Need Some Advice

Hello all, Recently I have saved a Non-Turbo 2000 Porsche 996 with only 30k miles. This car was sitting in a driveway for 5 years out in the sun with no cover. Ouch, I know! I have taken in this car and have changed the oil, the gas, the fuel pump, the battery, and the tires. The car now starts up and does run very well. What I plan to do before I make it my daily driver is get the rotors resurfaced or just clean them myself, check on the pads/replace them most likely, give it a nice deep wash, clean and polish the calipers, change all fluid, change the spark plugs. My question is does anyone else have any suggestions on what to do/check for before I daily drive it? I�m less worried about cosmetics at the moment and more so performance/functionality. Thanks for reading, Alex

Change the brake fluid and drive the corrosion off the rotors. You may want pads but the rotors are likely fine and just look ugly. I'd do a full coolant flush and a/c service too. Is it a tip or an m6 car? Is it a targa? It looks like a targa or vert with hard top.

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I don�t believe it�s a Targa. It�s a Carrera Cab with a custom convertible hardtop the previous owner had made by Porsche. And yeah I just dislike the ugly looking rotors and want them to be good looking (Very Very Shiny) and functional. It�s 6 speed manual . I will do the coolant flush my next day off along with the brake fluid change and bleeding of the brakes. Any idea what brake fluid it uses?

If the rotors are good you can drive the corrosion off the braking surfaces and paint the "hats" with POR-15.

You may want to drive it a bit and report back to us with your concerns and/or observations. (After you take care of brakes ) You addressed a lot of the obvious things which is good. Anything made of rubber would be worth an inspection in my opinion. Definitely remove the air box (easy and plenty of guides online,) give your serpentine belt a good inspection. Inspect the air filter while you have the box out - a new one from Mahle is very cheap and good quality. I know you said cosmetics is your secondary concern, but you can clean up those headlights with one of these from Wally World: https://www.walmart.com/ip/MEGUIAR-S-HEAVY-DUTY-HEADLIGHT-RESTORATION-KIT/148464595?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227068826313& wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=175369164615&wl4=aud-310687321802 la-279671040649&wl5=9030743&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online &wl12=148464595&wl13=&veh=sem Edit: LOL! ^ When emojis hide within URL's...

Rad cleaning, low temp thermostat, new water pump, coolant exchange, rear motor mounts. That's a good start. Low mileage cars are notorious for IMSB failure. If you do the IMSB, and a rear main seal, you'll be in fat city for a long time. Good save

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Read up on coolant flush. It is not as easy as open drain close drain refill. A UView 55000 vacuum tool or equivalent makes it easy. http://www.toolpan.com/UView-550000-...BoCG9AQAvD_BwE Buy the latest blue tank cap, PN ends in 04. Get coolant from VW dealer.

+ 1 on headlights....also would fix paint before calipers...if the car paint looks bad no one is going to look at the calipers anyway.

All 996 Cabs 1999 - 2004 came with a 73lb aluminum hardtop. Sometime late 2004 early 2005 the top became an extra cost option. Don't try to adjust the "gap" at the rear you will end up scraping the paint off the clamshell cover. Read the manual. If you don't have one search online.

Sitting for 5 years, wouldn't the spark plugs be a good thing to change out too? I'd also change the fuel filter, who knows what kind of moisture and sediment collected in your fuel lines.

The headlights are a performance fix imo cause it could hinder my view. I plan to change the filters and flush the coolant and change the spark plugs before mostly anything else. Oh and also doing a brake fluid change and bleed. Taking a look at my belts, they are all still solid, no cracking or bitterness. Sorry for the knowledge I don�t have yet. I come from driving a 99 accord where those cars are bomb proof. Im happy that I have this car that can reflect the work I put into it. Im 20 years old. I have rent to pay and many other things as well. Seeing as the car was free. Im going to enjoy it for 6 months to 1 year then probably sell it becaue realistically there is someone else out there who will be able to do more to it than I can with my budget. Once I get it driving I will happily share pictures here and see what else it will need. But first! It needs a proper wash.

Congrats man, you could find a color matched hood off a roller if the rest of the paint is good. how much did you buy it for?

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Don't worry about that, bud, we're all here to learn at one capacity or another. Enjoy the car!

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I think he said he got it for free...can't beat that price.

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Okay Alex. You wanted advice, I will give you a bit since it seems like you have a general interest in cars and may represent the future generation of car guys. 1) You lucked into a free running and driving Porsche. I'd have done bad bad things at 20 to make that happen. I had to buy my own Porsche after owning a long line of Mustangs and Corvettes. 2) Yes, you don't have the budget you want (big secret none of us does), but you have time which helps offset costs a lot, and you don't mind getting dirty! Advantage you again. 3) Keep repairing and changing things that need to be done. Once done, take this car to your local autocross or find a club near you (PCA is great) and go on some nice windy mountain roads with it. 4) Lastly, do not sell the car unless you absolutely need to. Learn about cars, enjoy the car, drive the car, drive the car hard and reap the rewards of your own efforts. 5) As someone else said, you can find a new hood (frunk) and then you can learn about buffing and detailing and the car will likely look spectacular. Porsche uses quality paint, and a lot can be done to restore or repair it. I will also tell you my biggest car regret. When I was young and in the Navy, 80s Porsche 911SCs were cheap.... I mean cheap. I could even afford '80s Ferrari's if I stretched my budget. I went and bought new Mustangs instead. I regret everytime I see one not stretching my budget to get the Ferrari. Those cars are simply gorgeous, sound incredible, and their value has increased 4 fold since I could get one. I can't afford one now. I was also a good mechanic when I was younger, now I'm just not as motivated and don't have as much time to work on things as I did. Don't wake up one morning and regret selling your "Porsche." Once you figure out why you love it, you'll see it's not really about status, looks, but it's about mechanical perfection and enjoyment.

