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YOUR RESEARCHNewby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
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Inspect *before* you buy it, not
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Use what you have learned to remember to get a car inspected *before* you buy it, not after.
Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
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Leading evidence: 'Inspect *before* you buy it, not' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check car like an fbi detective..lol' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
Replace hands a number of times
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Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
Replace only thing
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
The only thing that we found was oil leak in valve cover gasket which was replaced by a seller.
Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
Check car like an fbi detective..lol
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Suggestion · Original poster
I guess next time I have to be extremely suspicious and check a car like an FBI detective..lol
Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
Replace of hands is a possible opportunity
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Suggestion
I'm not expert on these matters but each change of hands is a possible opportunity to "wash" the title and hide the fact the car was given a salvage title due to flood damage.
Newby to 996. Got a 40th AE discovered possibly water damage
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>hi all. I posted in another thread but was suggested to start a new thread. Anyway, long story short just got a 2004 996 40th AE. Nice clean inside, runs good, PPI revealed nothing except needing clutch soon, valve cover gasket leak and rear wiper not working. Gasket was replaced by a seller. Clean title and clean carfax. Bought the car, brought to my friendly porsche mechanic at manhattan motorsports (service manager is a freind of mine) for IMS/clutch job. Lo and behold he calls me last night tells me possible water damage as they dicovered corrosion in undercarriage after removed plastic paneling. Started looking inside, seat rails appear painted, so are the door hinges. I like the car, but I'm not sure if it makes sense to fix it and drive it or try to get my money back from the seller (some mech shop) any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks
If you bought it as a collector car at collector car values it maybe worthwhile to outweigh your options, otherwise just drive and enjoy.
If it was flooded, rather than just driven through a rain storm or deep puddle, you will probably see the immobilizer has either been tampered or replaced as those usually get wet and go bad. Also if you lift up the interior carpeting, you may see some signs there too.
You could also ask the shop for some sort of extended warranty considering that you might have proof of a water damaged vehicle and that you might want some assurance from them that they will stand behind the sale...
You could also state where you are located and see if any members are near to you that have some knowledge in this particular model and might help you go over it with a fine tooth comb...
I bought in Waterbury CT. Originally car was purchased in edison nj registered in Goshen NY and appears to have spent in Harriman NY area, then it was sold in 2008 to someone in Wayne/Montville NJ area. The very next year in 2009 was traded in to a dealer who in turn sold it to someone in same area Towaco NJ. After that it was traded in 2014 to dealer and sold at auction in 2015. I bought it from the guy who got it at auction.
The signs you mention don't necessarily point to a car with "water damage", that is has been subjected to some level of immersion in water, aka a "flood car".
A car that has spent its life on the northeast and has probably spent a good amount of time being driven in bad weather, perhaps even in the winter, is going to show some undercarriage corrosion.
Pics would help though.
Seat rails being repainted? I don't know about that. If the seat rails were under water then what is the condition of the carpets, interior trim panels? Are the seats like "new"? Remove the seats and look at the other under seat hardware. What I'm getting at does it look like the interior has been refreshed to address water damage?
Painted door hinges is another oddity. Can't imagine hinges needing repainting and the door and its guts not being affected by water then.
Enlist the help of soemone you know with a sensitive nose. A flood car often retains a subtle odor. Still this may not be conclusive one way or the other.
The car changed hands a number of times. I'm not expert on these matters but each change of hands is a possible opportunity to "wash" the title and hide the fact the car was given a salvage title due to flood damage.
If you have serious doubts about the car then if you can get your money back you should consider it. You might not get reimbursed for what you've spent but you get what you paid for the car back and can begin your search for another car.
Use what you have learned to remember to get a car inspected *before* you buy it, not after.
He did a PPI before he bought it. That's what makes me think he's stuck with it ("as is" sale and his own inspection didn't uncover the problem), unless the seller just wants to buy it back as a goodwill gesture. But if he bought it from "some mech shop", then I doubt they care if he's pissed.
