VGP's 996 "build" thread

Hi all, I've been lurking around the board for a while and finally decided to start a thread and introduce myself. I'm new to Porshes, new to 911's. Love the car to bits. Been looking at 996's for at least 4 years, always talked myself out of it (my other car is a C5). This year I found myself looking at them once more, almost on a daily basis - my wife noticed and asked when we're getting one - that was enough encouragement for me . The car in question was previously owned by RyanH. It was exactly what I wanted - with most of the big ticket items taken care of and to top it off - done with the aftermarket parts I was looking for. The only thing I wish I took were the GT seats at the time. They're too expensive at this point Had a glorious drive home to the bay area - ears ringing, accompanied by a splitting headache from the drone Half way home we stopped and decided to sleep it off - when I noticed the car wouldn't lock again. Thought nothing of it and collapsed in the motel bed. Btw that Lexus is STUFFED with parts. There's a whole carpet in there and it just eats it up. I think it thinks its a pickup or something. Next day was more drone, arrival in Oakland and getting the new family member situated (registered). Ordered vanity plates (they're still not here lol) and started looking at bits and bobs that I'd want to start work on. Door locking issue First thing on the chopping block was the locking issue - so I've asked around, got some quotes and estimates. It quickly became obvious that the issue was far bigger than anticipated (it started with "it's just a dead actuator on the passenger side). The indy I wanted to work with didn't have the means to replace the alarm computer, so I found Gunther in Fremont, who works at the dealership. Yeah I know. They started diagnosing the car and it took them .. wait for it .. 4 weeks. Apparently the alarm computer was faulty, which resulted in it not sending the right signals to the actuators. After we replaced, reprogrammed and tested the new computer, they saw that now when the computer is sending the right signals - the actuators don't work. So we replaced the left one first, then the right one (because of course both were dead). We're still not done because guess what - now the key needed to be reprogrammed to work with the new computer. Don't you just love 00's electronics? There's more to the story - as the car was in the shop, I had to travel to EU for a month and tried to coordinate with the dealership to get the car back before I had to leave. Naturally that didn't happen. So I park the Cayenne near our house on the street. One month later I got home, try to find the car and its GONE. I call the dealership, explain and ask if they know where the car is - since they probably have gps on all of their loaners - to which the guy replies: "oh that, yeah, that was quite the mess". Ooookay - I tell him I'll be there in an hour (this is freshly off a 11h plane trip). When I've arrived at the shop I got some apologetic/understanding looks - weird since I thought I should be the one apologizing. The lady who was managing my service from the start filled me in on what happened: someone called the police, on account of the car being parked for more than 72h in the same spot (mind you 99% of cars on our street are parked for weeks), tow truck showed up, towed the cayenne and it was on its way to being auctioned off that same day. Thankfully the shop got notified and someone had to haul *** over to Oakland and get it before it was too late. Crazy. On a brighter note, some negotiating and about $2.8k later ( ). I got my car, its alarm system working and drove home. Btw Ryan was a complete chad and offered to chip in on the fix since the car started showing issues when we were buying it. Thanks Ryan! Working from home, home Filter Of course it had to break - I glued it back with some epoxy, only to break it again. I'll get some harder epoxy and try again when I'm doing filters again. It's stuck in there now Oil change Did the basic oil change - easily the most stressful part of the operation. I was concerned about the health of the engine. I've sent the sample to Blackstone. They found Ryans samples and connected them. After analysis they concluded that engine is healthy - the parts that should be are reducing in concentration (as the engine continues to break in). I did find flakes and some sealing material in the filter medium. Used 5W40 Motul oil with a MANN filter. Exhaust Old mufflers were rough, full of cracks. So I got a set off ebay from someone who was replacing their exhaust system. They are in excellent condition. I gave them a few coats of heat resistant paint (just because), smacked them in there - called it a day. I'll do the sound mod in the future. I did notice quite a difference in responsiveness after changing over. The added backpressure results in more delay between you pressing the GO pedal and the engine responding. It was almost instant before - now it has about 500ms of lag. Annoying, but less droney which makes me drive the car more I had to re-thread the old hardware from the mufflers, some of the threads were in bad shape and needed some TLC. Gave them a nice anti-rust bath and dropped them into some mineral oil overnight. I didn't want to pay $55 per clamp from Porsche, so I opted to rebuild the old ones. I gave them a good once over with the wire brush, dropped them into some anti-rust "water", spayed down with brakekleen, then painted them for protection. The hardware is from ace hardware, because I'm not paying $30 for 4 bolts. One day I may shorten them (they're about 1/4" longer than stock), so they look cleaner. Since the set of mufflers and manifolds came as a set - I have a set of exhaust manifolds for sale now. They're in great condition! Brake lines & brake fluid Old brake line, probably the original part - was hard as a rock and brittle as a cracker. Brake lines were surprisingly annoying - the rear lines are hard to get to and not strip Managed to do it without rounding out any nuts, even though I've managed to somehow flip the righty-tighty, lefty-loosey logic in my head once and tighten the living jesus out of one connection. It did come off after a bit of heat gun-fun and coercion One more thing that's left is probably the pads - car brakes a bit underwhelmingly - that's why I thought new lines and fluid flush might help. They marginally helped, I still have to brake cca 5x more than in the corvette. Brake lines are Porsche Goodridge Phantom with RBF600 brake fluid. Happy in its little tiny garage. Things to fix / Wishlist: AC works intermittently Cruise control isn't working (unless I pull the clutch back up with my foot) - 99% because the pedal spring is missing The indicator stalks are sticky New pads (to hopefully fix the vague braking) Fister mod mufflers Needs bucket seats Needs a radio & speakers I'll be re-doing the door cards (probably, maybe, perhaps) LSD (one day, I really miss it on the 911) Sump guard

