996 Engine Failures
 

New Member here, looks like a great forum. From the posts I've seen so far I think this one maybe for Doc and an entension of the 996 Buyers Guide post.

I currently own a 2001 996 C2 with 27,900 miles. It was purchased as a cert. car (2 yr warranty) last summer from a porsche dealer w/ 26,000 on the clock. Shortly after, I did experience the RMS issue. At the beginning of this season I did the 30K service as well as brake fluid & coolant flush, plus the dealer found about $1k in warranty repairs.

My question is, while reviewing some classifeid ads I noticed anumber 1999 996's w/ statements like, new engine, remfg. eng., new eng. w/ X miles on it, etc... I also saw a few older (00-02) 996 w/ the same statements. What is the story with the engine failures? What are the main causes for this and are there tell tale signs before it happens?Is this becoming a larger issue? Probablity of occurance?? Etc..... I really do like my 911, dream come true to own one actually, but I can't really deal with a ticking time bomb in the family. Thanks, Jim

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

You are right that Doc is the one to address you question most objectively. He sees enough 996s to get a feel for the cross-section of owners.

My experience is limited to what I see and hear. From what I can gather, a high portion of 996s for sale are with a new or rebuilt engines, etc., because some owners bought the car on a shoestring and could not afford to both repair it and keep it when it broke, so they repair and then have to sell. This may skew the number for sale in favor of alot being like this.

Also, I imagine some of thesesamepeople did not do maintenance by the book. Porsches, including 996s, are quite durable if you pay attention to warning signs early on and also do the required maintenance and with the specified fluids and factory applied parts, etc. For example I know one owner of an early year996 who used a bargain price oil for about three years and was proud of the fact that he had "no name" oil filters he bought somewhere at a bargain price, too: he had seriously expensiveproblems including leaking seals etc. and poor oil pressure at 50,000 miles: I can't be certain thatthat andsimilar short-cuts elsewhere in his care of his car caused that, but I had no problems at all in four years of ownership of my '04 Carrera.

There are enough good 996s out there that were cared for by the book (mine, for example, is still at the dealer where I traded if the the Aston three weeks ago).

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

Well,
I go to bed at night knowing that I couldn't have taken care of my 1999 996 any better. Every time my car had an issue with the engine light to oil changes every 5000 miles. Now my car sits in my garage not being driven because of what my mechanic believes to be a blown head gasket, waiting for me to fork over 5 grand to have the engine rebuilt. Luckily I caught it in time so no damage was done to the motors inners, but it is very hard to take knowing that I have maintained my car as well as anyone could (113,000 miles). The rest of the car is in mint condition otherwise, and I will get it fixed, because I love the car. Thought about trading it in, but everything I test drove just felt cheap compared to my 911 so I've decided its worth fixing my baby. In my opinion the 911s have a shape and a style that is timeless, and I wouldn't be happy with anything else, so I'll pay the piper again. If you keep a 996 long enough, you probably are going to end up with a big bill at some point, but that is still a lot less than a significantly newer 911, so pick your poison.

Kevin

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

You got 113,000 miles before this problem occurred. Five grand at that point does not strike me as an unreasonably high cost all at once, it is perhaps a bit of a jolt, but it works out as 5 cents per mile which is actually the figure I use to estimate/plan my "unexpected" repair (as opposed to maintenance) costs on this category of car. And it is much cheaper than a new engine.

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

Ibought a 997s (05)last weekand haven't driven it much before the engine went down (see my other post) it only did 48,000km when I bought it and is now 48,100km. I am new to Porsche and not sure if thats the car or my bad luck! I heard before buying the car that there are some problems with the new engines but wasn't expecting it to happen this soon or to this extent!

Hamad

P.S. I had the car fully checked by a dealer before buying it and it was always serviced with a Porsche dealer.

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

Thanks to eveyone for the comments so far. I do plan on following the porsche maint. schedule to the letter and probably beyond. I agree w/ Lee, if I were to get to 113K on my lump with a $5K bill at that time, I'd consider that a success. But again, reading another owner's issue w/ an engine failure, this time w/ a 997 leaves me wondering. Is there any connection to increase track time, etc... to these failures? Also, where is the Cayman in all of this. I know less about that car, but it does not appear to suffer from the RMS issue or these engine failures...?

Jim

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

Lee,

Just my opinion, but I think most people would expect more than 113,000 miles from an $80,000 car that has been very well cared for, with nothing but Porsche genuine parts, and Mobil 1 oilbefore it needs a major overhaul. I have never raced or tracked my car. Most of the mileson my car have come from the freeway commuting to and from work, 35 miles each way. It still has the original clutch and was not maintained on a shoestring budget. In the end, I'm still going to pay the price of admission, because I love the car.

Kevin

RE: 996 Engine Failures
 

I think that history will show that there were more engine failures on the 996 with the earlier 3.4 litre engine. RMS has been a problem through the 996, but seems to have improved with the latest generation of seal design and materials now available. With the New 997 and the revised engine crankgase design is claimed to have solved the RMS issue. However if yoiu start to get a leak replace the seal.
I think the more worrying issues have been water/oil leaks through gasket failures and cracking in the cylinder head area.
Regards Big Bob
PS Lee Willis do I see you have added an Aston V8 Vantage to your stable now?
Bi