GC996

Hah!

bdronsick

road legal 962 right there

GC996

The reality is that if you go to any PCA track day, you will hear all about every issue each model suffers from.

After awhile, you realize that every Porsche model known to man has quirks and issues that need to be addressed and various levels of costs.

Been hearing it for 20 years. Doesn't matter if it's a Carrera, Turbo, GT3, GT3 RS or a GT2.

Marv

You're just playing in a bigger game. Parts cost more and I know the GT3 engine, at least, requires special tools compared to the Carrera engines.

GC996

Marv, appreciate the thoughts. Your comments are exactly what I hear from my PCA buddies who own 996 GT3s and turbos. As you probably do as well, we are always comparing issues, costs and solutions.

TheChunkNorris

For some reason I thought the bigger issue was the cooling hose hard points would just fall out? Pin and weld being the most expensive but permanent fix and the JB weld being the inexpensive option.

GC996

All we have to do is spend time on the GT3 and Turbo forum and all issues are center stage.

theprf

There are really only 3 issues with the 6TT. One is the coolant pipes as you mentioned. I welded all 8 of the fittings on both my 6TT's. This requires engine out to do and is a good opportunity to replace the myriad of O-rings and inaccessable coolant hoses.
The second is the transmission can have several issues. Cars made 2001-2002 can have bad engagement of the 2nd gear sliding sleeve with ruins the dog teeth on the 2nd gearwheel. 2003-up supposedly don't have this problem because the factory changed the tolerances. This is an expensive fix requiring a new 2nd gear set and potentially more parts. Also the G50 gearbox can be susceptible to oil starvation when run on tracks (like the M96) as the oil sloshes to one side. This leads to rapid bearing wear and is very expensive to fix. The GT3/GT2 gearboxes incorporate an oil pump and oil cooler to mitigate this, and an aftermarket solution can be installed on the 6TT transmission. I just had a spare 6TT gearbox rebuilt that had all of these problems and more, the cost was similar to a boutique M96 rebuild. My spare gearbox had 40k miles of heavy track usage on a highly tuned car without the oil pump and cooler, so that is not typical.
The third is that the valve guides can wear faster than we might like. @Marv 's needing head work at 140k is not atypical. This ends up creating more leakage from the exhaust into the oil galleries and creates little blobs of burnt oil that get caught in the filter. Eventually it will lead to more trouble. My car at 180k probably needs valve guides addressed in the next year or two.

Of course the 6TT/GT2/GT3 also have all the other 996 problems with door latches, convertible tops, ignition switches, and all the other minor nuisances.

The good part about the engine/transmission is that any shop that is familiar with 964 or 993 engine rebuilds can do a quality 996TT rebuild. The engine rebuilds are not overly expensive, $20k gets you a very nice engine that is ready for 650-700HP.

TheChunkNorris

Wow thanks for the explanation. I only knew of the first one but not the others.

bdronsick

So the Mezger “suffers” from:

1. Coolant pipes that may need to be fixed if the car is tracked seriously
2. A possible issue with 2nd gear synchro in some early cars from first 18-months of production
3. Valve guides may begin to show wear anecdotally between 141K to 180K miles.

We may thus deduce the Mezger is the most durable engine in the history of manufacturing

GC996

Hah! Yes, not to mention the turbo engine is invincible. Nothing ever causes those three things to ever happen. No different than Aos, IMSB and oil starvation/oil pressure instability. Never happens. And when it does happen with the turbo and carerra, it doesn't cost anything to fix! That's why we buy a porsche.

Note: I am being sarcastic. As you can see, every model suffers from issues and therefore costs money. No big deal if you know what they are and work to prevent them.

NYoutftr

I agree with you
Our 2014 Cayenne with the Premium Plus Package, 14 way power seats heated/cooled is one of most comfortable cars we have ever owned.
The best ever my wife's Jaguar Vanden Plas, it was as good as a RR or Bentley

bdronsick

In the immortal words of Andreas Prueninger: “We have not found a way to break the Mezger platform, so we will continue to use it.”

NYoutftr

Agreed

One is coming to BAT soon

bdronsick

Cayenne is the only luxury vehicle on earth that can go anywhere, at 150mph+

Nothing anything like it

And if you think LeMans is brutal, imagine the Transsiberia Rally? Cayenne won on its first try in 2007. Then in 2008 Porsche Motorsports entered six more and placed 1-6

Just an absolutely amazing “all-round” off-road/Motorsports vehicle that has been completely overlooked for decades