Great advice above. On a limited budget, I think I'd focus on mechanical reliability, stopping and tires. For any used car I buy, Porsche or not, I always replace the fluids, minimally the engine oil, oil filter, and air filter. You said you were going to do this. Change out the engine intake air filter (cheap and easy). The cabin filter is also cheap and easy too, but not critical unless it is clogged up or filled with rodent mess. The fuel filter is another one to consider - kind of tricky to get to where it lives under the car, but pretty easy to do all things considered. Not to scare you, but when you drain the oil, Keep an eye out for shiny bits and chunks of metal that could signal bigger issues. Post up here if you find anything meaningful. Then I'd find a local P-car person (Rennlist, PCA, etc.) with a Durametric, Foxwell, etc and see if they'll scan your codes to see if there is anything going on that needs your immediate attention. Deal with whatever ones are important (like misfires), or required for safety inspections (emissions codes) and prioritize the rest for when you have time, money or interest. Or buy a Foxwell to have for future use, only around $150 (NT510 Porsche version). Good idea on the spark plugs - good preventative maintenance, but not critical if they work ok. They're a little tricky to get to, so if you're in there, look for oil leaks in the spark plug tubes/orings. If they're leaking, they're cheap and pretty easy to replace. Make sure your brakes work mechanically, rather than focusing on polishing them up. If you can reuse your rotors, super, if not, you can get everything you need for pads and rotors for well under $500 if you shop around (not Porsche branded, OE manufacturers, not performance upgrades). Stopping is a priority for me. Make sure the tires are usable, not dry rotted, hard as rocks, etc. Once it runs and drives, go have fun with it. They are great driving cars. I like the advice above about holding onto it. I bet a lot of us have stories about cars we wish we had held onto. I kick myself for selling every Porsche I've owned. I love what I have now, and what I got rid of was not even close to show quality or rare, but is now interesting in a way it wasn't back then (two different 60's 912 coupes, '72 911T, '87 944S). It'd be cool to still have them. Congratulations on the car, and have fun.

Great advice above. and congrats on the find! How much maintenance history do you have on the car that can tell you when things were replaced, like the belts? They may look good, but you can't always see where the cracks are. When you change the oil, be sure to cut open the oil filter and inspect inside for Metal bits. There are some internal parts, like the IMS bearing, that can fail and destroy the engine. Low mileage cars seem to be more susceptible due to less frequent oil changes. Oil changes need to be done at 6 mos. And always watch for metal bits. You can buy a magnetic oil drain plug that will help trap bits so you can find them more easily. The oil filter system can be changed to one that will limit what crud get recirculated into the engine. Check the mfg date codes on the tires, 6-7 years old max or they could get you in trouble,. Have fun!

Where were all the free Porsche�s when I was kid?

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I haven�t talked to my mom since I was probably 15, she wanted to go do other things, and thats okay. But she called me out of the blue and said if I want it come get it or it�s being sold by March 1st. I took a day off work to go to the DMV and make it my own and well here I am now.

Any idea why it was parked for 5 years?

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Well that�s a great gift, obviously you are proactive as you found this forum. So ask anything, we are all here to help. Great color as well, mine is midnight blue.

Everything that I�ve changed above has been my own personal work. I try to do all repairs on my own because I�ve messed up one time getting brake work done at a shop for $400 when a year or so later I did the same brake job for $75 just because of the new parts. I called a shop that�s known for low prices when fixing Porsche�s, they told me $900 out the door to replace the fuel pump because it takes 2 hours or more. I did it myself and was able to clean the tank, replace the pump, and make sure all other assembly parts were functioning. All I paid was the $275 for new pump and O ring. When I changed the oil there were no metal fragments anywhere in the filter. I made sure to check because I know 996 are prone to getting ****ed by the IMSb. All in all. I�m going to just drive off the corrosion and just give the calipers a nice cleaning along with the rest of the car. I already have replace the tires, the old ones looked fine But sitting for 5 years, I didn�t want to take that chance, good thing I did because turns out they were dry rotted horribly on the inside and more noticibly on the outside once removed. Such a shame that a brand new set of MPS4S had been wasted. I have ordered the new cabin and the engine air filters and will change those out as soon as they get here. I checked the spark plugs and they were still very clean and good to go. As for the paint. The main blue is perfectly fine. All that peeling is the clear coat, apparently the shop that it was taken to to have it redone did a quick and lazy job, that with sitting in the sun with no cover for years will do that.

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Yes it was a great gift. I made sure to do a lot of research before even trying to crank it over before changing out anything. I know that could have destroyed the engine if the old dirty oil would�ve circulated through. But Holy smokes 8.7 quarts of oil! Even my buddies truck only needs about 6.

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She told me she left it parked because it was too small to haul around a car seat for my little sister, which is understandable. And she had a truck and a Honda Civic as well. So she basically treated herself, drove it once a month for about 2 years. Then just kinda lost interest in it. Which is a huge shame. But luckily it�s in good hands now and I�m going to drive it properly, maybe I�ll even go to Monterey car week since it�s only about a hour way from me.

Congrats, and best of luck!