Thinking of buying turbo instead

Hi everyone. If I was to get rid off my totally lemonized 40th AE (some of you already familiar with a slew of issues i gotten into just 3 weeks of ownership including scored cylinder, clutch, CEL, smoking exhaust, starter just went out... and that's just the major things. Minor included both headlamp washer covers just fell off, rear wiper motor fried and apparently had a major accident prior.. discovered alot of bondo patch work on drivers side) anyway enough rambling.. I was thinking of getting a 2003 turbo. I know it's a totally different engine hence no ims issues. However, wht else should I look out for? Any thoughts? Thanks

Great choice. I think you need to look for the same things that you would when purchasing any 911. Personally, I like to see service records from the previous owner(s). Macster has a nice list of things to look for on a PPI and a test drive. Turbos are quite reliable and will serve you well if properly maintained.

Damn that sucks you are still finding stuff wrong I think the big thing with the Turbo is the coolant lines. There have been enough cases where they catastrophically let go that many tracks won't let you out unless you have gotten the lines pinned or welded. Welding requires removal of the engine and completely solves the issue. Pinning (I think) also requires dropping the engine, but it only mitigates the issue (the joints still fail, but you get a leak rather than a sudden loss of all your coolant). There are of course some model specific items (the rams for the rear wing like to fail) and then there are issues common to the NA 996. Like the NA 996, 2nd gear pop out is not uncommon on the TT. From what I can gather, however, it is about 2.5x more expensive to fix when it progresses to the point you have to rebuild the transmission. From what I've seen it seems to be more common in the earlier TTs than the later ones, but I'm no expert.

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Yeah man its keep on giving lol. Freind of mine gonna try to sell it wholesale if not I'm gonna have to fix it and drive it lol.

Like you found out with your 40th anniversary, be very suspicious of any low priced turbo models out there, aka do not but a $25k TT.

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Hahaha!!! Good point. I haven't seen any at this price point. The lowest I saw was like 32k

After seeing , reading and Digesting Your Post, so Sorry to hear!! get rid of it. Start Fresh. But as an FYI - perhaps this approach may work for 996 TT Cooling Lines? This Post below is from the 997 GT2 / GT3 Section, Posted by "Steve W" in 2012 - here is the Title: DIY Coolant Fitting Fix with Motor In the Car Perhaps the "Concept" can and has already been done & applied to the 996TT >? Hopefully someone will jump in with a solution ! Best of Luck with your new P Car 996 certainly appears to be Tremendous Value although I hav a 993 TJ

Based on your chitty exp with the 996 I'm sure you will be more of an observant buyer this go around. The turbo is awesome and the best car I have ever owned. Plan on spending 40-45k if you want a car that is in good working order. No comparison between the two cars, so you will wonder why you even considered the first one. Is dealer willing to buy back your lemon?

I'd be on the lookout for the same thing that stung you with your NA 996 purchase - a bunch of issues that were not detected until it was too late. I don't remember if you HAD a PPI, but if so, use someone else for the next car.

really sorry to hear about your loss - i can't imagine the pain. BUT with all the issues you mention w/your 40th AE, i can't help think you did little to no diligence buying it - a proper PPI at recommended shop would have exposed 95% of the issues. for what it is worth, i think you should consider a 2002/2003 C4S. i know you have been thru hell with the 40th AE but the C4S is a beautiful design, much better handling/drivability than the narrow body 40th AE, and in addition, the C4S will cost you $10-$12K less. they are holding their value and you'll get kudos of satisfaction. without fail, get a PPI on your next purchase

I looked at 4s also. So as soon as I unload my 40 ae I'm off to car shopping. With extra diligent PPI lol. In my defense when I bought the car it presented fine even after I brought it to the shop for inspection they found nothing until 3 days later when the car started smoking .

