EXPERTS see here - result of PPI - am i expecting too much??

Okay, looked at half a dozen 996 turbos, looking for X50 and Aero, or combination. anyway found what looked to be 'the one'. decent history, reasonably priced. However been stood a while and not used much in last 3yrs - good for me as I will be doing 10k a year. Overdue a service. Last plug service 3yrs ago (8k in those 3 years) 7 yr old car...expected a few bits on body, wasnt too bad, alot came up in the PPI - which was frankly minor but I understand why people want to know (Paint Chip on brake caliper) Anyway - Total of 39 entries! they said it was alot more than most. Owners obviously thought porsche were after business but there is some stuff that is costly. So looking for advice on potential cost and what your views are...I will highlight in BOLD what I think are potential wallet busters! 1/ Sunroof slow 2/ Engine oil needs top up 3/ NSF wheel bad corrosion. all other minor (near bolt holes) 4/ OSF Wing Stone chipped (2 - fairly minor) 5/ Dent in leather rear seat 6/ Leater dent on rear of drivers 7/ Corrosion on drivers sill (slight bubbling on edge of chrome kick plate) 8/ Tape cracking around rear window (under the rubber seal there is some clear tape that is cracked and in places peeling - dealer wasnt sure if this is factory or not!) 9/ B pillar scratch on inside of door 10/ AUG next yr, spark plugs due 11/ Brake fluid change due Sep 10 12/ condition report due Sep 10 14/ battery good/recharge (if good not sure why this is on!!) 15/ rear wheels corroded - covered above 16/ sweat of 'pentason' around resevoir (top left of front compartment - clutch fluid?) 17/ Oil / Sweat NS condensor - pos leak 18/ Smell of coolant from centre radiator - poss leak (did say this is common and might not show sign of leaking for upto 2 yrs) 19/ Rust on NSR wheel arch (2" on edge of body and then inside the lip.) 20/ Front disc badly corroded 21/ rear discs req. drill out (dust build up) 22/ NSR brake pipe corroded (Passed MOT Monday...) 23/ underside of front bumper scuffed (Aero kit - no surprise) 24/ Corrosion starting on front to rear brake pipe 25/ OSF brake caliper paint chipped 26/ sump plug washers / tank washer. Oil pipe on crank case leaking , washers need replacing (new drive just laid so essential!!!) 27/ Slight coolant leak, washers corroded, needs system emtying 28/ Head lamp level adjustor on rear axle broken 29/ Engine under seal required 30/ Both turbo heat shields loose - clips needed 31/ NS turbo actuator link rod snapped - possible turbo fault NS (??? - said that this is probably why he was surprised it was an X50. it didnt feel like one although it drove very well) 32/ Turbo to CAT gasket/bolts and nuts need replacing 33/ Heat shield to rear bumper not secure 34/ Requires Geo check (not sure it does - had geo done recently) 35/ Manifold to turbo - bolts and nuts required (not sure why!! - just 'rusty maybe!) 36/ catch lock on centre console 37/ Due Service now (Yearly - ctually 1 month overdue) 38/ dent NS door (car park ding right in middle - dent master job) 39/ nail OS front tyre[/ Phew!!! Ok - a huge list... they wont warranty it until all NON cosmetic issues are sorted, including stuff like interior catches. Whats DIY, whats a worry and how much do you reckon we should budget. Actuator link rod is a worry...and also are the exhaust stuff, heat shields etc. although he did say to wait till plug service to sort those - so cant be mega urgent. Also as i will be getting a sprts exhaust i guess this makes some of those exhaust bolt / shield issues irrelevant..maybe???? Advice please guys...my pockets are emptying going to look at them! Thanks

Can't help with all those issues (my God, there's a few!) but I will say that the centre rad on an X50 will be about £500 fitted from an Indy garage. If the heatshields are the ones at the side they can be cable-tied up but the top ones have to have the rear PU removed to fix. I was quoted nearly £400 by an OPC if I had them done at the same time as a major service. The Pentosin leaking from the master cylinder indicates the slave cylinder (think that's the correct way round) is faulty which I believe is quite an expensive fix. If it were me, I'd move on and keep looking, especially with the possible Turbo problems. Good luck.