VGP, welcome to the club!

Cool ! Nice to see Ryan's car in a good forum members hands. Enjoy it !

Welcome VGP. Two bits of advice for you: 1) If you don�t have a good scanner, please get one. Foxwell, Schwaben and Durametric are all pretty capable. Fuel trims, cam deviations are common M96 health indicators and require monitoring. You�ll be able to clear CEL�s if/when you�re chasing vacuum leaks. 2) 996 brakes are really good. The Textar and Pagid OEM pads are more than adequate, but they do dust. Try some new pads and do a proper bed in. Some superb threads here on diagnosing brake issues. Bless your wife. Mine did the same with me and I love her so much more since the 996 came into our lives. Coincidence? Just saying. Enjoy the ride in good health.

Congrats on the car! Check out Akebeno brake pads - low dust and work great. My 02 had less than stellar brakes when I got it, even though the pads were almost new. Turned out the rotors looked original and were very glazed, not to mention worn quite a bit. I replaced pads and rotors and the car stops like it should. I also had to learn how the 911 brakes feel. The pedal is a bit harder than other cars and the braking is progressive. It still feels like the car is not stopping as it should based how my DD (daily driver) brake pedal feels, but after the bed-in process for the pads and rotors, the car stops amazingly well. Of course also check that all 4 pistons in the calipers are moving.

Welcome to the madness and glad to see that car around here again. Re. the cruise control, if your clutch has a heavier feel to it then it's definitely the spring. I had a very similar issue when I first got my car and a very race car feeling clutch. Turns out the spring was in 3 pieces. A bit of a pita to replace requiring some in-car yoga but seems like you have decent mechanical skills!

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Thank you GC Will do, and thanks for the good wishes Didn't know about the scanners, thanks for the tip. I've been looking at different options and searching the forum. Rotor and pad wear looks good, they might be glazed - but I have no idea how to diagnose that Will be looking into that for sure. Happy to hear your wife's the same, I feel quite lucky myself I'm using akebono stuff on the lexus and its amazing. Not sure if it can fly with canyon runs and track days. Last time I did that with the corvette I cooked the pads, rotors and brake fluid I think I'll have to take off the calipers and inspect closely. Thanks! It's definitely missing the spring because I have it in the parts box I like how it feels, but don't like that the cruise control isn't working

Since I'm new to 996 ownership I wanted to ask the collective hive mind of rennlist if the whirring sound I'm hearing at speed is normal for our cars? I do not have a carpet in the car. Seems to be coming from the front/mid section and I wanted to rule out any parts being low on oil or getting used up. I'm ok with it if it's just a noise the car makes. You Tube

Sounds like drivetrain. It may be the trans mount or a cv just trasmitting noise that the carpet is not dampening. My car would whirl from the rear pass side even with carpet.