Before I got into my C4S I was within a couple of days of driving to Atlanta to get a 2004 TT Cab. Off the top, everything costs more - initial acquisition cost, insurance, maintenance (gotta move intercoolers and stuff to get to the top of the engine) and you'll probably go through rear tires a bit quicker. You would not have the IMSB to worry about though the Mezger engine still has an IMS IIRC. The water lines are an issue, but the NA engine still has water lines to deal with. Clutch accumulator still goes out and all the other niggling things break or wear out. With a TT the PPI is even more critical than with a NA car. I popped for a couple but could not get what I wanted out of the seller and eventually got the C4S - personally I had to have the wide hips. Head over to the TT forum and scan through the posts to get a feel for what owners say. The 996TT is probably on of the best bang for the buck supercar out there.

I hate to go out on a limb, but bored at another dance class. Here goes. 40AE is the best looking 996. Narrow body with aggressive front bumper. If the body is good - bondo is Ok if done right - sink the money into an upgraded bullet proof motor. And keep the car forever.

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i can't imagine sinking any more money into this car

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Well...if the car doesn't sell at the auction I will have no choice but to fix it

hope you get top dollar at auction - whats the reserve? let us know the outcome

I'm gonna put 20k. To get my money back. If I can. Just installed new headlight washers, the old ones clocked out last week lol. I have mixed feelings about a car when I start it in the morning the smoke is up like it a smoke bomb went off, then after 10 min or so nothing.. Maybe it's not as bad ...wishfull thinking I know

a smoking 996 at auction getting anywhere near $20K is a pipe dream - bidders aren't that clueless but stranger things have happened.

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Agree. Auction facilities are pretty protective of their bread and butter brokers those who buy cars auction after auction. This can be a lot of cars. A nearby auction facility the general manager I knew at the time, this a few years ago, told me the facility processed over 130K cars per year and sold over 90K cars (well, for cars read vehicles). No way an auction facility will want to let someone try to foist a "lemon" off on one of the brokers though I dare say brokers worthy of the name will spot a problem car and give it a miss. While I might if I was in the OP's position attempt to sell the car at an auction I'd be forthcoming about its condition, but also what I did to address it.

Well.. it doesn't smoke usually only on cold start for about a minute. Secondly, do u suggest I just give it away? Or sell it for 10 grand? I'm not losing my money like that. And lastly, it's a dealer auction. Most of those cars go abroad. It is gonna be listed as is. If it doesn't sell for at least the money I spent I will keep it and fix it. Eventually. ..

What would u do if u were me? The car is a collection of pending repairs beyond reasonable maintanence for less than a month of ownership. Clutch with flywheel IMS bearing (probably) Both rear Lower arms bent Starter Oil leak from filter housing plus found another one from head gasket the other day Rear Wiper motor (fixed) Headlight washers (fixed) Oil leak from valve cover (fixed) Burning oil/scored cylinder #3, misfire CEL All 4 O2 sensors plus passenger side cat converter is totally fried All spark plugs plus all coils need replacement Poorly fitted driver door hinges post accident, can hear wind noise after 50mph. Sunroof was getting stuck half way thru 5 days ago. (Fixed) And that's just wht discovered in past 3 weeks. I don't know how the dealer was able to hide all of this cause prior to purchase none of that was evident except a clutch was a bit tight.

long story short is you got sold a lemon. Dump it and get the turbo and chalk the the experience up to a lesson learned.

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I guess what I'd do is go after the dealer for selling you a car they had to know was pretty much a disaster. You might not succeed, but at least you wouldn't be trying to dupe some other poor sap into the same mistake you made. I'd say "good luck" to the auction - but...nope. Not unless you disclose everything and you can still sell it for what you're hoping to make.

I know I am going to get flamed for this as before with all the just dump it and move on posts, but sometimes that is not an option because of finances. So lets do realistic numbers (by the was, I was there in July of 2013). And this is under the assumption that the body work is good - and I assume it is because it passed initial inspection. Purchase price - $20,000 repair cost - $15,000 - rebuilt from MB motorsports Total investment $35K with a new engine with a guarantee - and you now know the history. And in reality - getting into a 40 AE for $35,000 while slightly high, is not horrible. Sell as roller with issues - and I am being generous here because it is a 40 AE - for $10,000 Loss is $10,000 - and then you have to find another ride. So to replace with another 911 - and be at least $10K in the hole and not know the history and may have to do other repairs. These are crappy decisions to make. So fixing it may not be the worst decision. A lot really depends on your financial situation. It is possible to go really cheap - used engine on ebay for $7500 and install for $1000 - and hope for the best. Would ultimately hurt the value of the car but if the engine you get is good - you have a few years to sort this out.