Having had to recently do a few of the things on your list i think you would be looking at quite a few thousand so unless seller is prepared to get the work done or give a reduction in price i would steer clear. If you change the exhaust wont that make you warranty void

I am assuming it was an OPC inspection with a view to getting a Porsche warranty. I would say you could be writing a blank cheque to sort that lot out. For example - slow sunroof - that could cost a fiver or five hundred. There are a lot of things on the list that could cost dearly, yet sound simple. After you have got the mechanicals sorted you then have the cosmetics. It's the bits of rust here and there which need sorting immediately, at the very least. I would keep looking if I were you, or negociate several thousands off the price and get it all sorted before you start using it.

Re: EXPERTS see here - result of PPI - am i expecting too mu Got bored 1/2 way through, Unless this is pitched at a very good price(bearing in mind that the car may be straight apart from the things mentioned) I would walk.

Tino, Who did the PPI? Looks very attentative to detail.

Putting the body work scratches as dings aside, I would say the rest of the items (mechanical) on there are pretty normal for a car of that age - thats why there are so many 6T cars around at the moment at around the £27-30K range, as you can see there is a big bill looming so people move them on - I think you are looking at a bill for £5-6K but will have a proper sorted car once all the work is done.

Thanks for opinions so far... Inspection was done by Edinburgh Porsche. I was considering a warranty or taking a punt and upgrading instead (exhaust / remep etc.) Only reason I had this one inspected was becasue it had been stood 3 months and had run out of MOT and was overdue a service. I think the car is straight...the guy selling it was GUTTED. He thinks alot of it is rubbish and took it to the place where it had just been MOT'd and said all the 'suspected' leaks was basically rubbish and the loose shields etc were easilt fixed. He did say the link rod on the actuator was corroded though.... The car is reasonably priced for the Spec (I think!) and if they are willing to negotiate then I would still do a deal....

Personally I would trust Richard H's view, but in my opinion, I wouldn't necessarily walk away from the car. Turbo engines are more reliable than the NA standard versions, but are expensive cars to maintain. Corrosion on driver kick plates is a very common problem, especially if the plastic kick plates have been replaced by stainless steel versions. This isn't covered under the bodywork warranty, but is something you want to keep an eye on. Spark plugs are about £300 from memory, so not a big issue, just part of the service schedule. I would be more concerned about whether the car was serviced on schedule and whether additional recommended work was completed (if urgent/realistic - OPC do have a habbit of trying to push work that isn't always 100% required) Rad leak is very common, due to stone chips and corrosion. These will need replacing. All round disk and pads are about £1200 from an OPC, but Porsche always say that you need new disc and pads (even when my disc and pads were only 6 months old!!) - my view is check that the disc is not close to minimum thickness (should be in the report) and that there's a bit of brake pad left (not forgetting that they also have wear sensors) - factor this in the price. Factor nail in front tyre into price (can be repaired, but really only if you're not going to track it - officially N rated tyres cannot be repaired) - probably both pairs will need replacing if worn (tread should be within 20% per axle). Rusty bolts is a really common problem and is very annoying, but part of the course. Slow sunroof could either be damaged runners, belt or motor. Personally I think it might be the battery - is there a speed difference with the engine running or not? Ignore the geo check really. This should be done every 4 years, but unless your getting excessive tyre wear, I wouldn't bother. Look at centre gravity for a better deal anyway. Heat shields can be expensive, so good news that they only require clips. Coolant leak, is this engine coolant? It could well be related to the rad corrosion though. Head lamp adjuster is a switch, but about £100 from memory. Not 100% sure about this one. Finally, not sure about the condensors on the aircon system, but not something I'd be worried about immediately. My three main concerns are: 1. Link rod snapped/turbo fault - that could be expensive, anything up to £6k, so I'd want to understand this and get it repaired before the sale. Equally, could be something very straight forward. Did you see what bar it was running at? 2. Sweat of 'pentason' around resevoir (top left of front compartment - clutch fluid?) - again, not sure what that could be. 3. Paintwork corrision. This will be accident damage, so I'd want to understand more about this and would be a relatively expensive repair (but could be something that might not require a full panel respray - depending on the location). I take it that OPC would want all of these things fixing before they'd give the current owner a warranty. If so and a warranty is essential, then as mentioned above, you could be looking at an extremely large bill.

Personally I'd look elsewhere. Most of us are meticulous with our 911's and fix it if something needs fixed. This one looks unloved to me. The cost of putting all that right would soon get you up to the price of a good one.