Top issues, what's next???

Well, I have 8 months of ownership and every other month, something needs to be done on my car. I did major service on it, right after I bought it at the Porsche dealer : - serpentine belt replace - Change of ALL fluids - change of all filters - New Spark plugs - All recommended service and inspection by the manual. Three months after, I bought new tires, balance and alignment. Two months after that, the key got stock a new assembly was required, also done at the Porsche dealer. Now the top is making great effort to go up and down and got stock for a few seconds in the process. A few thousand dollars more? This is my weekend car, since I bought it, I put 4000 miles on it and the same amount of money or more, I will understand if I bought a high mile vehicle with tons of owners but that wasn't the case for this one. Now I understand Kalashnikov how he is so hate full against this cars. I bought it, because it was my dream car, had the color inside and outside I was looking for manual, convertible, everything just fit. Before I was considering leasing of an M3 or the new RCF, but what I was thinking, there's nothing like a Porsche. I have the fortune to own and lease several cars through my life, I got strand it once, but the vehicle was under warranty and everything was taking care of. I was so tempted yesterday to trade in for a new M3 and say goodbye to the Porsche experience, but with the top not working properly, how much are they going to give me? Well I have an appointment this Tuesday for an estimate, I will fix it and then decide my next step. Thanks for reading, sorry I just have to vent

If you don't DIY, any German car of the same age will be as expensive to maintain. The items on your list are quite reasonable and expected. However, I heard the top could be expensive to fix.

Hi.... Am sorry to hear of your troubles with your Porsche. Can you give us an idea of the age of the car, and how many miles were on it when you bought it? Thanks, and I hope the Porsche ownership experience turns positive for you....T

I went through that at the beginning. 20K in the first year. I know the feeling. But I am coming up to year with no addition money spent. Well, the side flap won't move when I removed the hard top so I am going to have to fix that. But my 2008 535xi with 150K miles - cost me $7000 in repairs/maint in the last 6 months. And the 2004 excurision with 220,000 miles cost me $1500 to keep running the last year. The 2006 grand prix was also $2000 to keep running in the last 12 months. The Audi Q7 with 125K miles also was about $1500 to keep running. Point is cars cost $. I keep thinking about draining the fleet and leasing a bunch of honda accords or toyota camrys.

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I bought it with 4K, 03. Sent from my iPhone using Rennlist

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That's true, I drive a lot 25 to 30k per year I had in my recollection a 54 Beetle 180000 miles on it, never spend more than 500 per year, MB 190D with 240000 miles on it, never a problem oil, and basic maintenance, that was it. My daily a 2010 Corolla service at the dealer with synthetic oil and performance oil filter, with 114000 miles, cost of maintenance in the past 4 years $1700. My wife has lease Lexus Over the past 12 years, average maintenance per year less than 200, I can mention many, many more and as of today no other car in my existing or previous fleet ask me for more than $4000 in less than a year to maintain. Sent from my iPhone using Rennlist

Well, you aren't maintaining it. You are dealing with the stuff the PO didn't do or didn't do well. There is a reason the conventional wisdom around here is to set some cash away for the first year. It sucks but it unfortunately isn't that rare. Although you are on the edge of the bell curve.

So I've had my car...my 12 year old car...my 12 year old 4 owner high performance sports car...for 6 months and I also put in several thousand in basic maintanence and other nicknacks that came up. Sure I'd love to have the money but the girl with big **** takes money to own. She'll never love you but so what, she's got big ****. That is the price of the game. Hundayi is always out their waiting if that is what give you the morning wood...but I love the girls with the big ones and so have no regrets for any dollar I spent.

It's a tough call. I fully understand the frustration but you might want to hang in there, odds are you'll get it all sorted and dump it out of frustration and the next guy will get to say "wow, what a wonderful car". For me what seems to be worse is trying to decide to sell one that is fully sorted and a real pleasure to drive and own. And I get you are just venting; wait until you get a diagnosis, just try not to get taken advantage of. Just had the dealer suggest I needed a new MAF, no symptoms, no codes. Just "we have them in stock, they often go bad, that's why we stock them, your car is here, will only take about 30 minutes tops to replace it, the part is $700.00 and if you'll give me the approval I can get right on it". Well I don't need a new MAF and if I did I could buy a Bosch from Pelican for about $250.00 Just saying.

I have to say at some moments I do feel some similarities with 911 Carrera blue the BMW e46 M3 that I converted from RHD to LHD, gave me less trouble than the princess but there is still something special in her...

