nizmolee, did the IMS give any warning such as the "death rattle"? Are you replacing with a used motor or rebuild. How much $? if you don't mind me asking. I'm a worry wart and always looking at possible expenses and trying to justify keeping my car. Mine is at 79k (2003) and runs great. Just had to replace starter, battery, turn signal stalk, and headlight switch. It has a new clutch from PO who didn't know about IMS.

 

It started with a ticking, i really thought it was a valve lifter stuck, its progress, as it got louder. I am currently swapping the motor out with another guy. Most engines were going for 6000 +. I found a guy with 50k and installed it for 3k total.

 

After 8 years, I sold my C2 - 1999 - 6-speed which, aside of a water pump and tires was faultless. Total 78K miles on the odometer, driven daily with a lead right foot. I started to get that " uneasy feeling" that I was betting against the factory which seems to believe that an engine is a replacement part. Porsche clearly has not been aggressive enough in making changes to the engine design to prevent these catastrophic failures. Perhaps Porsche's bean counters see these replacement engines as a great additional revenue stream. After all, Porsche has the best profit numbers in the industry. With that in mind, it was time to trade the car and when I found out that experienced mechanics were warning potential buyers that "these 1999-2000 year" engines were prone to just explode without warning, I decided to dispose of the car before the engine would end up as an ornamental coffee table in my living room and having a very expensive shiny sculpted heap of metal without any value in my driveway. It did not make sense to me to possibly have to buy a replacement engine for 10-12 k dollars and end up with a 15K dollar car. Too bad because the car drove like a champ.

 

This is the thinking I struggle with at 79k miles. I also feel hopeful at the $6K or less replacement cost. That seem a very good price. Anyway with the IMS failure detection device on preorder, I'll keep and enjoy this car for awhile longer

 

The irony here is of course that by any definition you've had an exceptionally reliable car that you sold because of what you read on the internet...

I'm about to tick over to 160k miles on a 2002 Carrera, original engine has never been apart and it's my daily driver. It's not my first 100+k mile 996 either.

 

Responding to Ahmet. Yes, but it's like having a 300,000 miles Volvo in the garage... nobody wants it, you can not even give it away for free.. unless you wrap it in dollar bills ie a new engine..

 

Wait, so the problem is that they lose value with miles? I imagine a 996 with 150k miles is worth easily more than 2x a Volvo of the same vintage with the same miles, that originally sold for more than half of the 996's new price. One could argue that the resale being so strong for a high end sports car is even more impressive...

 

I like reading about Ahmet's 996s. Seems like anything on these cars can be fixed without going to the poor house except total engine failure. And if that were to happen used ones sometimes come up at less than extreme prices such as above ($6K) if one can wait and look for a while.

 

No Ahmet, the problem is, as Dennish aptly states, that if you have an engine failure you are flushing a bunch of dollar notes down the toilet. Now... just in case you did not have that catastrophic failure... you are in good shape. However, if you read the forums - for the last 10 years - these 996 cars and now also the 997's keep on having the same issues. Numerous cars are getting an engine replacement during the warranty period because of... THE SAME ISSUES ... and I think it would be safe to say that you have a substantial chance that you, at one point in time, randomly assigned by Murphy of course.. will have the opportunity of digging into your savings account because your Porsche, at that point, has the amazing value of ZERO dollars... pretty well the same price as that Volvo.... but.... that Volvo may still be moving on it's own power. Flip the coin.

 

I just returned this evening from a three day drive from Northern California to Central Texas in a 1988 911 - my friend purchased the car. We flew to CA and drove it to Texas. The car has 274,600 miles and runs absolutely perfectly! Not a single problem - in fact the more we drove it the better it performed. Very impressive porsche engineering.

 

Just to harp a bit more -

This is what the 996 owners should have done YEARS AGO!! But just to show you that the Porsche Company does not really look after their customers and takes care of design problems on an urgent basis. Hence me selling the 996... and not buying a Cayenne either :-)

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...n-lawsuit.html

 

"Engine failure" is a possibility with any car. I'm working on a Volvo that had catastrophic engine failure with a cost to fix that's about 70% of the car's market value. The car happens to be the same year as my Porsche, but with about 50k fewer miles.

We can compare anecdotal evidence all day long but it blows my mind that you've owned a staggeringly reliable 996, decided to sell it because of what you read online and are now badmouthing other Porsches because of other problems you read about online. I've read lots online also, but I've worked with repair shops, dealerships and met dozens of owners through PCA and other track events as well (since I've instructed across the U.S. I get to speak with plenty of long time owners, particularly at Porsche Club events where my students have had an M96 powered car 9 times out of 10).

We all have our opinions based on our perceptions, but suffice it to say mine's very different than yours.

 

Honi soit qui mal y pense

 

I am jumping back into Porsche after years of BMW ownership. I have an elderly gent that took this '99 911 in on a trade on a Ferrari that he owned last year. All indications are that he is an experienced, and savvy car aficiando and the guy that traded him the Porsche was as well.

The car is cosmetically a 7.5 and with some minor detail work will be a 9+.

The engine runs well, it has a clean carfax, and all indications point to it being a solid runner with no known issues. The value of the car we have agreed is $13k. He is taking my BMW in on trade, and I am adding cash to get to the value.

Additionally, he is driving the car 200+ miles to deliver it and make our trade.

My thinking is that this might be a very fair deal. A car that has this mileage is past the time an engine is going to blow up, and any inherent "legacy" issues have been sorted out previously. I feel and the issues forthcoming will be primarily maintenance and upkeep. Am I nuts? Is my thinking flawed?

 

I'm at just about 140k miles on my 2002 C2, which is also my daily driver. My only problem so far came with a clutch job I did a couple thousand miles ago. The problem was I went for preventative maintanence and went ahead with RMS and IMS replacements. The mechanic broke my oil fill tube and made the replacement RMS part leak. After sufficient complaints I got them redone for free. My first issue in 2.5 years with the car was trusting a mechanic to do work on it. Oh, and I've been racing it on average twice a month for the last 2.5 years I would go for it.