Guybrush Wilkinson

I am a newbie owner of 1999 C2 manual with 50 tmiles. Owning the car has been a time full of joy and enjoyment of driving. However, there is many sad stories about engine failures on many 911 forums. This is what I did to never bother about the problem again.

A new engine plus labor runs around 12.000 usd, right? This is the amount of money that I just put aside and forgot that I have it. I opened a bank account, named it "blowout account" and deposited the money there. I will use the money only if my engine fails or in case I sell the car / trade it in. Now it is done, I have a "full warranty" for my engine that will cost me nothing if nothing happens. If my engine blows up it is ok because the money is "allready spent for the engine exchange". I am going to enjoy my car the most I can, and IF my engine blows up, I will be a happy new engine owner, and continue enjoying the great car that I have.

I am not sure if this psychological trick would work for others but for me it gives a peace of mind.

Its great to own a 996 Porsche.

deckman

Good attitutde. I have a feeling for a lot of 99 owners out there doing this wouldn't be a psychological trick, but rather a financial one!

redridge

yes, good attitude... who knows, the money could go to your next Porsche!

pszikla

First sensible (unemotional) thing I've heard said when it comes to "potential" engine failure.
Congratulations and enjoy your car as much as I do!!
Cheers
Peter

ivangene

Here - here
I did exactly the same thing, I would LIKE to spend that money on other things, but I am not going to because IF it happens, I want my car back so I can drive her with a fresh motor !! There was a thread a couple weeks ago from a guy close to me who was towing his car home to put it in the garage because it was at the shop and needed a new mote, he didnt have the money and was going to store the car.... I am NOT going there... fix it, I want to drive it !!

eDoug

Great attitude and solution - I'm sure it puts your concerns to rest.

I've tried to post on this topic since becoming a 996 owner this past June and "losing" my engine less than a month later with 32k miles on the odo. (Failed intermediate shaft - '02 MKII.)

I'd propose there are three distinct camps on RL (maybe more).

1. Those who want to ignore the issue and sometimes shield concerns with humor - posting remarks like they all blow up. This isn't offensive to me, but it seems to mask the reality... I suppose that these folks are addressing the potential devaluation of our assets by trying to minimize the "internet hype" on 996 NA engine failures - this is a valid threat to resale value, I agree. So, not a bad strategy, but it does seem to veil the issue at hand.
2. Those with a healthy attitude who accept the possibility, who are sincerely interested in understanding the potential problems, who don't mind discussing it in a less-than-sensationalistic manner, and who plan for the possibility with a warranty, a savings account, or a healthy attitude if it happens. This is the essence of the original poster's strategy, and intention with the post.
3. Those who consistently worry about the problem, overstate the problem, and if/when something happens out of the blue - they react quite strongly. Admittedly, I failed to uncover the research before purchasing mine, my folly, but hey, you got what you got. When it's yours, you gotta figure out a way to live with it, or not... The world is NOT a terrible place, and this potential issue is NOT the end of the world - it's a relatively simple engine swap (perhaps a bit pricey but still a relative bargain by p-car standards).

After spending WAY too much time on the boards, reading all the redundant threads on this issue, I still maintain that there's a significant failure rate and the causes aren't understood. From my research, it sounds like it's reasonably random and there's no obvious pattern emerging in the failures (again, only from my reading). I doubt a class action suit will ever come to fruition... So, my thoughts on how we address this are:

• Hedge your risk with a warranty or a savings account if that helps you sleep better at night
• Drive the cars often and vigorously
• If your worry outweighs the fun factor, then sell the darn thing...

As for me, the fun I have with this car is absolutely unparalleled... I have no regrets and would do it again in a second.

pszikla

Couldn't have said it better!
Cheers
Pete

Marc Gelefsky

To make myself feel better when I was looking I went for a 2 year powertrain warranty and an MkII 996 While the MkII is certainly still prone to engine failures they seem to be a little better.
When the 2 years are up I am cool with the possibility that the engine could fail, not Happy but cool.

There is NO sense in owning a car that is going to stress you out!!

Fissionx

1st, beautiful car. Any more pictures?
Im not sure the financial state of Finland, but IMO its a good time to put money in mutual funds instead of a bank deposit. $12k is no small chunk of change.
My '99 has 83k miles on the odometer, not sure if the motor was replaced previously.

bk12

I think the MKII are more than a little less prone...while there are a few failures I have heard of, I haven't seen a MKII go over the last 6 months (from memory), while I have seen a fair number of MKI failure posts in that time. I think they fixed most of the problems with the MKII, but they are getting thrown in as problematic because of all the MKI failures. That being said, I have started to see some [posts on 997 failures of similar nature, so I know they never fixed everything. I find it interesting that in advertising the 997 MKII engine redesign, they come out and say it is the first real changes to the water cooled motor...and that the 997 engine wasn't really any different than the MKII motor (I know there are a few differences).

ivangene

next time you are at the dealer, ask the service guy to look, it took them less than a minute to say mine had not... when I asked how he knew, he pointed to several things that made it obvious to him...????

cool!
I guess
(kinda was hoping for the "other news") BTW 106k on the clock

porsche-t

+2. I had a spare "chunk of change" and put away money for a motor AND transmission in case I needed it.

cdodkin

Perhaps Porsche should mention it in an advertising campaign for the car?

Porsche 996 - makes a great used car - just put an extra $12k-$14k in a spare bank account in case of engine failure......

Nope, can't see sane people really going for that one.

Maybe I need one of these on the wall in my garage

himself

Safer than investing it recently

-td

deckman

I wish I'd have done that with ALL my money about 6 months ago.