that time comes.
And if you do take the plunge - all the best, post some pictures up on here, and most of all, enjoy your car! When they're running well - they're great!
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