WAY

So I came across a pristine MY04 SY GT3, I believe it has been posted here in one of the tread previously. The car has only done 5,900km, and looking at the pictures I would say it is in great condition. The car has never been tracked as the owner (only owner from new) isn't into these things and is a mature gentleman.

Problem is, I found out that the car has never had a service. The owner claims that oil changes were done, however he doesn't have receipts and I don't know the frequency.

What do you guys think? Should I go ahead with this? Would I be asking for trouble? I'm not new to Porsches, having owned a dozen or so of them in the last 12 or so years. Not new to GT3s either as I've had two 997.2 GT3s. What I'm new to, is used cars and lack of knowledge of what could go wrong in a 10 year old car!

LVDell

A 10 year old car with no service records and I'd run. Run fast. When I bought my 6Turbo a couple years ago I came across one that was close to me and very low miles (sub 10K). Asked the owner for service records and he said the car wasn't due yet for it's first service since it was very low miles. WHAT?!?!?!?! Some owners fail to realize that oil, service, etc, is NOT based on miles, it is based on miles or time, whichever comes FIRST. Unless you are keen to taking big risk, a 10+ year old car with roughly 3500 miles and no service to show for it can turn into a money pit quickly.

himself

If the price is right and PPI confirms no issues, the car could be a winner. Sitting or 10 years with 5k km is relatively hard, but no harder than 40k of track miles. Get someone to look at it and make an informed decision rather than bypass a potentially good without any info

-td

LVDell

I'd take a well maintained track car with 40K miles than a 3500 mile 10 year old car with no service. Getting a PPI will not be able to show you the internals, the plumbing, and all the things that happen when a car sits for such a long period of time and sees roughly 350 miles a year. But.....and this is a big but, if the price is right (and it rarely is on low mile cars) then it might be worth taking a risk and then doing a complete service (and doing it several times for the fluids) to get it back in line with what the car needs. In addition, I would replace all the items that have moving parts (not engine) as they need to be run and lubricated regularly to function as intended. In addition, all hoses, tubing, etc, needs to be at a minimum thoroughly looked over but I'd change to be sure. The car needs to be a garage queen or a driven car, but it can't be both.

eab3@bellsouth.net

If the guy does his own service (as I do) there may or not be records. If you are that concerned,take a sample of the oil and have it analyzed. Routinely done in commercial / industrial applications. Do a leak down test. If there is nothing out of the ordinary, don't worry about it. This isn't magic, it's just a machine.

LVDell

1. To do your own maintenance but not keep records, receipts, etc, is flat stupid. I keep every receipt for engine oil, gearbox oil, filter, etc, as well as keep detailed notes on dates, miles, etc for everything.

2. "it's just a machine"??? That's the point. A machine needs to be taken care of and maintained. An oil sample isn't going to tell you anything other than the health of the motor. A neglected maintenance schedule is going to affect more than the oil.

In the end, determine what risk you want to take and what you feel comfortable with. The draw to a low mile car is baffling to me sometimes.

Advice given. Unsubscribing...........

993GT

If unsure about the oil changes, and that is your hold-up on buying the car, maybe offer to change the oil for him(maybe at a P. Dealer for liability and comfort reason) and inspect the oil that comes out...dirty/black oil and micro metal shavings in the filter would tend to indicate it hasn't been changed, very clear/clean oil and fresh looking filter would suggest it has been changed, at least once
Good luck with the purchase!

85Gold

^ Oil sample after good drive with the car hot. Let the lab know your concerns, I use Blackstone Labs, and they will give you a written synopsis based on your info. That plus a PPI and leakdown would be my advice.

Peter

aussie jimmy

wayne - i agree with the concerns of a low mileage car, especially if it hasn't been serviced.
as dell said, time is a factor, not only the km's. sitting for too long is generally not good, stuff seizes up, and you do want receipts unless you knew the owner personally.
maybe get it thoroughly checked out at the adelaide porsche centre or just walk.
there will always be one closer to you so you can inspect it easier.
track km's can be very liberating for a motor imo, as long as you knew who drove it....(like the jim richards 7.2rs!)

himself

If you really have concerns, ask a qualified mechanic. It's easy to be an internet guru, but really only those that know should be the resource. Take the free web advice for what it's worth. I'm sure there are a ton of Porsche techs that can give you the peace of mind you want. Either to pull the trigger or not. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it after a thorough check. There are much older Porsches that get bought all the time...

Marv

Or, just get an oil analysis done. Should take less than a week and make any sale contingent on that analysis.

nc911

Way,

Take a look at the "must read" GT3 sticky post. You can see all the things that DO go wrong on driven, highly maintained cars. I can't imagine the headaches with getting into an allegedly non maintained, non driven 10 year old car.

If the price is low to sub 50's, perhaps the risk is warranted. Morbid curiosity now wants me to know what you find out about the car.

Best of luck.

sithot

My '04 was soup to nuts serviced by the fellow I purchased from including brake flush, coolant flush, engine oil, etc.. He also changed the oil annually while only putting about 1,200 miles on the car during his ownership.

Since it was CPO when he purchased it the car had solid stats.

Records are a good thing. Collectors prefer a good set of records (over stories) as they add value. On a car like my '67 coupe (which has them back to '67) it was money in the bank that I recognized when I bought it almost 10 years ago.

I learned this from my days of dabbling in early Corvettes. Protect-O-Plates, Warranty books, owners manuals, window stickers and documentation was always welcome.

996FLT6

Since low miles just start your own maintenance schedule and have records from there on. Pretty sure value will be up there given the low miles. But don't take it out on track netime soon it may grenade on u specifically the 10 yr old rubber hoses that's been sitting- old and brittle. Mike

Rovman

Ha Ha, " Run Fast" ahh Dell.

Have a competent mechanic look at the car, perform a thorough PPI. If she passes that, buy the car knowing that there WILL be some smalll issue with the car that will pop up as you start to drive the car. No biggie!!! These cars are starting to get old, there will be issues with Garage Queens, Track dogs, Self Maintained cars, etc. etc.
So what, that what happens to older cars.
Buy It! Drive It! Enjoy It! Maintain It! Bottom Line, lets keep these cars on the road..

Enjoy my friend.