wyo

went and looked at this car today - any guesses on the source of the knock ?
https://www.tred.com/buy/WP0AB29932S686957
fairly clean unmolested x51 car that is priced right but!!!!!
pretty sure its a hard pass unless owner want to offer a massive discount

targa996

Hard to say from that description - could be lifters - or oil related. IF everything else looks good id have a porsche specialist look at it, pull the oil filter to look for debris and send sample of the oil off to blackstone for analysis of metal content. Also have them read out over-rev data from ECU.

bernardbarbour

It sounds like a diesel. Something is wrong there. I'd pass.

fpb111

water pump

FRUNKenstein

X50 not X51, btw. Yeah, get that to a mechanic for a professional opinion.

bradbeck

That car has been for sale for a long time. Several pending sales noted on their site. Now I know why it is priced low. Would be interested to learn what the issue and fix is for it.

Macster

Was offered for sale for $48550 on eBay back in August of this year with 47580 miles.

The ad you posted has the price down to $37749 with just 20 miles added to the car. Not too many test drives, then.

Something's up with the car. A good X50 996 Turbo doesn't linger for ~2 months.

Agree with fpb111 the noise is (probably) water pump. It goes away at high RPMs. I assume hot idle oil pressure is good?

That the water pump is (probably) the source of the noise should be "easy" to confirm. With the engine off and the key in your hand feel the serpentine belt. If you find one or both edges are sharp this because the belt is rubbing and it is rubbing because it is not tracking true and it is not tracking true because an accessory drive has enough play to cause the belt to rub against the pulley. While it could be any accessory drive the water pump is the most common accessory drive component. Well, check that. 2nd most common in my experience. The idler/tensioner roller bearings are the 1st most common accessory drive components to fail.

If it is the water pump one doesn't want to run the engine any more than absolutely necessary. If the water pump develops too much play the risk is the impeller contacts the block and this knocks the impeller vanes off and these can then circulate through the cooling system. How much depends upon how well the water pump pumps water with no vanes.

The problem is with the water pump noise is you can't give the car a real good road test so even if you accept the fact the water pump needs addressing you still are buying a car without a thorough road test and that's risky.

I have not been at the car -- obviously -- so I can't really offer a definitive opinion on the car's condition but my advice is to in these cases is to err on the side of caution and walk away.

There is always another car.

bradbeck

If it was the water pump, which is simple to replace, wouldn't the seller have done that by now to get the full price on the car? I would also expect that others that have looked at it, had it inspected, would have bought it if it was just the water pump.

Not disagreeing with you, just thinking logically that if it was a simple fix, that would have been either determined by now and the car bought or it is more serious (or scary) for the buyer and everyone has walked away as a result.

Macster

You bring up good points.

Might point out the seller is probably looking at a nearly $2K bill to replace the water pump.

I think I paid over $1700 for the water pump for my 2003 Turbo this a couple of years ago. Or was that the RMS? I forget. Anyhow, say between $1500 and $2K for a water pump.

The seller might just not want to put any money in the car.

'course compared to dropping the price from $48550 back in August of this year with 47580 miles to $37749 with just 20 miles added to the car that just over $10K price drop could cover several water pump jobs, to be sure. I'd spend $2K to make $10K...

To me the car doesn't feel right and that's why I did end my previous post with the advice to walk away.

Schnell Gelb

If the seller is too cheap to replace the water pump,imagine what else they have not done?
You would need a very comprehensive and thorough PPI. Not because of the car so much as the seller !
Ask here on Rennlist for a recommendation to a good Indie to do the PPI.
Part of the reason the WP repair may be expensive is it may be time to replace idlers,belts,hoses,Tstat "while you are in there".

FRUNKenstein

This.

Plus, at $37,500, that car is not priced "cheap" for the market this time of the year. I understand that prices in the Pacific Northwest are higher than the rest of the country based on previous threads over the past couple of years. And I sure as hell don't want to rehash that debacle we had in the 996TT forum a couple of weeks ago (you never know though, you might get Blswan to run up to Seattle and make a fake offer followed by a nice public trashing of this car - that would certainly be interesting ).
My point is that at $37,500, you shouldn't have to deal with the questions that this one has. Use all of the internet search options, set automatic daily search reports for new cars on the market and get yourself familiar with everything out there for sale. You will realize that there are a bunch of cars on the market that have languished for months because they are way overpriced. You will learn to ignore them. The cars that sell have asking prices from $32,000 to $44,000. $35,000 to $41,000 actual sale price is where I think 80% of the transactions are occurring. $37,500 will buy you a very, very nice car. No, it won't buy a 13,000 mile garage queen, but who the hell wants a car you can't drive without giving you a panic attack.

BTW, you've got about 2 months of prime buying time. After the New Year, you will see prices start to go up.

Ck986

A water pump In a TT can be replaced for about $750-1,000 using the same fluid and a genuine Porsche pump. I'm pretty sure I was at the lower end of that estimate last year. This service should be done with the replacement of the coolant tank after 10 years of use. I agree you shouldn't be paying $37.5k for a car that makes that kind of noise.

Flat6 Innovations

Sounds like a bent rod, to me. I have two here now, apart, one had the same exact sound, and had low compression on bank 1. Upon disassembly, bank one had 3 bent rods.

The tone is too rhythmic for a water pump, IMHO. The only way to know is to isolate the issue by pulling the drive belt, and seeing what happens.

I bet if you look closely, you'll see a new water pump already fitted to the engine.....

KrazyK

Surely no one would really pay this for a WP. Even the Porsche brand is only $354.


BTW, the cars in rough condition for stated mileage. Pass on this POS.

Rubik

Did you buy this turbo diesel? We'll call you MB300D.