docboy

Agreed. After owning my 996tt for ~10 months now, I have to say records mean very little. Heck, even the PPI is pretty much worthless. As long as there are no signs of abuse, rust, CEL, 2nd gear pop out, and the interior is in good shape with minimal wear, the car is good to go, IMHO.

The 996tt has a solid Mezger engine. Enjoy in good health!

Macster

Records are nice. Sometimes one doesn't get records though. When I was shopping for a Turbo that was a "local" car I called around to various Porsche dealers (6 or 7 of them) in the general area and found a couple who had records of the car being in for various things. I didn't get hardcopies of the service/work orders but did get a date, mileage and what was done.

Afterwards I had a pretty warm/fuzzy feeling the car received pretty good servicing.

After a while what kind of servicing a car received early on is less important than what it has received more recently.

With or without servicing history you still need to thoroughly check out the car.

Might add if you find some little things that are wrong: Burned out lights, old tires, odd tires, leaks, the car in just a general state of rundownness, this suggests the car hasn't received very good care/servicing.

With no records of any kind you should budget for the following: Engine oil/filter service, brake fluid flush/bleed, engine and cabin air filter replacement, and any issues your checkout/PPI turn up like worn tires (and if unevenly worn an alignment provided the PPI doesn't find the car "bent"), or worn brakes, or leaks, like RMS or water pump or radiator or even spoiler.

I'd add plugs to the above and if the tech believes it necessary coils too and if necessary radiator duct cleaning and be sure the body water drains are free of trash. Keeping the ducts clean and the body water drains free of trash build up is an ongong and nevery ending job with these cars.

Later you can have the tranny and diff (there are two!) fluids changed. I'd also have the coolant drained and replaced with fresh.

The above represents no little expense even if there are no issues to be addressd. And the problem is getting any adjustment in the price for the above. The seller will just wait for someone who'll come along and take the car as is.

One of the benefits that records provides is it gives one a better of idea of what is due and what can wait and helps one assess the car's value more accurately.

Shred

All the maintenance stuff like oil/filter change, air filters, tires, brakes, brake fluid flush are not things I am worried about. I can DIY those within day or 2.

I have researched the common faults the Turbo can develop.
I am guessing if there are anything wrong with the following, the car wouldn't drive properly, this is correct? :

Clutch accumulator and slave cylinder
Diverter valve
Boost hoses
Boost pressure low due to leaking diverter valve
Clutch release bearing
Clutch accumulator leaking
Coolant hose coming off obviously LOL

...and these problems I should be able to spot?
Centre radiator leaking
Air con condenser leaking
Loss of coolant (well, it's not that simple of course)
Rear spoiler hydraulic leak

A good PPI should reveal all anyway right?

I wouldn't feel good about having to get a new clutch and fix those things after just dropping all that cash on a car. I also won't be able to resist the 'while you are in there' fix everything LOL.

Shred

This is the car I saw. It's a small 996 Turbo world, so maybe someone have seen this car before? An existing or previous forum member?

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...ink=true&Log=0

Apart from missing records, it also doesn't have heated seat. Why would anyone buying a 150k cab not tick the heated seat option is beyond me!

kmagnuss

my cab doesn't have heated seats either... because Florida.

fung0001

You are right

i was a little bit shock when i saw the receipt shown to me by one of the private sellers before i bought this tt

not hk dealer (i know its charge ridiculous) but just a well known local shop for porsche repair and it costed hk$7900 to change engine oil & ingition plugs
I do it under hk$2000 for my bmw f10 5 series😱

Carlo_Carrera

The only records I am concerned about with 996TTs, and most other "modern" used cars, is oil changes. I am usually pretty good at a judging a car's overall condition with a thorough personal inspection and ECU scan. What will seal the deal is if the oil has been changed regularly.

SimonK

Ditto! Frequent oil changes you can't see from the outside.

dlmack111

Bought mine with 118k......very little records. That was 2 years ago. Been rock solid. Other than the things I knew it needed when purchased, the only thing to "pop up" was a leak in the a/c line (under the door at the bracket). I drive all year, and tracked it twice so far. You can examine a car and tell if the previous owner took care of it......it's the little things......you just know. Have a ppi done, and if you like it, get it!

Macster

For some of the above the car could manifest signs that something is amiss.

A bad clutch accumulator though requires someone knowledgeable about Turbos checking out the car. If you get in the cold car and press the clutch pedal down if the effort is higher than when the engine is running that's a sign the clutch accumulator is bad.

For the slave fluid wetness around the small reservior located under the panel under the front trunk lid just ahead of the driver (USA cars). If the slave cylinder is bad, and you are lucky (?), you can see fluid stain on *top" of the panel.

Generally the intake system, boost hoses and so on, are ok if the car makes nominal boost (0.7 bar) without turning on the CEL or in any other way manfesting any signs of any problems.

Now it can be a bit of a job to get the car to make 0.7 bar boost. My experience it requires plenty of room and flooring the throttle in say 4th or 4th gear in the 2.5K RPM range and keeping the pedal floored as RPMs climb and as speed increases. The boost gage reading should reach 0.7 bar (though 0.6 bar is not uncommon) and hold it with the boost level dropping off say 0.3 bar as RPMs continue to climb.

Don't just focus on the center radiator. Anyone of the 3 (and in some cases all 3) can leak.

A good PPI after a thorough test ride/drive should spot any coolant leaks from any location: radiators, water pump, hose fittings of the block, etc.

Spoiler fluid leaks are easy to spot. If you open the engine compartment lid and there is any sign of fluid wetness on any of the spoiler hardware or on the sheet metal under where the spoiler hardware is lcoated when the lid is closed there's a leak somewhere.

A/C condenser leaks can often be spotted by peering into the radiator ducts. You do this after the test ride/drive and after you have run the A/C a while. The condenser is located ahead of the radiator so that is the condenser you see not the radiator. Look for any fluid stain. Also, when the car is on the lift check the underbody panels for any leak stain. This can be from a leaking condenser, radiator, a leaking steering rack, or even a leaking front diff (axle flange seals, for instance).

A good PPI should turn up any issues but the trick is getting a good PPI. You want to be a thorough as you can be in your checkout of the car and spot any deal killer issues so you don't waste money on a PPI that is sure to fail the car.

Evan5469

I took an approach similar to Macster. I went to look at my now current Porsche at a dealership that had no records for the car, but did have the Carfax. Just judging by its condition when I went to see it, I could see that it was cared for. The car had been serviced by a couple of Porsche dealerships throughout its life, so I called each one and asked what each service consisted of at each visit. Not only did I find out that the car was well taken care of, each dealership printed out each invoice for me so I now have almost full documentation from the previous owners.

leftlane

Shred - I have an 04 TT cab with every single record, going back to the predelivery inspection from the selling dealership (local to me). Hit me up if you are a serious buyer and aren't looking for a bargain basement car.

FRUNKenstein

I like buying from private individuals rather than a dealer for a couple of reasons. A major one is that I get records. Plus I want to talk to the guy who actually drove it prior to me.

911mhawk

I got records, P-dealer PPI, and bought from a private owner whose home was meticulous, went for long test drive too. None of that gave me a clue to the upcoming transmission rebuild.
Have some spare change in reserve after purchase and you're fine, same as any other used car. Just remember some repair costs are relative to original sticker.

Berra

Dealers should keep all the records? I have always handed over records to dealers when I've traded cars.

I'm located in Sweden and dealers keep records, and you can always look up who owned the car before, not hard to find out phone numbers etc and give them a call.