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In the long run you'll be happier with stainless steel: Plenty of of online sources (e.g. Bolt Depot) with prices well below $7.50 per bolt.

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Oh I know, these are nickel plated I believe (judging by the color), I'd get stainless if the ace hardware across the street had them Those were the only ones they had and I had an exhaust to mount back

Does anyone have any ideas on what the ticking sound is? It does it every cold start, but almost immediately stops. For anyone who asks - the buzzing at the very start is a clip I lost (to hold in the bumper) and now vibrates every time I start the car. Video: You Tube

I think you can hear a very similar noise here when it starts: You Tube

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read this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-symptoms.html but the noise was after 1 or 2 minutes. may be your catalytic but it be best to simply get a stethoscope at this point or even a bore scope. i hope not bore scoring! i keep hearing members calling up Jake at Flat 6 to get his opinion.

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Thank you Carlo, I've been looking into it and putting my screwdriver into the engine bay to listen to it Here it is after a 200mi drive - at operating temperature. I feel like the sound is coming from the oil pump / cat, not so much the case: You Tube You Tube There's also the weird case of it getting faster, then slowing down if I rev the engine: You Tube If I'd want to take a look at the cyl walls - is it easier from the bottom (oil pan) or the top (spark plug)?

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There are several members on here who have the exact same noise on cold starts. There also seems to be a correlation between members' cars that sit overnight in a cold climate, so not just necessarily "cold" starts. I would bet that you do not have any ims, bore scoring, etc. My two cents is that it is completely normal, especially since it seems to go away within seconds of starting. If you do not want to hear it at all, drive the car immediately after starting it (like the manual actually says, interestingly enough), or just give it some gas to get the oil moving more aggressively / raising oil pressure. I can only speak from my experience and my car's PO, but I will say, my car does not have a tick when warm or after a long drive. I also have my oil right up to the second dot on the dipstick, which shows to be the top line on the electronic dipstick. I am running M1 0W-40 and have no issues - knock on wood.

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There seem to be two "ticks". The cold start one disappears after a few seconds and I believe is normal, like many members already mentioned. The one I documented above persists and is either split into the one near the oil / water pump and the weird erratic one or they're the same thing. Not sure. But they both persist after engine is at operating temp (100mi+ trip) Oil is at second line, just like yours and I don't let the car idle. I've also just learned that our cars have a transaxle (transmission and diff share oil) - so I'll be changing that. Not in relation to the ticking (probably lol).

You Tube ^ Found that video. Looks like you have two solutions per the comments: - Seafoam (am skeptical of this, but if it is a sticky lifter or something I guess it would work???) - drop the sump plate and clean out the baffles and pickup (I'll probably do this myself just to see - very easy to do). In your situation, maybe the seafoam would help because it does it when warm... Not sure. I would still check the pickup though and clean just to be nice to her. Edit: when it happens when it's warm, does giving it gas clear it up? Then I would put money on your pickup being a tad clogged. Edit x2: or maybe not if your lifters are that sticky, in which case I'd prob give the seafoam a shot. But the guy in that video said he opened her up and she looked fine, so I doubt it. I'd prob use seafoam as last resort or not at all. Just my .02

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Current wisdom is, that in many cases, scoring on these cars can�t be seen from the top (spark plug hole), but only from the bottom, through the sump. Having just gong through this myself, going through the spark plug holes is easy, so worth a peek. Sump is much trickier, but patience and having a buddy there to turn the engine over, will get you in there (oh, and with the tiniest borescope you can find). There is a third option for Bank 2, and that is going in through the hole used to insert wrist pins and clips. It�s a simple big hex head plug with an aluminium sealing washer. It�s relatively easy to access, but difficult to get a 360 degree view once into cylinder 6 in particular.

