almeena58

I thought it might be a good reference to have one thread to list all 997.3 GT3s technical & mechanical failures since we own them.

I bought mine 4/2010 and it is almost 22,000KM, my local dealer have changed/reprogrammed/modified the following (of course under warranty):

1. Fuel tank sensor, it was indicating empty while the tank is half full.
2. CLs as all knows.
3. Clutch sensor, the car was not starting sometimes
4. Right side muffler, it was making some cracking and they changed it. BTW it was very expensive (3200USD) but under warranty.
5. Engine fan blower, failed during hot summer (+50C) the oil temp goes to 110 and radiator to 100 then the engine fan blower will fail because of the heat. The solution is just switch off the car till get cold then go. No replacement
6. Right side window will stop in the middle when closing as it assume smoothing is blocking it and again they said it is very sensitive and no replacement.
7. Happened once SC+TC warning came on and disappeared when I stopped and restarted the car

TTurbine

Camshafts out of alignment..
Muffler problems a you stated

*Edited*

LSD blown in 2 track days!!

almeena58

How did you figure the Camshafts out of alignment

TTurbine

Car was misfiring and running in limp mode.. 6-7 fault codes showed up...

ir_fuel

18 months, 45.000km:

- bucket seat leather strap snapped off on first use
- Oil pressure sensor failed
- left-side catalyzer replaced (not mechanically broken but triggered an error)
- Oil cooler leak (being repaired right now)

Porschefahrer

997.2 RS, then 9 months old and 10.000km:

- Muffler had cracks, replaced under warranty during race check
- Airbag warning light on; reason: faulty seat-belt fastener, exchanged under warranty
- windows sometimes don't close properly (left & right window), will always close at second try. Not fixed as it doesn't bother me too much and occurs only rarely

Apart from that: I just have to refill fuel and oil, sometimes change brake fluids & tires and have loads of fun! LOVE the car!!!

Izzone

-One of the oil lines leaked, just needed tightning
-rear deck lid fan does not work, there is actually a TSB to disable it so it does not run in a warm garage
-replaced transmission, car would not come out of gear when stopped without applying throttle.
-one of the brake shields broke

the camshaft alignment is interesting. I put 91 octane in my car last month at Sebring, went out on track and the car had two mis fires and threw a CEL. Immediately CEL went away. Figured it was from the 91 in lieu of 93.....maybe not

10,500 miles

MarkG123

Pass window on occasion returns down when closing.
Car resonates more than my last gt3 around 2800-3000 RPM. (Hwy speeds 70-80!)
Centerlock recall.
Other than that all else is good.

9972RS

I've got the window issues also. AC never worked, turned out to be a broken seal, fixed in 15 mins.

TC failure came on 3-4 times. hasn't happened again.

NJ-GT

wow! that's what I call "Blind Ownership". It is the definition on which Yugo owners said everything is fine with their cars, then it went to Hyundai owners, then to Kia owners, these days Yugo is dead, Hyundai and Kia are building better products, but the "Blind Ownership" keeps going around, now in the form of GT3 owners.

A GT3 is a toy, it is not supposed to be a wife, so people you really don't have to tolerate and accept all her defects, because there are other options.

As much as I complain about the lack of quality in my Cayman and Cayenne, they look reliable compared to the type of issues you are having.

Definitely, I would not get a GT3 without an extended warranty.

So, are all you guys fine with the Limited Slip Differential breaking early and causing handling issues? the brakes failing with Ice Mode? The leaking coolant lines by the lines breaking apart?

NJ-GT

On the topic of ABS ice mode, leaking slippery coolant or ill handling caused by a bad LSD, there might be interesting consequences.

If a GT3/GT2/GT3 RS owner knowingly of these defects causes an accident involving others, I wonder what kind of consequences would an event like this carry against the car owner, the track organization running the event, the track administration and track owners, the tech inspection shop and PCNA.

This is the type of stuff lawyers love.

911SLOW

ok let me see.. your next post will be "buy a ferrari , it's more reliable"..

please..

NJ-GT

Not quite, Fiat is on a different price range.

Next post is:

Start sending letters to PCNA to get this mess fixed, under or out of warranty.

I prefer to deal with unintended car acceleration, than leaking oil or coolant behind to help wreck the others either on public roads or at a racetrack. This type of manufacturing and design defects affect resale value, multiplied by the number of GT3s out there, there is a decent collective money loss on these problems.

However, when a fatality is involved and the root is directly traced to a problem of this type, well just read a little of recent history and make your own expected conclusions.

ChrisF

So you've extrapolated that GT3's are inherently unreliable on a sampling of 7? I'd be more curious to ask the same question on the 996 GT3 boards as there is more history and miles to work with.

The LSD to me is part of the cost of tracking the car like tires and brakes. A quick Guard rebuild seems to solve that weakness. The coolant problem on the other hand I think is a serious issue and sadly won't be addressed until someone is hurt. The CL's...well if we could get one of our forum members to actually discuss the one known incident, we could have an idea whether it's a real problem or user error.

Every car I've tracked has had weaknesses that needed to be addressed to make it reliable. I see that as an inherent issue when tracking a car built for the street. So you consider spending maybe $5K to fix the problems above on a car of this price unacceptable to make it track worthy? That's less than some spend on a second set of wheels/tires.

- one of the blind

utkinpol

no one wants to to do crap. i tried to pursuade people to send email/letters about IMS issues on M96/m97 motors - nope, as usual only reaction you get is 'prove first if it really brakes'. geeez...

those gt3 issues are fixable, IMS failure means full engine kaput and minimum of $20K bill if you are lucky to get new motor if PCNA will find a reason to deny your warranty claim (what it does with great success).