The "wind noise" issue may be the window glass instead of the door itself. If the leak is near the top/back of the window edge you can (with the door open) somewhat forcefully and quickly push against the top edge of the window glass toward the car while holding the door itself, the window will flex for a couple of inches and then when you close the door the window seals tighter. This happened to my car when I was aggressively cleaning the inside of the glass a while ago. The slight wind leak drove me nuts. Don't overdo it though, you don't want to add a broken window to your list. Although that might serve to distract someone from the other issues (j/k) Good luck and next time get the car checked out before buying. Aren't you the guy that said the dealer would buy the car back from you? I could be thinking of someone else...

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this is a truly unfortunate situation - sometimes painful lessons are learned when buying a car and not being up to speed on model issues - this goes with any car including more expensive mercedes & porsche - there hasn't been a porsche produced that is free of issues: 1977 911s - headstuds/poor cooling 1978-83 911sc - headstuds/tranny syncros 1984-1987 - valve seals 1989-1993 - 964 engine case oil leaks 1995-1998 993 CEL light from clogged air passages 1999-2004 IMS/cylinder walls/etc... 2005-2007 IMS bottom line is you weren't aware of issues, were green going into the deal and didn't get PPI from reputable shop or dealer with fault codes read/over revs/etc. thus winding up with a car full of holes. - any reputable shop would have noticed the bondo and new paintwork and other items not functioning dealer who sold u car took advantage or was clueless. new unaware buyers get excited and so hopped up they lose vision and make poor hurried choices. i think we all have been guilty of that - you learn from the burn. what to do?? well that all depends on your financial position - if you have $15K in cash, dump the car for $10-$12K and buy a C4S with due diligence(proper PPI with fault codes read/etc). if money is tight, dump the car and enjoy the hunt while you save up some cash.

Thank you all for the advice and genuine responses. I really appreciate it. I am planning on going after the dealer in any case as the sale may not be possible due to all the problems. I have few options as the state of Connecticut has fairly strong consumer protection laws. Just sucks that instead of enjoying the car I have to spend time dealing with all the nonsense. If all fails then I will rebuild the engine and treat the car as a long term restoration project lol. Will keep all posted

i didn't realize you purchased only a couple of weeks ago. dealer and courts will always fall back on sold as is with no warranty, however, with the accident history not being disclosed, you may have some teeth in this. was accident reported on carfax? was there any mention from dealer of a prior accident?? i would complain like hell to the dealer asap - take the car back to dealer, speak to manager and request meeting with owner of dealership - explain the cars issues and what you've recently found out from professional shops regarding bondo and accident history, engine issues/etc - explain you have invested money into repairing some of the problems but when you found out about engine issues, accident history/bondo you had had enough. grind on them the same way they grinded on you. threaten to contact consumer affairs, local news, yelp, etc... leave the car at the dealership, take photos of it sitting in their lot, hand keys to salesman who sold it to you. leave expecting full refund and nothing less - let them think they have some psycho on their hands that they never want to see or hear from again.

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Excellent. I hope you get some satisfaction. Whenever I sell a car, I am far too forthcoming with any potential issues - but I'd far rather point them out and have the buyer understand exactly what they're getting than try to gloss over the issues and then hide behind the "as is / no warranty" nature of private party car sales. Even if your dealer purchase was "as-is, no warranty," it sounds like the car was materially very different than how it was represented by the dealer. Most state laws/statutes are designed to protect the consumer; I hope you get your money back and the chance to get into a GOOD car with fewer issues.

This really sucks. Im with groovzilla on this one. Take it back to the dealer drop it off and throw the keys to the salesman that sold it to you and tell him you're expecting a refund for the garbage he sold you without any disclosures and just walk off without letting him talk.