Yeah, not a big fan of seafoam in German cars - in the LS it feels at home JTT - It looks like there's not much room to get anything in there - did you just stick it in there while at TDC or is there a proper way of wiggling it around to get it in (giggity lol)? I'm not too stoked to drop the pan if I really don't have to - I'm thinking if there's anything shady going on - I should be able to hear it with a stethoscope to the case? Any thoughts?

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I wish it was straight forward. What I ended up with most success was going up into the middle cylinder, say #5, then looking for the windage notch (the cutaway at bottom on the cylinder sleeve). Once I found that I angled my scope to wiggle its way across into #6, which is likely the hardest one to get into. Those windage notches seem to be the best entry point I could find, with head of scope bend to about a 45-50 degree angle. What worked for me was to go in at the directions of the arrows.to the opposing cylinders. So, driver side of the case split to enter the bank 2 cylinders (passenger side), and visa versa. I wouldn’t be hesitant to drop the sump. It’s easy to do and even if you don’t get a scope up there, what you see in the sump can be very telling.

OP I do not think you have scored cylinders - I wouldn't get paranoid. You have a good car. I would however advise to drop the plate and inspect/clean the pickup and both baffles. The two black tubes next to the pickup circulate the oil to remove air and can often get clogged with debris. People have reported solving their ticking permanently with this, and as JTT said, dropping the plate is very easy to do and this is an hour/2-hour job tops. I would do this first.

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Thanks for the words of encouragement hkovalcik, I'll check for exhaust leaks first, then drop the pan - try to hunt down this nuisance

You Tube So, I haven't been keeping ya'll up to date. I've been traveling in August, and the car has been in the shop since May . Remember the whirring sound? I took the car to a shop to install the UAOS and they came back with a diagnosis that one of the internal transmission bearings is toast. That was that whirring sound. So after 2 months of searching for a swap (and not finding anything suitable) we've decided to refurbish the transmission. A search for someone who can do it right ensued, which took another month. Of course they're up to their necks in work and their lead times were 6 to 8 weeks. Meanwhile we discovered that the diffs spider gears were not looking too good and decided to swap in an LSD. A few weeks later we've learned that one of the gear assemblies was welded together (not sure how that happened) and in need of replacement. Fun times. I'm hoping to get some pictures if possible, to add to the collective knowledge here. But if you hear that noise in a car (sharp buzzy, whirring sound), that's about 5-7k leaving your wallet

Got some pictures from the guy rebuilding the transmission. It's been a LONG time. Parts are near impossible to get - contributing to the problem. Anyway, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! Parts arrived, and he broke open the case. Revealing - carnage. More than one gear had chipped teeth, and not in a cute, toddler kind of way. More in a american history x kind of way. Excuse the picture quality, but that's the guys camera I'm happy I got some pictures. Broken teeth. Broken sleeve - I'm not sure which one this is, looks like a preload spacer or sleeve. Someone correct me please. Worn teeth - my guess is from the failed (or failing) syncros. More broken teeth. A "while you're in there" item . We added a Wavetrac LSD. Assembly with new gears, syncros and bearings Ready to be covered back up.

This started so well, and seems to have gone sideways since then... and not the fun sideways. Very similar mods planned over here. I might need to up the planned budget for adding LSD to my gearbox, as its the only major *planned* mod I have for mine. Recaros are a HUGE bonus, but Im sad that a set of Sport Seats in Metropol Blue popped up relatively locally right after I bought my SR2s. Oh well.

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Ha, lets hope it'll be the fun sideways from now on I'll let you know about how the LSD performs - I've purposefully got the one with clutch disks (plate LSD), so it locks up. There's the geared ones do not lock up and are supposedly better for track use (I forgot what the guy told me at this point, ha!). I'm sad I didn't buy GT3 seats for 3k when I had the chance to

After 18 (eighteen!) months, the car is finally back. I'm not sure how much interest there is, but if there's enough I'll sit down and take ya'll on a journey of broken parts, failed transmissions, covid and disappearing transmission experts.

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Shotgun ! I love a good redemption tale.

Im in for a good read.

