halo777

As the owner a 70k mile 996 C4S that is awaiting its third engine rebuild, I don't find Jake's posts "alarmist" in tone in the least; I would say "realist" in tone would more accurately describe them.

drh

That is a lot of engine rebuilds for a 70k PCar....you must love that thing

Flat6 Innovations

We've been approached by more than one company to carry out Z06 development because of those issues.

It's pretty clear that I can't be direct here and share my experiences at face value.

I am a black or white type of person and always have been.

I either have to find a way to add to these threads and help people without sharing my experiences or I'll just lurk.

Capt. Obvious

This is understandable with your line of business. It reminds me of my father-in-law, a retired narcotics/homicide detective. Everyone is a terrible person who cannot be trusted until proven otherwise. He spent his whole career surrounded by the lowest of the low and it eventually makes you forget about the good stuff.

alpine003

+996 Holy cow!

I'm just contributing to all these useless posts that does nothing to answer the original topic at hand, hoping to make it to page 4 in good ole fashion Rennlist fashion that talks pages and pages about stuff not related to the original post. (holy run on sentence batman!)

halo777

Nicest car I've ever owned, and not been able to drive

I purchased it six months ago after the second engine blew. So, I kind of knew what I was getting into. I figured I would rather have a car at a cheap price with the engine already gone, then buy one at full price only to have an engine related failure down the road.

I am a big Audi enthusiast, and love the C5 4.2 based cars. I have owned two A6 4.2s, an S6 (current) and an RS6. On my first A6 4.2, the transmission blew within six months. Cost me five grand to replace. On the second one, same thing... transmission blew within six months. This time around, I opted for a six speed swap. On the S6 and RS6, I purchased them both at low prices since both had tranny issues. After the first two A6s, I vowed never to buy another with a working transmission again. I love the cars, and think they are way undervalued. They just have a weak spot, the transmission.

From what I can tell, the 996s are similar. I did a lot of research before I purchased the C4S, and found that the engine was really the only common weak spot. The way I see things, I would much rather buy one with a blown engine (which I did) and fix it "right", then pay full price for one that could potentially have a problem in the near future. Even if the end price is the same or more expensive, at least I have warranty on the engine, and know it is solid.

Right now, I need cash so I have listed the C4S for sale. If it doesnt sell, Ill still end up fixing it. But, engines done right arent cheap, so it will be awhile unfortunately, since my home reno has drained my bank account dry.

Jake, good luck with gathering some cores, and thanks for all the invaluable first-hand info you continually provide regarding these engines.

Seeeu911

I don't have a core sorry.
But I previously had a blown motor and if I knew then, before it blew, what I've since learned from Jake, I would not have taken that ugly $$ loss

Keep posting the reality Jake.

Flat6 Innovations

Thats the smartest thing for some people to do. They have to understand the nature of the beast and be willing to buy a car that they can't test drive, but buy much cheaper and then spend their money in a more valuable fashion to repair it. I've personally NEVER owned a Porsche that didn't need an engine when I bought it! My Wife wouldn't know what to think if I bought something that actually ran when purchased.


I can't agree enough and thats the same thing that people consider (and know) when they decide to put more into the engine than what the car is worth. They know they can't buy another car this good, for the same money, because other than 2nd gear, nothing ever breaks with these cars.

My dad was a Narcotics Officer for 30 years, after that he retired, then worked in a prison just to have something to do. He felt the same way and I grew up around it, thats where my mindset of "guilty until proven innocent" came from.

When one is exposed to the same thing everyday and its all negative, then after a while this mindset takes over. Funny thing is, I never felt this way, or had negative experiences when the Porsches that populated my property didn't have radiators.

sandersd

My step-dad did exactly the same. Sadly, as I've grown older I've realized that he was mostly right. Furthermore, and I'm sure he never intended to teach this lesson, through him I learned the last person on earth I would EVER trust is a cop.

Flat6 Innovations

My dad was super trust worthy, but after being shot twice and taking a knife to the lung, he didn't trust anyone.

bretm

Someone either abused your car regularly or did the first engine rebuild improperly. Consequently your version of realism is an exception to the rule. Plain and simple. There are thousands upon thousands of 996s and Boxsters running around with nary a problem. To ignore that and pretend that it's pure chance that a car has 70k on its third engine is to be completely irrational.

You should be aware that the IMS is a potential problem on the 996 and check at oil change intervals for abnormal amounts of metal. At clutch changes, doing the IMS as well is a no-brainer. Beyond that, enjoy the car.

Like I said, these threads are alarmist and primarily serve:
1. The business interests of the OP
2. To devalue an asset that each of us owns

Flat6 Innovations

Or increase its value by creating solutions to terminal issues. There's two sides to this argument. Most of the loss of value in these cars came from the economy, and nothing else. Why? Because the general person buying one of these cars has zero idea that these issues exist.

Kalashnikov

/yawn.

There is one shop in the country that works on DESTROYED M96/M97 motors only. Per F6's own posts, they don't deal with PM or do regular work. They only deal with terminal cases.

So it should be expected that the only view that F6 has is that of dying engines.

The situation would be the same for EVERY other brand if there was just one shop that deals with TERMINAL CASES ONLY. It is common sense for anyone who understands what F6 does.

If Honda had one shop that could rebuild the Honda engine, that shop would only post terminal failures and they would claim hunderds of grenaded motors coming in every week. Almost every other brand has huge number of shops that do the work, hence there is not a single focal point for failure. For M96/M97 that focal point exists and it is F6 shop.

This is like having one hospital in the country that deals with dying people only. No ****, they will only have descriptions of dead and dying. Do you expect them to tell you about super strong athetes coming into their doors for some treatment?

Motors fail on every brand. It is unfortunate that Porsche has such ****ty pricing and servicing costs for their motors. This has allowed few shops who have spent time and developed skills to create a monopoly on motor rebuilds. But this is the nature of the game in capitalism, so pay to play.

Or, get the NSX and LOL every time you see a Porsche owner sweating at the stop light because "something made noise".

Flat6 Innovations

Very true. We had someone call the other day and ask about us doing a clutch job. When I told him that was not something that we do, he was blown away. He asked "are you turning away business?" and my response was "No, but we generally on;y do the things that are outside what a normal Porsche shop can easily handle".

I wouldn't know what to do if we actually changed someone's oil and sent the car home!

D6lc

Jake, I think if there were core engines owned by members of this forum then you would already know about them, call me cynical but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out.

I sincerely home this thread dies a quick death (not helped admittedly by me posting), and we get back to the ‘Past & current cars’, ‘High mileage’ “great trip I took in my car” type threads!