Looking at a low mileage 02 996

Hi, I�m considering purchasing a low mileage (52k mi) 02 996. It looks great and drives great. Very little service history though. Oil was 3/4 quart low. Shortly after I told the owners wife I was going to come back with my code reader, I see the owner go out to the car with his own code reader; why I don�t know. But I can guess that he�s going to attempt to clear any codes prior to my efforts. The IMS, RMS and clutch were recently done. The low oil level with no drips under the car has me concerned about bore score. I plan to go back to the car soon and inspect the tailpipes for soot and listen for ticking that gets worse as the engine heats up. Any thoughts?

Purchase a CarFax report for the car before going any further. If it does not show a solid service history, I would take that as a negative, also negative is 4 or more owners. No drips under the car is a plus. Take a video with sound of the car engine with the bay open and post it here. Engine should sound like a sewing machine. You can get noise from bad things like piston slap, but other noise may be easy to solve like idler pulley. Post it here, let's listen before you spend any more time. Good luck.

Thank you. Will do. I noticed a ticking sound on startup but that went away once it got the oil flowing. I�ll listen for other ticking noises and post a video of it idling here.

Quotes source post: 19660612

Feel free to search the UAOS here. Basically, people always run the oil a little low because the OEM AOS is junk and can't handle the oil capacity. Very common. The UAOS corrects this issue. UAOS install/tips/tricks - Page 55 - Rennlist - Porsche Discussion Forums Ultimate AOS The 996/997 Ultimate AOS UAOS-AL Complete Kit (lnengineering.com) Before you buy anything, full PPI with bore scope.

Quotes source post: 19660898

No, wrong. carfax is a trash maintance metrics it assumes the repair was reported. Recipts is what matters if you can't evaluate a car yourself. Someone clearing codes is easy to see. OP where you at? I've got a low mileage 02 c2. I'd let go at market value with recepts. Slate gray coup. Stock, new clutch, rms, ims.

Quotes source post: 19661071

This^ CarFax would show zero maintenance was done on any of my cars (at least from the point of my purchase forward). CarFax can be helpful but I wouldn't base a purchase on their reports other than number of previous owners and even that isn't always accurate.

Carfax is iffy, the only thing I run them for is major accident repairs but even that isn't a guarantee. I had a Bronco with hail damage repaired and it never showed up, meanwhile I've had cars with numerous errors show up. I have a car now that shows fewer owners owners than it's clearly had more in it's 35 year history based on invoices. It may also be good to ensure there aren't title issues, but I wouldn't depend on it much beyond those two things. Run it to exclude major potential issues (accident, title) but, as with anything including a PPI, the rest is on you to verify. If Carfax screws up, you get stuck with the bill (although I think there is some kindof buyback if the title shows up bad and you ran a report? don't hold me to that). If your PPI screws up and misses something, you get stuck with the bill (my two recent PPIs missed $13k of work and $4k of work respectively, both of which should have been very obvious). It's up to you at the end of the day, particularly with maintenance, if I correlated my maintenance records on paper to those on the reporting sites, those sites would report maybe 25% of what was done according to invoices. I'm also not sure why people get so obsessive over 4 or more owners. These cars are going on 20 years old at this point. An owner every 5 years isn't that big of a deal. I'd agree there's a number there I'd be concerned about but 4 in 20 years aint it.

Quotes source post: 19661173

I would rationalize it like this: Very rarely will people sell cars in tip-top shape. There�s usually a couple issues, minor or otherwise, that always need to be addressed. Many owners tends to compound the amount of issues. Additionally, the further removed one is from the original owner, the more complacent one will be about the car�s condition. Cars depreciate as they change ownership, and the monetary value of the car doesn�t warrant taking care of the �little things�. I understand that 911s aren�t like typical cars, and the 996 is actually undergoing some appreciation, but this phenomenon still applies - if only a little bit. And since these 996s aren�t GT3s or GT2s, their ubiquity also plays a role in their neglect. For example: I�m the third owner of my car, and my car�s visual appeal has suffered under my ownership. My car arrived to me with foam exiting the air vents, an unknown service history, but a flawless interior and a new clutch and IMSB replacement. I have yet to replace the IMSB again, which it is likely overdue for. My interior is now noticeably worn compared to how it used to be, and I�m okay with that. I haven�t replaced the AOS, because it�s running fine, and it may be original for all I know. The car is still running the original fuel injectors, and I haven�t gotten around to replacing those either. I�m probably not going to fix the air vent foam problem, because it doesn�t bother me as much. The thing is, it would be a financially foolish endeavor for most people to address these small issues, especially if they want to recoup some money for the sale. It�ll just become a problem for the next owner, who will likely be complacent with the car�s condition.

Quotes source post: 19661071

Sheesh. I suggested CarFax because the OP said there weren't records with current owner. I realize it isn't perfect and it isn't as good as actual records, but it's better than nothing.

My car had a couple of dealership services listed on carfax that the previous owner didn't have receipts for. I contacted the dealerships and they were happy to provide receipts with the personal info redacted.

For sure, Carfax helps to fill in missing pieces of info. Out of curiosity, I did one on my 996 which I've owned for 22 years. It shows a portion but not all of my dealer servicing under warranty back in the early days from 2002 -2006. However, it doesn't show any of my indy servicing since 2007. There still is no substitute for actual service records, oil analysis and an invasive PPI with a Borescope.

Quotes source post: 19661351

I guess I could see that, but the reverse is also true, if new owners tend to resolve issues themselves then the cost being disbursed among different owners may mean issues are more likely resolved. Some people know when it's time to let things go and move on. I'd think quality of ownership matters more and I don't think it's necessarily true that later owners will care for the car worse, especially considering rising values now, people are more likely to be attentive to detail. Mine had 3 previous to me but they were all diligent and I have records going back for most of the cars life, 2 of these owners knew each other, they were all Porsche enthusiasts and never hesitated to fix what was wrong. A single owner of negligent nature for 20 years could ruin the car, so diluting that could be better for the car. I agree there's a limit to this and I looked at one that had 11 different owners, but I think the # of owners needs to be correlated to the # of years as well, a 4 owner car that's 2 years old is something I'd be more concerned about, but for 20+ years...4 doesn't seem that concerning. I'd take a car with 5 of 6 owners knowing how to care for the car over two owners that treated it poorly. I think the bigger issue, having recently bought another 996 as a FSI "donor", is the quality of person that owned the car. These cars were so cheap at one point that people didn't care for them, neglected them heavily, and weren't willing to invest the $$ into keeping them. Of the many I looked at, most were maintained to the bare minimum, if at all. Others had sketchy body work done, others by people who clearly didn't understand the cars and were postponing or ignoring issues. These dilute the market value because you see them all out there for 20-25k meanwhile they need a ton of work.

Quotes source post: 19660612

How did you spot the owner with the code reader headed to his car to possibly do a bit of clearing ....aerial surveillance ? ....or a former MOS 0321 ?

Forgot my cell phone in the car and when the wife opened the garage door there he was.

I�ve decided to pass on the car because there is a record of only one oil change. It should have had a minimum of 23 oil changes at this time. This car sounds like a recipe for bore score.