I think the best way to celebrate this is with some 11s

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Don't feel bad. I turned down a sweet pair of gray ones for $1,000 because I was an air cooled guy and was a decade away from my 996. I sat in them and they felt good but just didn't see myself using them. Fast forward and I ended up with a 996 with gray interior. Ouch.

Alright, let's recap the story of this car real quick. I've been looking for a 911 for at least 2+ years at the point I pulled the trigger on this one. Drove from San Jose down to LA over a weekend and drove it back. The first problem was that the doors didn't lock correctly, which turned out to be a door actuator problem, which turned out to be an ECU problem, which turned out to be a key fob problem. Yes to all of the above. Props to Ryan who stepped in and shared the cost of the repair at the time. Fast forward to a year or so later, we moved and the car was shipped to TX. The UAOS I had lying around for months started to annoy me and I called up a local indy to check it out and give me a quote. I left the car there and the next day the owner calls me and tells me the main transmission bearing is borked (see one of the videos above), that's what the whirring sound was. I ask him about the cost and we go back and forth since the UAOS install could be discounted as they would drop the rear subframe with the engine. I agreed to do it. This is where the fun started. Car was left with the shop in May 2022. I've just picked it up last week. So what happened in the 18 (ish) months while it was there? In the beginning we explored some options. We wanted to know if a used unit is possible, but the prices they were commanding were too close to a rebuild to make it a sensible option. So we went for a rebuild. This took a few weeks. The following few weeks were spent looking for someone who could take the transmission apart (that the shop wanted to warranty) and back together again. We agreed on a full rebuild. This was during peak labor and parts shortages of '22. Shop owner kept calling and apologizing that it's taking so long. I believe this took almost a month. They secured the specialist and started negotiating. His lead time was 10 weeks . It's a weekend car, so I had no issue with waiting at that point, so wait we did. Meanwhile the shop tried to acquire the parts that the transmission specialist listed. The part prices were through the roof, I'm talking times 3, 4 the original price. So the shop called again and asked me if I want it fast or cheap(er). We ordered directly from Porsche Germany. That took at least 3 months, I think it was even longer. So at this point the transmission is at the guys shop, but the parts are in limbo. So we had to wait. Got the parts and half of them weren't the right parts. LMAO. So they sent them back, and asked for the correct parts. Which took another 2 months. At this point I've fallen back to calling once per week, on a Wednesday around 11am to check on progress. They already knew who it was by the day and time of the call . So we get the parts and the transmission guy stops responding. Radio silence. For weeks. The owner of the shop I've left the car with had to go to his house and check on the dude - only to find out he had health issues. So we waited some more. How does the old saying go? When it rains, it pours? When checking up on the guy some weeks later, he informed us that he had a death in the family and that unfortunately he won't be able to work on the transmission for a while. Understandable, life happens. So we waited some more. Meanwhile we were deciding what type of LSD we wanted to put in there and what the setup should be. This was around spring time this year I believe. The LSD arrived and we sent it to the transmission guy, who by now has started work on the piece. He confirmed that the carnage inside the trans was more extensive as we originally thought. The main bearing was shot, but so were two gear sprockets and all of the syncros. Good thing we opted for the full rebuild. And now it's smooth sailing from here on, right? Wrong. The shims that came with the LSD weren't fitting. So we had to send them back and get the correct ones. Weeks passed. I got a call that the transmission should be ready by the coming weekend (this was in June) and as you've might already concluded, that didn't happen. Because our transmission guy went AWOL again. For another two months or so. He finally resurfaced last month, the shop nabbed the transmission from him and installed the UAOS in two days. They also checked the fueling system and tested the car over a few days to ensure it's operational. The whole ordeal was a wild ride and I can't really blame the shop for it as they were outsourcing the labor, and I understand it's not too easy getting a Porsche transmission specialist around Austin, TX. However, If I were to do it again, I would probably just sell the car at a loss You live, you learn they say. Btw, the owner was really good about it, he even lent me his own 996 for an event I had scheduled. Edit: Just realized I haven't mentioned how the transmission behaves now. It shifts like a dream, It's a bit stubborn when cold, but engagement is crisp and satisfying. Because the car is carpetless there's some noises I'm not too sure about (clunking of drivetrain, some fairly noisy whirring but limited to some gears). I'm contemplating on driving the car fairly gingerly for about 500 miles so everything has time to wear in, then changing the oil. I'm also thinking to change the fuel filter after the car wasn't driven for a year and a half.