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You need to start some DIY to save $$$ (especially on the switch, belt and filters) Your top pump probably needs oil. Porsche 911 convertible top add oil - YouTube

Do a search on hydraulic fluid convertible top , - very cheap easy fix for slow moving hesitating tops

I don't understand your frustration. You knowingly bought an 11 year old car. I don't care what the mileage is, age has just as much to do with wear and tear. This also isn't a corolla and it is expected to spend $1500-3000 a year in repairs or maintenance. If you didn't want to deal with these issues you should've leased or or purchased a brand new car. My car is a 2003 6-SPD coupe that had 39,000 miles when I bought it. The car had over $10,000 worth of maintenance/repairs (flywheel, clutch, water pump, etc) done two weeks before I picked it up, then I did IMS and tires (I get free tires). Just my $.02

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Well a performance car will be costly to maintain, off course, 3000 a year sound reasonable to allocate for maintenance and unexpected expenses, I guess you didn't read the first part. Right after I bought the vehicle I did major maintenance service a $2400 bill. Why did I do that? Because the vehicle age. For a low mileage vehicle who has been keep in a garage, barely driven previously, I do not think parts have to fall off just because of age. My neighbor has an MB E320 1999 with 4800 miles on the odometer, no issues whatsoever. In your case if someone procastinate maintenance but before listing the car rush to spend $10000 on maintenance/repairs 2 weeks before listed for sale has to be for a reason.

Thanks guys for all the input, as Jhon Ireland will put it, is the girl with big **** who just care about my money and I just have fun with them weekends only. DIY, I know will save me tons of money, but unfortunately, I do not have the skills and the time, specially at this point of my life, I'm married with 2 teenagers, working 6 days a week. I still can't do eye contact with her, let's see after Tuesday.

Not procrastinated maintenance, he did it because he spares no expense when it comes to his cars. As I said it was a flywheel clutch water pump and a couple other things that the dealer recommended be done to make a 90% car 100%. The car spent its entire life at one dealer, and I have a maintenance book that is, and I'm not exaggerating, 6 inches thick of check ups and routine maintenance records. It was done on time, every time, with no expense spared. He spent the money because he was an honest man, and sold honest cars so that he could sleep well at night. I knew him very well, and knew the service manager at the dealer very well.

911 blue, I think you are suffering from the same issue as me; the issue is that you have a Corolla and your wife has a Lexus. I have an Acura. The reliability and trouble-free nature of the Honda/Toyota products establishes a certain mental expectation for the reliability and cost of use of the car. With my Acura, my 210k (105k) mile service cost me $1,200.00. It was the most major service the car gets, this was the 2nd time this service was done. T-belt, water pump, all accessory belts, all spark plugs, and a motor mount. Techs told me that the car runs extremely strong and I should be GTG until 300k miles. My only "issue" at 210k miles was original PS pump leaking fluid. With a P-car, I had hard time reconciling that some **** constantly was going south. Headlight switch, seat gets stuck, SAI pump, coolant tank, rear tires, transmission sound, CEL. And all of this on the babied car, car that never saw hardcore off-roading, was never raced, was never rallied. P-car ownership was not for me. I would rather have a slightly more boring car, but I don't want to be constantly fixing things or paying someone else to fix it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

It's just unrealistic to compare Japanese cars with European cars, especially Hondas and Toyotas. Jap cars will always win in that department, period. No contests. I also have an Acura which I put close to 100k miles. It's extremely reliable and things rarely break and when they do, the parts are a lot cheaper than those of European cars. When you die though, would you say you wish you owned a Porsche or a Toyota?.....I rest my case

Look at that girl in your post. Now tell me you'd rather she was a toothless hag with saggy old milkless knockers that looked like deflated footballs. A friend of mine has a 991 cab and he complains that he is always having to tighten it up the convertible top and that it gets vibrated to death on the Los Angeles roads. You are probably wondering what could I have done differently. I was looking at 964s and 993s...but they would need just as much work and would have cost more on the initial purchase price. Based on what I read about the BMW Minis they are not very friendly in terms of maintanence costs. I'm guessing the regular BMWs are worse. If you want at bargain, the Japanese are the only game in town. Or an old Corvette. And talking about a Mercedes isn't talking about the same thing...a Mercedes is a luxo cruiser...not a canyon carving eat your children sports car. If the older cars were cheaper I would have bought one. But the world is insane right now and we live in the world as it is. The only other cars out there that interests me is a VW Golf R...or (as per an episode of Wheeler Dealers) a Citroen 2 CV. But the Porsche has bigger **** so what can I say. I think that the only financially practical Porsche is the 914...and that is a fair alternative to the 996. It is a practical Porsche. Any other model Porsche and you are like a drunken sailor on leave...so you better buy a pack of condoms because you are going to need them.

