I'm in the market for an 07-08TT. Finally found one with the color/options I'm interested in. Car is supposedly pristine; however in the pic of the engine compartment, the air box cover? looks mangled. Any red flags here? What would a reasonable explanation for this be? Thank you

 

Possibly could have been as a result of after market mods that the original owner wanted removed before selling. Otherwise this area should not be marred in any fashion unless a careless tech was working on the car. Just my opinion.

Jay

 

Can't really tell what's up from picture. Does it look like the thing was accidentally dropped and knocked stepped on during regular maintenance? (sht happens)

Check more closely for "microscopic" clues, like slightly stripped screwheads, scratched finish on the fasteners, prymarks on plastic pieces?

Which are most likely mods that may have been removed? Check the associated components and fasteners.

 

Raises a bit of a red flag. The mangling you mention is not that detailed in the picture so I can't say for sure, but as another poster commented and it is a good guess a sloppy tech could have done the damage. Or perhaps the owner attempted his own servicing and did the deed?

Give engine and engine compartment a real thorough inspection to see if you can spot any freshly wrenched on fasteners or areas that are cleaner or dirtier than other areas. Use good led flashlight and a mech.'s mirror on a swivel to really inspect the nooks and crannies.

If you can't find any reason to reject the car, and you are very serious about buyiing it the next steip I guess would be to have the car subjected to a PPI to and check out under car and engine and engine compartment from underneath. Look for newish panels, or disturbed fasteners.

Even if you find something not necessarily a reason to reject the car, but I'd like to know what and why the wrenching took place, if I were looking at the car to buy.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Wait. The bottom edge of the engine compartment doesn't look that even. Has that car been hit in the rear?

If you can, take a picture with engine compartment open and from straight on from the back to get in the entire rear of the car. Post pic. What you are looking for is ill fitting, uneven fitting, misaligned body panels.

Do this at the rear, each side and the front. You don't have to post pics but you should very carefully inspect the car for any signs of the above things I mentioned.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Thank you all for the comments. DJ23 & LlBr, I was thinking the most logical was that it was damaged while off the car during maintenance. Reversing a mod is good idea I hadn't thought of. Macster, your comments are always detailed and thorough. As a newbie, I really appreciate them. I've spent days reading through hundreds of posts getting the "fire hose" of recent Porsche knowledge (I used to own a 75 targa). In many of those threads, I've noticed that a lot of the detailed responses had your ID. They are definitely a benefit to me. Again, thanks.
As for this car, I suspect the uneven look is due to reflections in the pic. I'm not worried as I will not buy a car without a PPI. This is just the first step in looking over the pics and talking with the seller. I'll let you know what his explanation is. One thing that does surprise me though, is that the seller hasn't replaced it prior to trying to sell the car; especially since this car is listed on the higher range (100K+). It is just a piece of plastic, right? To replace it from Porsche, it can't be more than...................basing this on the sticker shock I've seen on other items..........................$1500. This is just a joke, but knowing Porsche, there is a change that it might not be.

 

Something looks off.. See attached pic of my 996 Turbo's engine compartment with cover open. Notice how rear bumper cover plastic and the black material underneath it make a nice even line across the rear? Then see the material at the very top of the back of engine compartment opening, how even that looks.

You do want to do a PPI on the car. What you want to avoid doing is having a PPI done on a car that you could have rejected yourself with closer inspection. I like to say that one should only PPI one car, then one he ends up buying.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Have you seen this car in real life?

The air box "mangling" could just be some fluid stains or standing liquid. Sloppy, but not actual damage.

The uneven line on the bottom of the engine compartment seems to be an optical illusion created by the shadow of the engine cover falling unevenly across the engine compartment. It's probably caused by the early afternoon or late morning sun being at ~ 1-2 'o clock position relative to the orientation of the picture.

Look at it in person. It could in fact be pristine!

 

I was thinking water drops on the box and reflection on lower edge too. Have you seen the car in person?

 

I haven't seen the car as it's 2000m away. I'm still in search mode; not a lot of slate gray turbos with either gray or black interiors. As for the cover, it also looked like it had a piece of the plastic broken away (white area on left in original photo). In any case, I asked for more pics, and the seller said it looked fine to him, as the new pics seem to show. It also does seem that the uneven line on the bottom edge was an optical illusion. I will definitely personally inspect whichever car I decide is the one to buy.

 

Looks like he just washed it and its wet.

 

It looks fine to me.

 

Most of that is an illusion. The small scar on the intake tube is typical of what happens at dealerships (service department). Actually, that may be a good sign--it goes into the dealership for regular maintenance.

 

You should never buy a car by just looking at online pictures and reading online reviews. Get it inspected first, then go see it in person and drive it.

 

Alex.M - that's excellent advice. I definitely won't buy a car without inspecting and driving it first. Although, I agree with Macster, in that the PPI should be the last thing. As he said above, hopefully you should only PPI one car, the one you buy. I do realize that shopping nationally changes this somewhat. I see both a PPI and a personal inspection as about equal in chance for rejecting an otherwise promising car. If you are shopping locally, then it makes sense to do the PPI last. However, if you are flying to inspect/drive the car, then maybe it would be more prudent to do the PPI first. As for me, I'll do the PPI last, as I'm an airline pilot, and flying to the car is only a cost of time (albeit enjoyable). As for pictures, I find them to be an excellent first step.