new owner here

Hi...I bought a 99' Carrera 4 back in December. I absolutely love the car, even though I have only managed to put about 3,000 miles since then. I haven't had very many issues with the car, but, after doing some reading on this board, I wonder if someone can offer some feedback: 1. I bought the car from an individual locally. The car has ALWAYS been taken good care of at a local shop called Imagine Auto. All records kept and everything in order. Can I purchase an extended warranty for the car? The car has 37,900 miles and it is a 99. I am just a bit concerned about the many nightmares other owners have had with this car. 2. During the winter, on cold days, the temperature gauge has always stayed in the middle. During the summer days, the gauge now goes up to a little bit past the middle. Is this normal for a water-cooled car? I own a Z06 and an STi and neither of these 2 cars, or the other 50+ I have owned done this...I know, I know, this is a Porsche...and it is in fact my first Porsche. 3. A couple of weeks my airbag light came on...there is a sensor underneath the front bumper...it seems kind of loose and I can't seem to get it back in place. Could this be causing this? 4. A few months ago upon doing a top end run on the car the temperature on the car got really hot. It has been the ONLY time this has happened. Upon going home, I noticed there were a lot of leafs on the intake coolers...I am sure that could have been the cause, right? I also topped off the coolant reservoir just in case as it seemed a little low. 5. The car has Techart suspension and Techart wheels with 235/18 up front and 285/18 on the back...and it has a tendency to PUSH...a LOT! Is this normal for this car? Any way to improve on this without putting loads of negative camber up front? Thanks!~!!!! oh yeah...here is a picture of "zamba"....

any feedback? Anyone? What are people doing about the push?

Tailwag, Welcome aboard and congrats on your purchase, she is a beauty. 1. Extended warranty can only be offered by the dealer which is usually applied to backend of an existing warranty. You could use a third party warranty company such as warrantydirect.com if you are concerned. I believe they offer bumper to bumper coverage up to 3 years. 2 and 4. My temperature needle was a but passed the mid point which caused it to run a little hot. Prior to getting her on the road, I performed some maitanence and removed the front bumper yo clean out my radiators. To my surprise I had leaves, cigerrette butts, rocks, dirt, etc... blocking the air flow. I am now running cooler..See my previous post with pics. 3. When it comes to safety devices, bring it back to the dealer to have them diagnose and resolve the issue. Dont take any short cuts here...

temp. get past the 0 (180) in summer her ein socal....seems to be normal. I had Extented warranty. but the company got liquidated by the state of Florida...I am just winging it now...since it is not my only car..I don't really care and losing 2K in 6 months on a warranty pisses me off!! I don't think that there is a airbag sensor under the front bumper,,,this is probably the outside temp sensor! I don't understand what you means by "pushing"... do you mean while cornering??

I have an STi (reliable as heck!!) that I drive daily...and the Z06 that I track and autox...so the 911 only gets out to go and get Sushi on Sundays... - so I feel the same way. And yes, by pushing I mean exactly that...the understeer on the car is tremendous...I am sure having 285s on the back and only 235s on the front has something to do with that...would about an additional -0.5 camber on front help?

Thanks for the feedback...I haven't removed the bumper but spent nearly an hour removing all sorts of goodies...I could have opened a "pet store" with all the stuff I found there... - amazing!!! I might have to grow some ***** and try to take the bumper off and clean them thoroughly. Thanks!!

I am going to try to take a picture of the sensor "thingie" I am talking about in the front bumper.... here are a couple more pics of the baby...I also debaged the rear...

Beautiful Car!!

Welcome! Great photos! My car seems to sit at the 0 in 180 like NicholaasDB here in the SoCal "summer"

My '99 temp gauge will reach the far right side of the zero during stop and go driving in 95F weather. I've seen 106C (222.8F) water temp through the HVAC screen diagnostics. The engine does seem quite tractable at this temp however. I have noticed no drivability issues when the engine is at this temp. The front valence was redesigned on the 2002 model to increase cooling flow to the radiators. These warmer water temps are to be expected on the 3.4L cars. Definitely clean the radiators well. Taking the bumper cover off is very simple. If you do this, you'll be able to remove debris that collects between the AC condensor and the radiator that you can't remove working through the front grill. As for the push, I can't speak to Techart suspension, but the factory sets up stock US market cars to understeer as a safety measure, IMHO. Many of us have installed the euro ROW 030 factory sport suspension which reduces understeer significantly by changing spring rate and sway bar rate staggers front / rear. Others have used differing combinations of aftermarket springs, coilovers, GT3 sway bars, etc, to reduce and/or eliminate understeer. There are dozens of threads regarding suspension. Do a search and enjoy the reading. I did.

thanks again for the feedback. My car is going in next weekend for her oil change and to install an air intake and a set of aluminum pedals. I will have them take the bumper off and clean her really good. I think I will address the understeer by adding 1/2 - 1 degree of negative camber up front and a thicker sway bar on the back. As far as the temperature, mins is exactly at the 0 on the 180 as well, so I guess our cars run a tick warmer when it is hot and on bumper to bumper, especially at 90+ AGain, thanks everyone - this is really helpful.

If you do a lot of high-speed driving in warmer climates, there is a third radiator kit you can add. However, it does not include a fan, and is said to be of no benefit at low speeds. Would probably be good for trackwork though.

Have IA check you alignment, might be a tad off. Rear engined cars all push a bit. A beauty.

Great looking car...I'm in the market to find one similiar.