Easy fix here. Put the top down and buy a hardtop. Rig up a winch to your garage roof to lift it off when the sun shines.

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I bought a 99 cab last month, the PO replaced the cab motor and misc - it was $1800 from a porsche dealership-

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Porsche-996-997-Carrera/71-BODY-Convertible_Top_Mechanism/71-BODY-Convertible_Top_Mechanism.htm It really is easy to diy on this one.

Sounds Porsche ownership is more of a pain now to you......might be best to sell it it and get another car/brand that will make you really happy. Best of luck.

It's a real pity that you don't DIY... How I would have loved to have picked up a car with only 4000 miles on the clock. That being said, economics play a large part in you owning a 996. Earn your money and spend a chunk on maintaining your Porsche. I have a 99 cab and was forced into DIY as I am retired. I love the challenge but one day there will be a job that I cannot do myself and then I will have to pay out. All the jobs you mentioned (PLUS MORE) I have done myself and I am almost 74years of age. I got help from you-tube and this forum. I would suggest you sell your car or stick your neck out and DIY from now on. The ball is in your court.

Hurdi, kudos to you for DIY at your age!

wow, that's good stuff Mr. Ireland. I too spent 2k on major tune when I bought my 2003, all the things "blue" had done, I had done plus breaks. Since then with almost 5 years and 15k on the clock, have done the oil pressure plug, key switch, water pump, stat, tires, alignment, and motor mounts, 5 or 6 oil changes w filters cut open. Probably too OCD on the oil changes, but whatever....reasonable to maintain so far-

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This raises a question I've had. I'd love to DIY some more, but how does one acquire wrenching skills? Trial and error, watching experts, YouTube videos, something else? I have done some very basic DIY - change wipers, sand/prime/paint rust spots, fix some unruly buttons & switches, etc. - on my wife's truck, but it's a high mileage bucket, and working on a Honda pickup is likely not that transferable to a Porsche 911. Thanks for any advice....T

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Buy good tools Buy a good service manual Research issues on here If you have a DIY competent buddy that will come over and have a few beers while you work on things, take advantage of that Have at it. You will never know what you can do until you try. If this isn't your daily driver, you have PLENTY of time to work on things. If it is, start small and work up to larger tasks. (brake job, replace belt, repair power window, replace water pump, etc.) You will find that by far the most difficult thing is accurately trouble shooting the problem. Many commercial mechanics are terrible at this. Taking off bad parts and putting on new parts is relatively easy. KNOWING which parts to replace is where it gets tricky. This forum will help with that a great deal. Chances are that 99% of the issues you encounter someone on here has already addressed.

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If you have a Hyundai, some extra cash, and enjoy wrenching, you may find that there are worse things in life... Supercharged, intercooled, coilovers, and a few other odds-and-ends...lots of fun (as long as your wrists are sturdy enough to handle the torque steer).

Thanks Ahsai.. I bought a low profile jack and stands and newer wrenches as I progressed into my DIY. I have worked on other cars in my life but I find the 911 easier by far to work on than any of the others. Apart from changing the plugs and tubes which took longer than I expected. The first thing I did was the serpentine belt, oil and filter. The last was the water pump. In between and over the past 4 years of owning the car, All fluids and cooling system, brakes, rotors, front off for the crap between the radiators, engine mounts, reverse light, several hours every summer on the convertible top. It's now working well (Fingers crossed as they can be a PITA). Solved the inside lights and petrol cap locking via the computer at Porsche for $75 when I told them just where to look in the computer to solve the problem by taking it 'out of delivery mode'. That was solved from advice from this board and '6 speed on line'. I keep in my mind that if I hit a problem, when DIYing, I can always reverse the procedure and take it into a Porsche shop to be fixed. Its been in for a gear box change (covered by extended warranty) soon after buying the car, the computer settings and repairs to a slight bump in snowy weather. Other than those 3 times, I have done everything myself. Probably over 4 years 30000 miles it has cost me personally about $3000. The beauty about DIYing is I know the job has been done correctly. Very satisfying and a proud feeling which I am sure all DIY guys understand and agree with.

Same thing went with my e30 BMW and the same thing applies to my current vehicles. Never add up your receipts Fix, forget, and enjoy!!

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Good for you! Sounds like you're pretty much self sufficient on maintenance and repairs. 996 is a great car to own and DIY on.