I've been through the thread twice, and I think this is the longest thread ever without mentioning what year the car is. ?? I think it's a C4 from the rear pictures? Any 996.2 only has a fuel filter in the tank.

Change the gear oil to Porsche oil from the dealer. Not an equivalent or whatever but real tranny oil from Porsche. If that's not what you have in there already it will make a difference, no doubt. Seriously. The mystery cocktail of friction modifiers is not matched by any other. If that's what you have in there already then it's just a matter of driving 5 or 10 minutes to warm the fluids and things should get be fine after that. It's as good as it's going to get if it's already got the Porsche tranny fluid. It's not as good as it's going to get if it doesn't.

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It's an early 1999, C2. Sorry, I've mentioned that the car was previously Ryans and never went into specifics. My bad

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It does go away after it warms up, I was thinking of changing the oil due to lots of components being new and having to break in. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not As per what's in there, I'm not sure actually I'd have to ask the shop. I don't think I can use unmodified Porsche fluids now, since there's an LSD that would need friction modifiers to work correctly. Update on things to fix / Wishlist: AC works intermittently -> turned out to be some wiring and failing cooling fans, which were replaced. Cruise control isn't working (unless I pull the clutch back up with my foot) - 99% because the pedal spring is missing The indicator stalks are sticky -> fixed, but they don't self-cancel now New pads (to hopefully fix the vague braking) -> got a set of PFC 11s, ready to install Fister mod mufflers Needs bucket seats -> thinking Recaro poles? Needs a radio & speakers I'll be re-doing the door cards (probably, maybe, perhaps) -> I've removed the original cards as they got warped and blotchy. I'll be replacing them with 3mm polycarbonate (lexan). Also needs the vapor barrier replaced as it's torn and held on with tape right now Might skip the $90 originals and opt for neoprene and butyl. LSD (one day, I really miss it on the 911) -> done! feels great, especially cornering is awesome now. Sump guard

I'm working on the door cards and I've noticed that the middle support is substantially taller than the rest. It makes a flat surface (like a sheet of lexan) bow and flex because of the height difference. Is there a solution that doesn't involve cutting it out? I'd prefer to keep the doors in a state that can be brought back to OEM.

This was the best I came up with, used foam and covered with fake suede... could have made it look pretty good I think but track season had started and I said F it, good enough. In reflection, it was a project not worth doing for me.

Basically what I have now, but I got annoyed by it starting to bulge outward from the door, so I wanted to clean things up a bit

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I think it'd be slick to incorporate that bulge on purpose. Put a lengthwise-running ridge in the door card to clear it. Since you're working with Lexan, you can make a wooden buck and should be able to heatgun the Lexan to drop over it. Gives a little aesthetic nod to an armrest but don't actually have one to keep things tighter and lighter.

I might just try that! Thanks for the idea!

A question about locking and open differentials. Today I've had the car up on jacks for an oil change and wanted to try out the old "spin one wheel and see the other spinning" test for LSDs. What I saw was not what I wanted to see. The other wheel did not spin. I'm not sure if it's just me being ignorant and only ever knowing about wheels spinning in the same direction (lsd) and opposite direction (open). I've never seen it just not spin. The kicker here is that I think that might be a torsen diff, but I specifically ordered one with clutches. Can someone with more knowledge about differentials enlighten me here?

