mayday1

I actually liked those Fiat 124, 128, and 131 back then, thought they
had nice exhaust tones.

My 2015 Fiat may not be that much more reliable than fiats of old.
It lit all kinds of check engine lights (traction control, ABS, ..etc)
just a few days after I took delivery and had only 100miles
on the odometer. Dealer said the ABS sensor failed. But it has
been trouble free after that got fixed.

We'll see how the 996 measures up in reliability :-)

mayday1

I think the chunks that are too large to fit through the sump filter screen
will just stay in the oil pan and may eventually get flushed out in
subsequent oil changes. In the picture I posted, the bottom paper towel
has the big chunks retrieved from the sump. The top paper towel has
the small chunks that went through the screen, ground up by the oil pump,
and got trapped by the oil filter.

911Dreamer

1 post he was new the forum, now its 20 due to a lot of questions. Not every new Porsche owner comes to RL, Pelican, etc to get detailed info on the Marquee. Your comment of him being a fool is only true he if continues to drive the vehicle.

Sneaky Pete

So is the the comment about shipping it to Chicago or Miami to sell it as is. And no Doc it didn't come off as sarcasm. Nice back pedal.

mayday1

I think I'll be the fool and drive the car despite the warnings. Don't really have a choice.
I can't leave it sitting on my lift to rot, it is not going to itself, and I'm not competent
enough to pull the engine and do the repair myself. If this were a normal
front engine inline or v6, I may give it a try. With the flat 6, I'm completely
unfamiliar with, I don't even know the firing order, ..etc.

I may get a local shop to do the work, but all local mechanics are strangers
to me so there isn't anyone I feel I can trust. In the meantime, I'll probably
drive it, if she blows, she blows.

But I think with advice from you guys, I may be able to nurse it enough
to not blow before I get around to getting it fixed.

Slakker

For local pcar mechanic, join PCA, go to an event, and ask 5 guys who services their Porsche. You'll get a pretty good lay of the land.

Good luck, I really hope you the best. And kudos for not just dumping it right back out onto the market.

docmirror

Do you think you can at least do this?

http://lnengineering.com/products/fe...figurable.html

tharbin

You really need to take RL with a grain of salt. So, you bought a car, you took it for a drive and it wasn't perfect. Your tires were severely under-inflated. You changed the oil and found a fair number of bits of plastic but you do not know when the last oil change was done. So you dropped the sump and found more plastic.

If I understand this, based on one drive and some plastic that got into the oil sometime in the past, people are telling you to rebuild the motor or button it up and sell it.

First most of the PPIs done aren't really worth diddly. Second you have not cleaned the sump, replaced the filter and refilled the oil then driven it again.

You have gotten two really good suggestions: have the car checked for cam deviations and join the PCA.

Now my suggestion (also take with a grain of salt-it isn't my motor on the line): put it back together, get the tire pressure up to spec, talk to your local PCA chapter and get a few recommendations for a good indie and take the car to him. Tell him what you found, show him the bits and let him tell you what he finds. Everything that happens on a forum is guess work, well intentioned, and knowledgeable but we don't own the car, we haven't driven the car and we have not touched the car. It looks to me like main chain tensioner pad material but a good indie will know. Don't let us turn your new car into a nightmare. Get some professional help. These cars are different and for all you know the material has been floating around in the sump for ten years.

mayday1

If the car came with normal oil filter I would not have bothered cutting
it open and examining the contents, and would be blissfully unaware
of the plastic bits. Life would be simple and I would be happy, until
one day (a few days from now, or a few years from now) when it goes
kaboom :-)

mayday1

I talked to four independents shops about PPI before I decided to forgo a PPI.
None would do a compression check or leakdown as standard procedure, only
one shop was willing to do one for an additional $350+$75. Mostly they talked
about a 5page extensive report, 65 item checklists, ...blah blah... I don't really car if the windshield washer fluid is low, or the wiper blades need replacing, ..etc. I care about the most expensive part of these car which
is the engine and they skimp on that, telling me that if anything is amiss
it'll trigger some check engine light or error code so there is nothing
to worry about :-)

Yes, I'll go to a PCA autox next week and talk to local people and see what they
suggest. Originally I was to take the car there and really get to play with it.

thanks

tharbin

Many shops and dealerships will not even do a PPI and if they do it is intentionally cursory. There are lots of possible legal ramifications involved with a PPI. Sometimes a bad PPI can end up costing the company that did the PPI hundreds of thousands of dollars so most PPIs list everything they can find even remotely wrong and they do not get intrusive into the engine or transmission. They tend very strongly toward the car is junk, to protect themselves in case it is.

Recommendations from local PCA members are invaluable for finding yourself the right shop and you need a good shop at least until you have the necessary tools and knowledge to do it all yourself. Some things you can never do yourself (like make a spare key).

Also a compression check on a 996 isn't usually all that helpful. Because of the types of cylinder damage that affects 996s tend to not show up on compression checks, hence the boroscope.

alpine003

Just remember, the amount of worrying and $ is directly proportional to the amount of time you spend here on this forum.

5CHN3LL

I did a post-purchase inspection on my '99; Black Forest gave me a very thorough list of things to do now, sometime soon, and someday. I'm still working on the "someday" list.

tharbin

Good point on the P-PI they are useful. Actually a PPI by a good shop is very useful as well. The problem is that what we worry about on a 996 is almost entirely the motor. That is the part they don't help much with. Basically they can listen for bad noise, drive for obvious bad plugs/coils and check the filter for metal. Ferrous metal or copper, don't buy. Otherwise, flip a coin. Best candidate, oldish oil with no metal.

They do give you a good overall idea of the general condition of the car and like 5CHN3LL, I got a nice todo list.

Noz1974

I would say it's the vario pads in the heads , when I rebuilt my engine all the chain rails were ok with light marks but the vario pads in the heads were completely trashed, maybe you could get away with doing this replacement and maybe flushing the engine a few times to make sure all the bits are out, hey maybe you could do yourself with some help??