WIIT (while I?m in there) disease. Is there any cure?

As a newer 996 owner, in curious what folks do to try and balance necessary maintenance and repair work vs the temptation to get carried away with �while I�m in there disease�. Since late Sept, I�ve amassed quite a list of preventative and necessary maintenance work (about $6k on engine and related reliability work, $800 to straighten and refinish the wheels. and probably another $2k on DIY front end suspension refresh and smaller fixes). This week. I pulled off the exhaust to get ready for a Fister mod and noticed how much easier it is to access the coils without the exhaust and rear wheels in the way� I don�t have a full history on the car but pulled a plug and coil to check it out. The one plug looked good. Coils appear to be original. While $350 for new plugs and coils really isn�t a big deal, it all adds up and I still have the rear control arms to do. The good and bad side of living in New England is that I have 4 months of winter to work on the car. So, how do you guys keep from going overboard? Is it even possible? Can anyone reassure me that swapping the coils now will have a real benefit to the engine vs waiting for a failure to swap them?

I feel your pain I just wish I was mechanical and I’m far from it but I bought my car in for standard tuneup ended up changing out coils water pump UAOS and solution yes big bucks in parts and labor Mike

There's not really a way of not going overboard. It's a 20 year old (German Sports) car, all of the standard things will need to be addressed, as well as some points of known concern. Gotta pay to play, which does come with Porsche tax. Best thing to do is space things out over time and level of concern if you can't do it all at once.

If the coils are old it makes sense to replace them while everything is out of the way. Why remove the mufflers twice? I had the same problem when my engine was out waiting for the transmission rebuild. Although the engine was rebuilt a thousand miles before I bought it I still replaced the AOS with a UAOS. The install couldn't have been easier with the engine sitting on a cart. Did I need an AOS? Nope. Did I want to attempt to replace the AOS in the car? Nope. I also took the opportunity to replace the coolant tank and motor and transmission mounts. Do it!

Welcome to the 996 Club. There is standard servicing such as oil changes and there are replacement parts at specific intervals. Good news is that when you replace specific parts, you will have some time until you will need to replace them again. Just get a checklist together, group replacement part projects together that make sense to save money and time, and then manage your checklist over ownership. It's a world class car. Enjoy it!

Nope. No cure. Major symptom of 996 disease. Only successful therapy is frequent garage visits with hands-on rehab.

I wish I knew the cure. I got my car in decent shape, but with no history, so I figure it ALL needed done. I have just grouped things and done one area each winter as it makes sense. This is how I've done it: - IMS, RMS, chain tensioners, clutch, throw out bearing, and misc. parts... - water pump, thermostat, a few new coolant pipes, heater core / foam flap fix, and new Cat Converters (only because one of mine failed), new O2 sensors. - UAOS, vaccum lines, fuel injectors, starter, starter wires, etc. - Coilovers, control arms/bushings, etc. Stand alone projects for me were the coils/plugs, brake fliud flush, and oil changes. Good luck!

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Personally I just have a list that I keep of everything I know I need to do for my car and I've got it in the "Need to do", "Would like to do", "One day I'll do" piles that I can compare with my budget. It was the first category - "Need to Do" that took a lot of the initial budget because for me that is safety items or items that allow the car to start and run! Now that I'm moving more into the "Would like to do" category I'm just trying to be cognizant and stash a little bit of that budget away for the day that another Need to Do comes and I need the money for it right away. Classic car ownership rules!

If you guys need a script for anxiolytic let me know� kidding. If you enjoy working on the car and it gives you a positive sense in the experience of owning a 996 by replacing potential issues do it. Granted your not going into financial depth.

Agree and I'll go one further and say sometimes it's not so much about the money as it's just not fun to get suffocated by a project. Take time to get to know the car and you might find yourself re-labeling the faults as character.

