Aussie 996.2 C2 Aero

Hi All, I thought I should say hello from down under, after enjoying the vibe on here during a few weeks of lurking. I'm a comparatively new owner of an 03 C2 after accidentally buying it over lunch with a good friend who had moved on to something different. My mate and I are both into cars and motorcycles, and have known each other for 20 years, 10 of which he owned the 996. It was an opportunity too good to pass up, a known vehicle that was well used but used well and always looked after. It drives well but has a few oil leaks and other bits that are just a bit tired and in need of freshening up after passing the 200,000km mark. That's all fine and something I knew about and am looking forward to tackling. The car was always spotless on the outside but since taking delivery I've done a bunch of cleaning underneath to try to pin down the oil leaks. I was told beforehand it was RMS and cam overs/solenoids/plug tubes, but after checking it out I think most of the oil around the heads is just from the plastic corrugated AOS pipe. It had an LN IMSB fitted about 50k ago, I'm currently considering what to do there but will at least give it a feel when I'm doing the RMS. Fun and games in store. Cheers

Another Aussie🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺💪💪💪💪💪. Welcome and lovely car. Great to have another compatriot on here. Some really good knowledge on the M96/97 engines here, Where is that pic? I miss the Southern Sky😪

hi awesome car!

Thanks guys, I'm enjoying the journey and the car more and more as it becomes my 'normal' drive. the knowledge on show here and the generosity with which it's shared is certainly impressive for a noob like me. The airport is CBR, but don't hold it against me... I live over the border! It is indeed funny how the sky is so obviously different in various parts of the world, no idea what it is but it's immediately recognisable. I do love the Aussie skies - especially when not filled with flames. After I cleaned up the oily mess on the engine i did about 500km and jacked it up again. Other than the rear main I knew about already, I was looking at where it was coming from over both heads. The photo below shows how it looked, you can see the oil accumulating again on the coils, but it hasn't come from the valve cover, nor the spark plug wells nor the solenoid flanges. From what I can tell it's dribbling down from above, in the area of the injectors. It hard to see up there, but it seems to me the only thing containing oil up there is the AOS breather tube, or perhaps the oil pressure sensor? Are the sensors known for leaking? The breather pipe is visibly oily again on both sides after previously having been thoroughly degreased. The AOS was changed not too long ago, but I'm quickly learning that item is both quite troublesome and very hard to reach. Cheers

The oil pressure sender can leak but its in the wrong place .. too far back and from the picture it looks not to be the issue . Some pictures below but im with you .. the AOS breather pipe is the most logical .. if this has split though there should be running issues .. its similar to taking the oil filler cap off .. maybe to a lesser degree but that sort of thing . On the fueling adaptations then it should say the car is compensating for an air leak .. Rkat , frau , frao .. or adaptations at idle , mid and high range . A cam cover bolt wont in my opinion cause a leak this heavy .. unless something like the heat exchanger is leaking oil onto the top of the engine and running down then the pipe is the probably cause . look from up top .. perhaps remove the throttle housing to get a better look .. i feel that way it should be more obvious . You do actually have power steering pipes over this location .. oil would need to be green if it was these though .

Very nice looking car. And great response from deMort. Another Aussie (QLD) fan here (996TT/50k kms). It is interesting to see the surface corrosion on the engine pictured. Is that an outcome of salted roads?

:welcome: Nice looking 996 The LN IMSB were only recommended a service life of up to 40,000 miles so yes it definitely needs a check when you can. In my opinion they are snake oil and marketed on peoples fear.

Thanks guys, especially DeMort for taking the time to post such an informative response to a 1-poster. Awesome. Great photos showing me whats going on up there which is hard to see in place. It can really only be the AOS line, I was going to wait and pull the motor for a general tidyup but might tackle that pipe in situ straight away since it will take me a while to be ready to pull the engine. Looking at the current thread list, it seems there are a load of C2 Aeros about the place! I should add that mine does not appear to be a factory optioned one (at least not on the option sticker), although the bodykit and Gemballa exhaust both seem to have been fitted on delivery or soon after. My option list seems to indicate M030 suspension, 18" Carerra 5-spokes (which came with the car along with the 19" 997 wheels on there), fancy gearlever and handbrake, lightronics and bose. It also has the nice silver accents in the interior, alcantara headliner and suchlike, they were presumably strandard on the Aus cars. It has Gemballa headers and mufflers which seem to work well although of course I've never driven another one. Not droney at all, in fact you hardly hear them from the cabin but do sound great from outside. The car had a KN pod filter thingy on it but I've refitted the stock airbox. I prefer to know the filter works better with the stock on, but I do so very much miss the indiction howl! I'll do a resonator delete and see what that does. I will also look into getting a durametric or similar so I can look at fuel trims and everything else as the relationship develops. I was leaning toward a Foxwell 530 since it can also do my e36 and 39 BM's, and after using a VCDS on the Audi I found using a laptop in the car quite cumbersome. Can anyone confirm the Foxwell can do fuel trims and other essential diagnostic stuff? Sometimes it's hard to know the exact capacities of these things till you buy them and find they didn't do what it was you bought it for. Regarding the LN ball bearing infra, yeah that's a can'o'worms. Seems the only sensible options on a 200k km engine is to either drive it and monitor it, or split the cases and give it a proper freshen-up along with various enhancements. That's sort of what I did with the missus' e39, pulled it down after it got boiled at 245k km. I replaced all of the normal wearing parts inside and all the commonly failing plastic under the bonnet. Thus far hasn't skipped a beat since and has sailed past 300k and counting. (knock on wood)