I just came across your "ticking when hot" videos. Mine does 100% the exact thing. It ticks maybe for 5 seconds on cold start up. Then no tick. After a hard drive up the canyons, it's ticking exactly like yours. If it sits 30 mins, the tick is gone. And driving back down the canyon, it doesn't come back, probably because not pushing engine as hard (lower heat). What's interesting is I had the oil changed and I think it started then. The prior owner had the oil probably over filled, as the digital gauge was always almost full. My mechanic filled it, what I've learned is correctly, so that it is just the first couple marks of the digital indicator. I also don't know what weight the prior oil was, and my mechanic says a heavier oil will almost definitely quiet it up, and not to even worry about it. But I'm still struggling to understand what it even is and where it's coming from? Even with a stethoscope, it is hard to pinpoint. Did you ever get to bottom of it? (Also an early build 1999)

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I'm afraid I haven't. Some of it I've now attributed to injector noise. I've noticed that the ticking stopped when I release the gas. If you were referring to the startup ticking, I was told the same thing and to not worry about it. But nobody seems to have an explanation for it

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No, I was talking about the at-temp noise. For mine, it ticks at idle when very hot. A small amount of gas and the ticking stops - not when releasing the gas. Your vids look like at-idle. Oh and I forgot he did say it could just be a noisy lifter, but that also seems to be a catch all for a lot of ticks.

I didn't mention, there's the startup ticking sound, the injector sound, and the mysterious random ticking sound when hot that changes with rpm The startup sound goes away after 10s of idling or so. The injector sound stops when letting off the gas The mysterious random ticking appears when the car is hot and doesn't have any logical culprit. I just noticed it changes when I touch the throttle. The cadence can be somewhat random (slow-fast) too.

Just changed the oil and added Ceratec from LiquiMoly after testing it on the LS430. I didn't notice much difference in the Lexus, since it was a very quiet car to begin with. Yesterday I decided to try the second bottle on the 996. The difference is insane. I never knew the engine was so noisy. Most of the top end noise is practically gone. Car runs WAY smoother now. Holy ****. Wholeheartedly recommended.

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Interesting--- the video you posted at idle when hot sounds identical to mine. Except when I open the throttle even a tiny bit, it goes away. My mechanic said likely a noisy lifter, but of course hard to test that without a lot of pulling apart. I did notice that prior to the most recent oil change, the oil was probably overfilled (no noise), and at oil change it was filled to half on the dipstick (which I've read is the correct level). And the noise only started a month or so ago which is about 1000 miles post oil change. I'm now noticing my oil level is getting low. I don't have any smoke ever and no drips on the garage-- I think I just have a slightly leaking spark tube, but wondering if the lower level is somehow associated to the tick, or just red herring. I've been able to pinpoint it to the right side of engine, but I can't find the actual tick spot. Need car hot and on the quickjack, but first going to top oil back up to half way and see if makes a difference. What top end noise was quieted by the Ceratec? Any change in tick?

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FWIW, Factory AOS cant handle the oil so the suggestion from the factory was to run less oil which is suboptimal for a number of reasons. UAOS Track version will solve the issue. You can run your oil at full or 1 qt over full if you are canyon carving. no more smoke clouds. No more fear of intermix no hydralock in the canyons. You want more oil in these engines not less.

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Yes, looked into UAOS, it's on the list of eventuals. My remark of midway or less came from my indy and also from a Flat6 a few years ago: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...l#post17447647 Going to put in .5 Q and see where that brings the level to. And once at midway, see if the high heat tick goes away.

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I'll record a cold start tomorrow morning. Regarding ceratec - the whole engine quieted down by at least one order of magnitude (keep in mind I have no carpet or sound deadening in the car ). Startups are way less shaky and violent now. While cruising the overall noise and drone from the engine is reduced by a lot.

Cold start, no more startup ticking! You Tube previously, for comparison: You Tube Mystery lifter fairy seems to be sticking around though: You Tube Meanwhile, I was changing a broken brake light. Naturally ALL of the friggin' pins in the sockets broke as soon as I touched them and now nothing but the indicators work. Beautiful. I've been looking at the harnesses that I'd need to replace, but at $150 a piece for some wires and sockets I was thinking I could just change the sockets. Does anyone know the part numbers for the sockets or some working replacement that takes 12V 21 and 21/5W bulbs? Are used harnesses worth it? I feel like the pins will break at this point anyway (they've been stressed and they're old). Part (nr. 2): https://www.porscheatlantaperimeterp...663144601.html Part nr: 99663144601

IMO�The mystery �tick� sounds more like an ancillary than anything in the motor�

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Hm, interesting � what do you think might cause it? My logic was always something that's connected to the engine, since the cadence changes with rpm. But most ancillaries are usually prone to bearing noise, not so much ticking. One of my theories are the injectors. I think Ryan (PO) changed them out for Bosch replacements that are known for being a bit noisier. But that doesn't explain the random speed ups (without rpm).