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If coils are not showing signs of cracking or throwing any codes, leave them alone. Replace plugs, check your ground connection while your in there. I replaced all my coils, as when I did my plugs, they were all cracked. Hang around here long enough and you�ll have a $200K 996

Wait til you start tracking it. Best experience in the world. Highly recommend doing it at least once. But, oh my the costs ... You are always looking for a second here and there, and it costs a lot of money to find that second. Then there is club racing. Did everything I could to say no. Take serious DE costs and multiply it by 5.

I 'm a firm believer in doing as much as possible "while I'm in there". These cars pack a lot of technology into a pretty small footprint, as a result you typically have to get through 2 or 3 other things before you can access the one thing you're really after. Makes sense to address everything while you have it all apart, and not have to take it all apart again later. Regarding the coils, I would change them now as depending upon their age, they may have hairline cracks which could cause rough running with the moisture inherent during the winter driving season. Cheap enough to do, and you won't have to get under the car in the cold weather.

No CURE but there is TREATMENT for the disease to lessen the mental/physical Impact: Buy a good set of tools; Use/exercise with the tools regularly Exercise the engine to Red-Line daily..

Glad to hear I�m not alone. My post was mostly made in jest. I did plan on spending a good amount getting the car initially sorted. My (limited) experience with German cars is that they hit a certain mileage and age they they need a lot of investment and then they�re good for some time with simple routine maintenance. I think the combination of it being early winter here and being a new owner, it�s hard not to go turn a wrench at every opportunity. I find myself sneaking away in between meetings to work on the car. My wife asked me, what�s that smell?� just yesterday. Luckily, she didn�t press further when I told her he was penetrating oil. There�s a lot that�s therapeutic about working on these cars. It�s a nice break from the day job. I think I mainly just need to remember that the up front expenses will be amortized over the next several years. It�s just another line item that I need to factor into my overall financial planning. BTW, coils and plugs are ordered along with new exhaust hardware. Bore scope also just arrived from Amazon. Indy says bores looked good when they dropped the sump for whole doing the IMS but I want pics for future reference. Keep the stories coming�

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Very good point. I have some gripes/issues that I�m trying to solve with the interior but I need to set aside my desire for perfection. They will get worked out in due time.

I think it's a good idea to take care of at least basic maintenance items, especially if you don't have much history on paper. I've done coils, mine were cracked. I replaced the water pump, coolant tank, coolant as well. Alternator died shortly after purchase. Runs well now. The more serious items such as IMS bearing, RMS and AOS are upcoming.

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This is me. I like driving it in the summer, and working on it in the winter. My job is nebulous enough, that being able to do something productive with my hands, with clear results, is therapeutic.

The cure is a complex algorithm using the following inputs: Cost of new part, Cost of damage due to part failing if not replaced, and Pain factor to get to the part again.

When I recently performed my own AOS, water pump, and thermostat replacement it gave me immense satisfaction during and after. I ran into some challenges that I thought I could not overcome but thankfully there is this board and the wealth of collective knowledges amongst the members. That and sheer determination to find the solution to my many �oh sht!� moments. It�s fun to do your own work with these car and the cost saving you accomplished. I have a DYI engine rebuilt to look forward to in the (far) future.

Yeah, it�s called �just drive it,� Lol! I don�t believe in proactively replacing items that work fine. Too many replacement items are worse than the original. If something looks suspect, that�s different. If you�re getting a code, that�s different. If there�s a known weak point, that�s different too. Too many people are replacing plugs and coils and it does absolutely nothing in terms out better outcomes. It�s funny, because on the one hand, I have a 23 yr-old car with some original parts, so you�d think these parts will fail any day now. On the other hand, it�s made it 23 years, it could make it another 23 years. Some parts don�t really wear out, they just age. Age is not a function of health, although it�s related, it�s not a direct relationship. Many of us have this car as a hobby. We spend time and money because we like to, or we want to. No history on the car, sure, change all the fluids. Do the IMSB if you want to, but I say, leave the rest alone and do visual Inspections of anything you can. Take good care of it, and it will still be running in the 2041 like my family�s �49 pickup truck.

The cure for the "while-I-am-in-there" syndrome is a skinny bank account. It can be substituted with a maxed out credit card.