The rear wiper not working is a fine excuse to delete that sucker.
Nice work spelling lo and behold correctly. Clearly the Internet has not yet had time to make you stupid.
Well... I did have the car inspected with a mechanic. Usually you don't think of pulling carpets and seat off to check water damage unless it was suspicious. The car presented very well. Clean, drove nice no rattles or sqeaks. The only thing that we found was oil leak in valve cover gasket which was replaced by a seller. The clutch felt too tight but I already figured it was in a need of replacement. I figured I would replace the clutch togather with IMS retrofit. And gave the offer accordingly. I guess next time I have to be extremely suspicious and check a car like an FBI detective..lol
I actually took the car to the shop for IMS job not to inspect it... but once they pulled the plastic covers off that's when they noticed all the corroded nuts and bolts..
My car has fairly significant surface rust on the muffler hangers, header bolts, etc. If that's what you are talking about, relax, you're fine. You bought a car that lived in the Northeast.
True about Northeast. It seems the more I talk about it the more it seems the porsche shop is giving me worst case scenario doom and gloom kind of situation. BTW does anyone know a reliable and not insanely priced indp mechanic in NYC/long island area? I used to go to Sonny at sm motorsports in new hyde park but his prices become almost dealer like. Thanks
Yeah what DT said. Anything that can be corroded or get rusty on ours is and it's never never had a leak much less been flooded. It's just what happens to metal when it is exposed to the world.
Now if it is more that just surface gunk or is coming from the inside, that's a different story.
Manhattan Motorsports might not be the best place to take a 12 year old car, unless it's a Koenigsegg. Try JSS Motorsports in Mineola:
http://www.jssperformance.com/
I bought my 996TT from a banker in Manhattan and that's who he used. He said they are a great shop. Apparently the owner, Bert Mota, is well respected.
I've heard excellent things about Mtech Motorsports in New Rochelle. The owner's name is Mike and he has a ton of Porsche experience.
I haven't used him for anything yet but will when and if the need arises. Might be worth a visit to get a feel for the shop and make your own decision.
Okay everyone
) good news. The dealer mechanic was overly zealous and basically tried to give me a "full" disclosure. Went there this afternoon to see it for my self whts up. Basically it's just surface rust on few bolts lol!!! They must have imagined we live in California not in NY where roads salt and slosh covered and it rains regularly. .. anyways all is good. Gonna do IMS/clutch and drive it and enjoy it. Btw.. I mentioned it was 40th aniversary edition : it only came in one color : GT silver metallic
thanks all for advices and inputs. Greatly appreciate it.
Well if it is rusted, then it implies it was driven in Northeast winters. If it was driven in Northeast winters, it could imply you could have cylinder scoring issues which will reveal itself sooner or later. I semi-kid but glad it checked out ok. If the mechanic was really overly zealous, he would've borescoped your cylinders as part of the PPI based on the rust.
WTF is wrong with people nowdays? Most of these cars were daily drivers all year so normal corrosion is part of this. This car was used as it was intended to by the manufacturer.......to be driven all the time. Mine was used as DD until '12 when it finally got used up and got traded in for a new one. It has some corrosion here and there and that's how it should be. If your car has some normal corrosion for it's age then that's a good sign, the car was used as it was meant to be.
Oh, missed that part. Thanks for the correction.
Yes, then I agree, he is (probably) stuck with it, unless he can prove the car is a flood car or severely water damaged and has had its title washed. And I'm not saying that is the case here.
The things that have been pointed out as signs of water damage are not what water damage typically entails.
And after reading the rest of the posts the car apparently doesn't have any real water damage just normal corrosion on some fasteners and not much of that.
My indie found a few grains of sand on one of the suspension arms, and for a while we were operating under the impression that the car had been buried in the desert for some period of time - HA! It sure seems funny now, but at the time, I was all like damn, I don't want a buried in the desert 911.
