hinBoroscope: "Very light scoring, notg of serious concern"

I had a boroscope done as part of a PPI on a 2002 Carrera cabriolet with approx. 50k miles. They scoped from the top through the spark plugs, not through the sump for what it's worth. I understand that it could be worse from the bottom, but does anything we see in the top seem like an automatic dealbreaker? I'm not sure which cylinder each photo is in, but I could ask the tech if it matters. clean? clean? clean? clean? scoring? clean? clean? scoring? scoring? scoring or clean?

Looks pretty damn clean to me.

Bredward, congrats on you hunt for a 996. It's an awesome car! A couple of questions to fill in the holes. 1. What does the shop say about the car after performing the ppi and scope? 2. What was in the sump and oil filter when your shop dropped the sump? 3. Was an oil test performed on the car during the ppi and what did it say? 4. Does the car have service records? 5..Where did it reside over its life? 6. How many oil changes over its life? 7. Was the imsb replaced? if so, what imsb was used and when was it replaced? 8. When was the water pump last replaced? 9. When were the coils, plugs, fuel injectors, maf, oxy sensors last replaced? 10. When was the aos last replaced and wich one was used?

Quotes source post: 18490986

1. They have a laundry list of mostly minor, non-dealbreaker things, like the driver's seat motor being slow and weak, door dings, etc. There are a few actual mechanical issues in the powertrain, like signs of cracked coolant lines, a leak at the RMS, etc. Nothing that can't be negotiated into price IMO. Compression is fine. They measured 14-17% leakdown test which I assume was cold because that would be very high for a warmed up engine. No range 2 overrevs. 2. The sump was not dropped this time, and since they didn't mention the filter, I assume they did not check that either. 3. I do not have oil test results. 4. I have excellent service records from owner no. 1 and 2 (2002-2014) and limited service records since then. 5. It resided in my home province of Ontario, was winter driven by the first owner (2 years) and since then purely a summer car. 6. It's had 1-2 oil changes per year. 7. IMSB is original as far as I know. It will be factored into the price and I need to drop the tranny to fix the RMS anyway. 7,8,9. I'm not aware of when they were replaced, so I will definitely replace fuel injectors to prevent any bore scoring, and consider the others as well.

Uneducated opinion here. Theres a few in there that would make me nervous. Pics from the top: #4, #5, #8, #10. For me it is difficult to tell from the lighting. These are concerning but not catastrophic at the present time for me. I am surprised the mech. didn't rotate the mirror down to view the tops of the pistons. Was this done by a Porsche shop? Consider that I am paranoid because I have been bit by the scoring bug previously.

The engine may be in perfect condition, but you really dont know because the shop didn't drop the sump, scope the bores from the sump and cut open the oil filter. Nor has an oil test been done and very importantly, the current owner has minimal service records over the past 8 years which suggests to me the current owner did bery little to service and maintain the car. But lets assume for argument sake the bores end up being in great shape, you may have between $10-15k worth of work to do on the car to bullet proof the engine with replacement parts and service costs.in essence, do all of the stuff the previous owners should have done. Imho, the seller should be willing to accept a huge haircut for their lack of service, maintenence, replacement parts and procedures.

Because the car was traded in at a dealership, I expect they would have changed the oil and therefore oil analysis and cutting the oil filter may not have yielded any meaningful observations. Dropping the sump could be done, but it's only worth it if there aren't any red flags / dealbreakers from the top end, which is why I'm getting a second opinion here. The PPI shop is a well-regarded independent Porsche shop headed by a former head mechanic at a large and respected Porsche dealership, for what it's worth. Your point on pricing is well noted, GC996. The next step, if the engine bores are good, is to itemize the repairs to get it up to good condition and negotiate a fair discount with the dealership. As far as I'm concerned, a little neglect can be repaired easily enough, but an impending blown motor is a whole can of worms that I don't want to get into... That's why I only mentioned the borescope in the original post, and not any of the other issues.

Good luck with your due diligence. The 996 is an incredible car and platform.

That looks like typical wear .... All our 996 / 997 cars can have a little of this to some extent ....as mentioned bore scope thru the sump is the only way to confirm no major issues. I would use it as leverage to get a better deal and if not I would walk . Lots of examples of cars with clean cylinders....

OP - Do you know which cylinder is depicted in last photo? There’s an area that looks like a baby scuff getter wider in the middle, but the pic is a little blurry. The others don’t make my spidey sense tingle.

hatchetf15, I do not know which cylinder each photo corresponds to, unfortunately.