Also something else to consider on a high mileage engine is the crank bearings, they start to go through to copper anywhere between 80 and 120k miles which you are just at the end of now. Make sure you split your oil filter to inspect for particles as the last thing you want is a duff crankshaft, they are like hens teeth to get a good used one and new is a fair few dollars.

Yup , that or living close to the coast .. in this case though there is far more corrosion on things like pipe clamps , brace bars , coolant , a/c pipes etc etc . The above pictures are typical of what i see . ref OP .. take the throttle body off , you should be able to see the issue with that out of the way .. if not then the compressor off .

On this topic, I do notice it has a slightly rougher idle than I'd expect, a bit of vibration you can feel through your back in the seat. Today I drove it to work and pulled the oil cap off when I got home. There was a reasonable vacuum there, it started sucking as soon as I turned the cap and then I had to apply a little force to pull the cap off. Not much but some. I should get a manometer and check it out properly, should have one I can bludge from work. The car runs nice and doesn't blow any smoke on startup other than one time. I started it just briefly to move it out of the garage, and then the same again an hour later to put it back in. A day or three later when I next drove it, it blew quite a bit of smoke on startup. Hasn't done it again since. It was serviced by the local indy just before purchase in March and the oil level is right at the top mark. I gather it's better to run them around the middle? I can pull out 500ml with my oil vacuum device if that is advisable. On the topic of removing the compressor, it is noisy and needs replacement anyway. Is it ok to get the gas removed somewhere and drive the car (with AC turned off) 50k's or more home to replace the comp? I presume as long as the clutch is not engaged it is static anyway. I could perhaps even disconnect the clutch wire for a bit of safety? Cheers

You can drive the car forever with no a/c gas if you wish .. it's no different to the a/c being turned off . Strangely enough i have a 996 engine out today to replace rear over engine a/c pipes .. yup they didn't come apart at the join to really be reusable so engine out. Anyways .. i new it had an oil leak .. i think from the pictures you can figure out what's leaking .. a bit further forward than where your leak seems to be coming from but either way i thought id show you the area and the leak from this pipe along with where its routed .. Doing it in situ and i felt this might help a bit . Right click on the image and open in a new tab ( chrome ) for a larger picture .

Thanks, very informative! By the way, I'm curious. How long does it take to remove the engine/trans when you know what you're doing and have all the right gear? And what is the story with your daughter's crowdfunding thing and is she still able to go wherever it was due to C19?

It's about 2 hours to remove the engine and box depending on what's seized .. I spent about 3 hours getting this one out .. had a few issues and it was also Friday afternoon and about 34 in the shop so tired and hot lol . My Daughter was supposed to be going to Africa in 2 weeks time ( the guys / girls here donated the cost of the trip ).. It was canceled , waiting on insurance refund atm .. post here is all about it .. first and 12th page gives the details though . http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=131214

OK I only did the first few pages and the last few, but what a fantastic story - other than the bizarre turn of events that scuppered it despite the valiant deeds of everyone involved. Even if she did not manage to make the trip, I reckon even the experience with the fundraising will be forever imprinted in her memory. Do good deeds and ye shall be rewarded. I'm on another forum for a similar but different interest group and there have been a few occasions where folks have all chipped in to help out forum members in a bind. Health issues, loss of home by bushfire and so forth. Similar sums have been raised and like here it was never the person in need who initiated it but rather concerned friends on the forum. Of perhaps more value than the actual money is the notion of so many people just doing a good deed for you. That can mean more than anything. Top work everyone! :thumbs: