Should I feel this anxious about my 996?s ?will to live??

Most of you have far more mechanical knowledge and skill than I. So I ask this long-winded question in search of your wisdom� This, my second consecutive 996, is the perfect 911 for me. And yet, although what I have is a very well cared for, never once �rev limited� low mileage 996, I struggle with the low level anxiety of never really knowing if this car will catastrophically fail one day, leaving me with a $5,000 roller instead of a $30,000 dream machine. Yes, it has the LN IMS and a new clutch that are both only 5,000 miles old, and each mechanic that has done minor repairs over the last eight months has told me it�s an excellent 996. So the question: Should I be this concerned each time I start the engine and go off on my weekend drives, or should I be risk averse and sell it? UPDATE - Thank you all for the great responses. It�s definitely reassuring and sensible feedback!

I think your car looks very clean. And if its got a clean bill of health, I wouldn't be worried. but you kind of have to trust your gut, right? I have a 44,000 mile 996 C4S myself, and I've been debating this decision too. I am on the fence of either flipping it for a profit, or dropping some substantial money it to it and really make it mine. For me it comes down to a few factors: 1) ownership history - #1 thing for me is that my car is a 2-owner vehicle from a hot dry climate. Recent IMS/clutch like yours, only range 1 overrevs, standard cam deviation, no misfires, a clean bill of health from the mechanic, etc. If the car was missing ANY of these things I would pass it on and look for the next one. Personally my forever 911 won't be a 996/997 that spent any time in a cold weather climate. 2) spec - I don't modify cars, so spec is huge for me. I would never put aftermarket wheels on, the most I would do is coil-overs, so the color and original wheels specced with the car are huge for me. If you don't mind aftermarket then this might not be a concern. In my case, I'm falling more and more in love with my particular spec. 3) what would you replace it with? is there a car that you think could be a better fit for your forever 911. This is the one I really struggle with. As much as I love the 996. I'd be lying if there wasn't a part of me that still sees a 997.2 or a 991.1 as a more appealing machine (for better or worse). Of course there are those who would say I would regret this "upgrade" but you really gotta follow your heart on this one.

In the finiteness of all things lies their beauty�

Beauty car right there! Keep it, love it, drive it!

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I haven't read the other replies but I'll give some advice. Stop reading Rennlist! Ok - that's a little facetious. It's a marvelous community and if you ever have a problem or need resources, it's the best place to come and learn. But most of the forums are about problems from broken sun visors to "my coolant is mixing with my oil and blowing smoke out the rear." That will just feed your low level anxiety. Enjoy the car. Stop buy once a week and read "What I did to my 996 today" thread and learn about preventative maintenance. Ignore the rest. Doom and Gloom from owners who have suffered misfortune. These engines are designed to be driven hard so do it! Be thankful you don't own a BMW.

How is your 996 any different than any other car? They are all mechanical machines and all have a form of failure. Even brand new cars are often recalled for major/minor problems. Is your anxiety about the car....or the money? Hmmmm...good maintenance is key.

The best cure is to self insure. That is, have a special fund set aside for catastrophic expenses. Apart from that, you can minimize your expense with regular maintenance. You should also do periodic oil analysis. It's cheap and gives you some data on the health of your car. The biggest thing is to keep on top of maintaining the car. "A stitch in time saves nine" still applies here. If you can't afford a slush fund for your car, then you will quickly find yourself serving your car instead of it serving you. These are old cars with expensive parts.

After the EPS IMS install using a Vertex bore kit... my heart sank when I opened up the oil filter after the first oil change since the service. Honestly I bought the car with the understanding maybe at some point it would die. With that said, it ended up not being a factor but the nagging insecurity still remained. The car is probably not going to die catastrophically and it'll take awhile so you'll have time to figure out what you'd do if you needed to do a rebuild. Also a roller as clean as yours would be be worth a lot more than $5k!

I unfortunately had intermix last year which was very expensive to repair. It seems the previous owner had a water pump failure years ago that finally caught up to me. Regardless, I don�t live in fear of the car blowing up. If it happens, it happens. What�s the point of obsessing over it?

if you are continuously worried about a potential repair bill, it will take away your enjoyment of the car. You really have two choices. ------- 1: sell the car, and find something that doesn't give you that sense of worry. 2: mentally accept that you may have a large repair bill in your ownership of the car, and either set aside money towards that future bill, or just be prepared to repair and then keep driving. ------- I drive a 174,000 mile 996.. Yes one day I will have to rebuild the engine. I think about that with a little bit of joy, because when that is done, I will have another 100K+ miles to go.

I drive your 996s doppelg�nger so I can empathize. After buying it almost 2 years ago, I drove for a year with only oil changes and some anxiety. But once I decided it was a keeper, I found the nearest IMS Solution certified installer. After it passed pre-qualification and was given a clean bill of health, I tried to do everything possible to keep it going: IMS Solution Clutch Flywheel RMS AOS Plugs Coilpacks Timing chain tensioners Fuel Injectors Water pump Low Temp Thermostat Serpentine Belt + Rollers +Tensioner Fuel Filter Transmission, Clutch, Brake and Coolant Flush Now I drive with less anxiety and if the engine decides to blow up, at least I tried

MBH, What I have learned over the past 20 years of 996 ownership is that the car and it's M96 engine is durable as he'll. You can track it very aggressively, drive it across country and enjoy it driving around town locally without any worries. But just like any other car, you have to take care of it with the proper service and procedures. The good news is that the 996 costs substantially less to service as a 20 year old classic than other marque names if you understand what to do, why to do it, and how to do it. More importantly, I would argue that due to its wide and successful usage in the 986/987/996/997, more is known about the M96 engine, it's potential issues, preventative medicine and solutions than any other Porsche or any other marque named performance car. The more you know, the easier it is to solve. And most importantly, the M96 engines have more cost effective solutions than any other classic car, many of which are discussed in great detail on this forum. This is important because collectively, the M96 community has solved for EVERY issue with cost effective procedures and bolt-on solutions that prevent the issues from occurring. Bet there isn't a Ferrari, McClarren, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Corvette or other classic performance sports car owner that wouldn't want the equivalent solutions for their issues, and they all have issues, and all their engines will need to rebuilt someday. And that rebuild will be boatloads more expensive than any top of the line M96 engine rebuild. So here you own a 996 with a low mileage engine that all of the potential issues are well known and has a solution that prevents every issue known to man over the past 22 years. Whats not to like about the 996? It's a long-term keeper.

Existential realities of 996 ownership. Stop wringing your hands and drive�🙄geeezzzz! If it breaks, fix it� or not

Liberate that car's soul and drive it the way it was designed to be driven. Along the way you might liberate your own soul!

There is a very quick and easy way to clear your head. I just went thru the same exercise over the past two months as I was about to begin my second 10-YR refresh. I wanted to analyze the condition of my 57k mile engine before I refreshed parts. So here is what I did with my Indy. 1. Oil analysis to see what was floating around in my oil to determine what internal parts may be failing. All was good. 2. Dropped my oil pan to see if I had any bits. All was good. No bits. Same with oil filter. 3. Scoped the bores from the oil pan. All was good. No bore scoring. 4. Scoped the bores thru the spark plug holes. All was good. No bore scoring. The engine was running great, no signs of borescoring or problems, but I wanted to be sure before I went to my next phase of replacing parts in my 10-YR refresh. If I did have problems identified by the analysis, then I would go into prevent mode to prolong engine life and work towards a rebuild. Yep, everything check out. So I have completed my 10-Yr refresh of replacing key parts such as my IMS retro with a new one and upgrading others such as replacing my Porsche Motorsports AOS with the UAOS. Many other things were done but you get the idea. I highly doubt with a low mileage car in the condition it's in that you have anything to worry about or lose sleep over. But it would certainly make sense to go thru the same procedures I just went thru to see what you have in your engine. When you get back a positive result, you will breath a sigh of relief and then start thinking a bout what you have to do with the car to keep it in such pristine working shape for the next 20 years. Most important thing you can do is change your oil at least 2x a year.

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You should listen to your mechanics and stop the anxiety that is eating you from the inside out. These cars are solid examples of Porsche 911 excitement. Knowing the core problems with any car shouldn't poison your mind into living in fear of catastrophic failure, but instead, provide more clarity in what needs to be addressed to prevent such failure from happening. It seems like you're doing just that. Stop thinking about the risks and take a long drive with the windows and sunroof open. That will remind you why you bought this car.

Seems lots of sports cars have "quirks" that can become quite expensive. If you got rid of it, would you replace it with something else? There are guys on the 991 forum that are having VTS issues, 997's with bore scoring or PDK issues, and some of these guys have paid $20K+ to get their dream car back on the road. Peace of mind driving would probably be more in line with Honda or Toyota.

These cars get out of shape quickly if you don't exercise and feed them right. They like to be fed high quality fuel and have frequent oil changes with high quality oil. Most importantly, they like to be driven between 4,000 - 6,000 rpm to shake off the dust, followed by heavy braking to make them feel alive. Just saying...

OP - Fight the ‘over-analysis paralysis’. You’ve owned 996’s long enough. Keep driving the car without babying it. The more you drive, the more you know. The more you know, the more you maintain. I heard phantom ticks or tacks I imagined as the engine’s rhythmic death knell for way too long. But after only 30,000 or so miles of the exact same sounds every day, I’m recovering my sanity slowly. Don’t be like me. Don’t let RL posts of engine disasters ‘Karen’ your enthusiasm for your beautiful Pcar. As others said, have that money cushion to insure and ensure. The 996 is such a crazy great car to drive…drive it! Gonna go take mine out for a spin or two right now. Peace.

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This. When I got my car, the last guy had dumped it over a tick. A quick DME readout showed it was a VarioCam actuator that had gone bad. I'm lazy, so I've not fixed it, but I've put almost 10,000 miles on the car with said bad actuator and nothing has blown up. These cars are very robust. The chassis is phenomenal, the suspension isn't exactly failure-prone, and the "weak link" of the driveline is a collection of misconceptions about the M96. If you keep up on oil changes, don't let it run hot (by keeping your cooling system in order), and don't always warm up by idling, you shouldn't really have to worry.

PS - Just got back from my drive. Windows down, RPMs up and M96 symphony at 11. Filled up with Shell while I was out. I use good gas, change good oil frequently and use my Durametric or Schwaben to monitor car health every so often.

I drive a 2000 996 cab, had the pre-qualification, and was given a clean bill of health, and during the Covid lockdown, I did the following. IMS Solution, with pre-qual done by a local Porsche shop Clutch Flywheel RMS UAOS Water pump Low Temp Thermostat Serpentine Belt Fuel Filter Transmission, Clutch, Brake, and Coolant Flush Within the next few weeks Plugs Coilpacks Timing chain tensioners Fuel Injectors add center CFS and both radiators new tires I am not going to worry and drive it and if it grenades, why there is always Raby or LN Engineering. I have owned 356's, 912, 914, and now the 996 of which there are enough resources to put any fears away other than the issue of how much are you willing to spend? Other than that ........AT SPEED!

Right behind you Hatchet. Going for a high rpm spin thru the gears in an hour. Hope to figure out how to work my GoPro so I can record the sounds. The 996 is without a doubt one of the greatest cars ever produced for driving. Amen.

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This is about what I've done on my 1999 coupe. All the 30k items + tires and anything else that was wearing out. Car feels so solid you would think its new, not 25 with 110k miles.

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I drive a 2003 4S coupe with 43,xxx on the clock. I did this entire list with a very few exceptions (IMS replacement rather than Solution, nothing on the radiators yet, stock AOS, transmission flush coming up ) She purrs like the proverbial kitten....

Damn I love the 996! Took it out today for a spirited ride and just marvel at its capabilities.

OP -- I know how you feel. I did every bit of preventative maintenance on my 996 and the replacement bearing (*not* an LN item) failed on the engine last year so it had to be rebuilt. Fortunately it was a relatively cheap rebuild since the cylinder bores still looked great. After that, I needed a few months to get back to confidence with the car again. This spring, I got stranded with a blinking CEL due to multiple misfires. When the car got to my indy, it was running completely fine again. After some research, we decided to replace the MAF and it has been running well since -- but of course I'm still not 100% confident after all this. That will take some more time. My takeaways: - I enjoy the car very much but accept that it may die on me at some point (although it most likely won't now, after all the work that has been done) - No one should ever install any replacement IMS bearing except the IMS solution

Yeah, there are six failure points on the 996 that can lead to engine failure, all of which are EASILY preventable and cost effective. The first four can occur on the street and track. 1. BORE SCORING - change your oil at least 2x a year and run good gas. This is a no brainer but most don't do it. 2. OEM IMSB - replace with LN Solution or Retro 3. OEM AOS - replace with UAOS 4. OEM WATER PUMP - replace with new OEM water pump every 5 years The following two issues typically occur on the track, but can also occur on the street. 1. OIL STARVATION & OIL PRESSURE INSTABILITY - can be mitigated by using the UAOS Track version and running 1 quart of extra oil in combination with either a 2 quart deep sump or replacing the 2 quart deep sump with the UIDS which is designed to eliminate any oil starvation or oil pressure instability. 2. OIL COOLING - lack of oil supply (see above point) coupled with an overheated engine on the track can lead to engine failure. First the owner needs to solve for OIL STARVATION & OIL PRESSURE INSTABILITY and then they need to solve for cooling by either running a third radiator or adding additional oil cooling or preferably both. While 3rd radiators are available today, there is not yet any oil cooling kits available for the 996, but LN is working on one. This will be huge! Folks, if you solve for these 6 things, your engine will be more than bullet proof, it will be grenade proof assuming your engine hasn't already been damaged. How do I know, I have solved for #1-5 a long time ago. Now I am waiting for the availability of the new UIDS and the new LN OIL COOLER. When they are ready, they are going on the car. You want to sleep at night with a smile on your face, here is your list. ***Please look at Philbert and Formerly996 lists on this thread. These items are important to the service and maintenence of your car.

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For someone who cant do the work themselves, you just listed about 10k to 12k worth of work. Not exactly what i would call cost effective.

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You said exactly what I was thinking. I�m not mechanically inclined and I didn�t spend $26,000 on a car to then immediately spend $12,000 on maintenance. I have to believe that most 996 owners are like me, in the sense that we bought this car because we always dreamed of owning a 911 and this is the one we could afford to buy.

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Right - and this is where a lot of folks learn that "afford to buy" and "afford to drive" are not the same thing. The answer to your question is - no, I don't think you should feel anxious at all about owning something that is supposed to be fulfilling your dreams and giving you pleasure. Nobody can tell you what you want to hear because none of us know. If you fear that the expense of maintenance is going to overwhelm your ability to enjoy the car then I would say, unfortunately, yes you should sell it. Find something else that will make you purely happy. These old girls are only getting older but there will be a few sitting on the curb somewhere in 10 years if you decide you'd like to try it out again. Perhaps loaded with some new mechanical knowledge - if you're open to learning!

Yep. It's not the cost to buy the car, it's the cost to keep it running. But hope isnt a strategy that works in keeping a Porsche running. Maintenance is. Unfortunately, the reality that very few want to hear is that you either pay for the maintenance now or have to call Jake later. Funny thing is most would rather put shiny stuff on the cars and make it look pretty instead of taking care of their engines. Then they wonder why they have an engine problem. Quite frankly I can't figure it out. 🙄

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Yeah, I wonder the same thing about many of the folks who are on these threads. As for me, whenever I�ve gotten the oil changed on either of my 996s, or done other repairs that have come up I ask my mechanic to tell me what preventative steps he thinks I should be doing, or alert me to anything that he feels is approaching the point of needing to be addressed.

MBH... But you did start this thread with a high level of anxiety. In fact, many of us told you how to relieve it. Your call if you want to use the info. Just trying to give you and all others in the same boat viable solutions. 😃

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Beats the alternative...

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Few things. You call this stuff maintenance. To even the sports car community and reasonable people at large, maintenance is regular oil changes, plugs, fresh fuel and air filters, flushing fluids, etc. What you listed are basically re-engineered solutions to bad design. As to beating the alternative, maybe. Its all about expected values and risk tolerance. Just kinda sucks that you have to spend 10k on a poorly designed motor to avoid a 25k rebuild, so i get the OPs point

Ive posted many times that buying a 996 is like joining a country club, the purchase price is just the initiation fee. Monthly dues are paid in the form of routine maintenance plus upgrades such as IMSB Solution or Retrofit, UAOS, etc. I spent $38k on my 03 4s and easily another $10-15k since but I can pretty easily get every penny back if I sold it now and Ive enjoyed over 37,000 miles of smiles in the past 3 years.

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Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, there is a cost to owning a 20 year old porsche. Nothing wrong with not wanting to pay to play. But if so, it may make more sense to sell the Porsche and buy a Honda. Besides, if you are unwilling to perform the proper service because it costs too much, then you are probably too afraid to drive the car, which means you certainly aren't enjoying it. So why own it?

I had a very nice 996 Cab. Given the odds, I thought I could live with the potential of catastrophic IMS bearing failure for a while and that I would retrofit the Solution within a year or two. Instead, I ended up buying a 997 turbo shortly before prices went through the roof. Metzger engine, problem solved, right? Wrong. Spun a cam actuator a year after purchase. Teardown, repair, and a host of "as long as you're in there's" later, the invoice was five figures. But I don't care. It's better than it was, and I enjoy it every time I drive it. You wanna play...

Mine is fixing to hit 100k miles. I change the oil every 6 months or less. I always pay attention to the temps and oil pressure. Before my adventures I always check oil , coolant. In 9000 miles I have checked the cam deviations 3 times. My mechanic replaced the water pump and put in a new low temp thermostat when he was installing my soul headers. The water pump was a porsche part and in great condition so he told me to keep it. Run good quality fuel, I run shell v power 93 and sometimes etanol free. Before every oil change I run Techron thru the tank. Clean the radiators, heat will kill these cars. Super important start the car, take off dont let it idle, don�t hit the hammer until everything is up to operating temps. Before operating temps shift around 3,500 rpms. Have fun, these cars are not fords or chevys. I just bought an 03 turbo but I�m not selling the early 99 coupe on the contrary I�m putting an ipd plenum on it. If it blows I�ll just rebuild an engine bigger of course. I drive it hard, but I don�t hit the rev limiter. These cars like high speeds. I always go supersonic, fastest I ever been 160, doing 115-125 for me is normal. I bought my car at a price that if an engine was going to be needed it wasn�t going to be an issue.

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Stage 1 over-revs are not an issue at all. That's what the engine's limiter is for. The problem is the stage 2 (money shift) where the engine is mechanically forced to over-rev. Even then it doesn't mean certain death, but I wouldn't be playing Russian Roulette with any Porsche engine. I hope those speeds are on the track.

Can almost guarantee you that your car will last much longer if you drive it hard. Don't abuse it obviously, but drive it hard. Nothing wrong with a rev limiter for a second or two between shifts every now and then - it's designed that way. The cars with the most issues are the ones that are babied and/or driven infrequently.

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Yea, I know about the spun cam actuator issue on the 997 Turbo, and a few other mezger "issues"...

I went through this before. It comes down to this: some of us will face a potential engine rebuild. It could be $20k-$30k, and it�s maybe a 5-10% probability. If that bothers you, you need to find a way around it. I just drive my car and wait for stuff to break. I don�t proactively do all the AOS, RMS, IMSB, or any of that stuff. Instead, if something breaks, I fix it. I spent $7k on two bad solenoid actuators and a fried DME. That hurt. I also bought a new top ($2k), and some convertible work. Aside from doing extra things like track day items, the other consumables such as brakes and all that, no big deal. For maintenance, many people used to say to set aside $1000-$2000 per year for maintenance and potential repairs. BTW, everyone suggesting to drive the car hard is right. For some reason, track cars tend to hold up better than cars that just sit around. All lastly, this anxiety you feel is not uncommon among many 911 owners. Some have plenty of money and don�t think twice about the extra hundred grand it costs to operate a new 911 over several years they paid a hundred grand for. A used 911, however, can be 1/3rd the cost. So thirty grand to buy and thirty grand to operate over 10-20 years. And then the car�s value will hold or even rise, so total cost of ownership isn�t really that bad. We used to say that it�s cheaper than a new minivan.

Well said Mike. Porsche ownership and service can be sliced and diced many ways. But regardless how its done, owning a Porsche is a big boys game. It's gonna cost you now, or later or along the way. Just comes down to how you want to do it. Yep, I would gladly do it all over again. Too damn good of a car not too.

Maybe this might ease a lot of people's minds. Last week, I was getting gas and a blue 996 pulled in next to me. The car was in bad shape cosmetically (paint fade and dings all over). I wasn't driving my 996, but I asked him how many miles was on his because it literally looked in the condition of most old farm trucks. He told me it was an 01 wih 230k miles. I asked him about the IMS bearing and oil consumption, and he told me he's had several people ask about the IMS. He said he did not even know what that is lol. He said he gets an oil change every 3,000 miles and never had to add oil between changes. He told me the 911 is his only car after his divorce and retirement as a lawyer. He said he drives from California to Texas every few months to visit his grand kids. Only takes it to a shop for regular maintenance and that's it... Take it for what it's worth. Stop reading doom and gloom stories on the internet.

Hey man... Get him on Rennlist!

^^ I agree this is the secret to enjoying your 996. That said, I planned on doing a trip this weekend with the 996 but it would only run on five cylinders� misfires on #1. Looks like another round of coil packs for me.

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He is too innocent and too happy for this forum lol

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For the love of God, don't ruin this guy's buz and tell him about RL!!! The happy M96/M97 owners are those that never visited this godforsaken place...

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Time for him to take a walk on the wild side.

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That's one way to look at it. And I know you are joking. But, when I picked up my 996.2 last year I was fully armed with the best knowledge available from this board to prepare my 20 year old high performance car for it's life with me. I spent $17k on a long list of stuff, any one of which could have disabled my car on a trip, or worse. And when the old parts came out, you could see that they were tired and did indeed require replacement. Rick

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Amen brother. There is nothing to fear about the 996 as long as you properly take car of it. There is no doom or gloom. There are only solutions. Why? Because every 996 issue known to man, what causes it, how to prevent it, what solutions are available, and what to do if it blows up because the owner didnt address the issues, have been well documented. Especially on Rennlist. But yes, it costs money whether we like it or not.