996 Common faults list for new owners/Prospective buyers

I figure a forum like this might attract a few of the above. As an owner who's had a 996 3.6 C2 and a 996 Turbo, plus done a lot of work on both and also helped maintain a 3.4 C4 and another 3.6 C2 I've observed a few things that don't seem to get mentioned much in buyers guides. 1. Engine mounts (allow ~£250parts +1hr labour). Most important first. The rubber perishes and fails, seemingly more related to age than mileage as I've seen them in the same condition on a 90k mile (left side split while changing), 125k mile (right side failed in service) and 180k mile example (Close to failures but both survived). When they fail, only the gearbox holds the engine and it will drop a good 6inches before it rests on the cross menber. This is definitely not desirable. It's extremely hard to detect but some symptoms are, exhaust gap to bumper growing/uneven, increased vibration at engine start (you should not feel the shake through the seat with new standard mounts), gears moving around in hard cornering. If the gears feel like they aren't when you left them when you're braking and turning in then it's a warning. 2. Inner tie rod ball joints (allow £500parts for both sides inner and outer +2-4hrs labour). The outer tie rods are a commonly changed item on many sports cars, 996s included but I've seen two 996s now where the car was wondering at speed and had play around the straight ahead position. Both had wear on inner tie rod parts. A well maintained 996 should have extremely accurate and responsive steering. The car has an immediate responsiveness to the steering, it should feel very solid in your hand and stable in a straight line. Responding to the lightest input. There are sadly a lot of potential causes for slop in the steering but all of them are wear related. If you have any question about the steering in the car you are driving, something needs attention. 3. Headlight switch cost £85parts +30mins labour - I discovered (when mine failed) that the rotary headlight switch is a common failure point. When it fails you'll end up with side lights only and no dip beam. I could pull back on the stalk to get the flash to operate on my car but regular main beam and dip beam would not operate. For reference I include a list below of common failure points I found in research, but mentioned more commonly: IMS bearing M96 engine cars (more common on later 3.6 cars than 3.4), aircon condenser radiators and pipes (all models), water radiators and pipework (all models), oil pressure sender (m96 engine), glued coolant pipe connections (996 turbo and 997 only), bore scoring (m96/97 more common on later 3.6 996 and 997 engines), Power assisted clutch vacuum tank (turbo only) That's all I can think of for now but please feel free to add below and I will come back and add if I think of any others. As always please bear in mind that the list of very sturdy components is a lot longer and that I could make an equal length list about any car make/model I've owned for any length of time. This list is there to assist owners not put them off!

Door locks, the circuit boards fail and the windows stop falling/rising on closing the door. Fit the VW part to save a lot of money.

Superb. Many thanks, this is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to collect.

This list might include brake pipes, just about anywhere, but especially the connection point on the near side midway. This is covered by a plastic undertray and is very often rusting away. Power steering flexibles rot where they join the fixed line near the rack. Coolant reservoirs crack and leak. Ignition switches go funny and all sorts of odd electrical glitches can result. There will be more to add to this list but everything is fixable and often relatively inexpensive if you can do a bit yourself. Exhausts are pretty good really except for the manifolds where they join the heads, horrible job to replace these, only for masochists!

(New) Owners complaining about the brakes then finding out they were all recently changed last week (New) Owners complaining about the brakes and then finding they haven't been changed in 60k miles. I found new decent rubber to be a game changer if the old stuff is worn/old/low quality Engine mounts game changer as already mentioned Generally every suspension part being less than perfect Sticky PSE exhaust flaps which can give the false impression of looming rebuild due to more build up one side Bad alignment and a good setup can transform a car