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I had a really similar experience when it first took possession of my 2001 996.1c2. there was a ticking noise just like you report that was annoying to me and I was worried about it. I added some ceratec and I was amazed just like you. much quieter I swear by the stuff now. I was running motul Excess 8100, but got a great deal on some liquimoly 'long life ' so that's going in the next oil change. With ceratec of course. My car burns no oil at all, and the used oil analysis reports are healthy. Thank God. I spent way too much on this car already. Or did I? I feel that way sometimes but then I drive it, and change my mind.

Please don't remind me, I'm still getting over the cost of rebuilding the transmission.

�Naturally ALL of the friggin' pins in the sockets broke as soon as I touched them and now nothing but the indicators work. Beautiful. � So, I feel like I�m missing something here� Is it the pins that �broke�, or the socket? Generally speaking, the pins don�t break - it�s usually the plastic bits� Some of the sockets/connectors can be difficult to source, but with diligence can be found�Sometimes it�s quicker and easier to buy the whole harness - albeit more expensive. Good luck!

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The broken metal bits are the pins inside the socket. They look like a "Z" when not broken. Screwing a bulb in will compress them and that's how the bulb stays in (bulbs don't have threads, only nipples). When the material goes through enough heat cycles or repetitive stress, it will give in and break. Kind of like when you break a paper clip in two. The repetitive motion stresses the metal to a point where it shears. That's what happened to the pins inside the sockets and I see no way of opening the socket and replacing them. Unless someone else knows how to do that.

You might contact Adrian and see if he has the tail light wiring harnesses (worth a shot) https://www.adriantaillights.com/sto...986-c114018836

Ordered from Porsche Atlanta. The part numbers: Loom (same for both tail lights): 99663144601 Bulbs: 90063112790 90063102190 90063112890 90063101990

It will be interesting to see how long that wiring harness takes to ship

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Hmmmm� ok, BUMMER! Sorry to hear this - I haven�t seen or heard this before� Did you try to source just the sockets as well as the entire harness? What is the price for the harness? I imagine it�s not cheap�

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First thing I looked for were just the sockets. You can get aftermarket sockets and hardwire them in, but I didn't want to make a project out of it. Resistances, fitting issues, etc. I'm sure there's a way, but I don't have the time to find it The harness is 160 shipped x 2 for both sides. Not bad, not great either.

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Looks like the package will be here on Friday

Parts arrived yesterday. Installed them today. This is how the socket looks up close. You can see the pins inside broke off. There's no way of pulling them out or buying new ones to replace them that I know of. This is how it's supposed to look like. The problem actually isn't so much the pins breaking, but the bulb not making contact because the pins aren't pressing it against the socket anymore. Screw in bulbs wouldn't have this problem The gaskets were super dry and didn't want to close nicely (they were getting torqued), I was afraid they'll rip. Added some dielectric grease, they're happy as a clam. Installed, x2 on the other side. Fun fact - lightbulbs from the Porsche dealer are cheaper than from your local O'Rileys. The more you know

Glad you got it sorted.

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Fixed the ticking! I have no idea how, but after I replaced the vapor canister valve: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...ch-99611012906 it went away. The reason I was ordering that at all was that the car was hunting rpms when cold and apparently its due to a failing VCV. The hunting went away but so did the ticking when hot. I also swapped the expansion tank bleed valve ( https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/por...he-99610634702 ), but I doubt that one was ticking? Just leaking Since that job, no more ticking - that was ~ a year or more ago now. I've also dropped the oil pan and checked its guts with a boroscope, didn't take pictures of the sleeves unfortunately cause its cramped, but the cylinders look like new. Super happy about that. Changed the pans bolts while I was at it, since they looked rough.