Opinions wanted - how far do I go

I'm about 80% convinced that I will sell my 2004 C2 with 87k miles on the clock in the spring, I've been toying with the idea for about three years. Here's where I'm at: The dealer owed me a trans remove and reinstall to upgrade the clutch release throw out arm so I decided to take advantage of the offer. While in there I am going to go with the upgraded arm, new release bearing and guide tube, etc. The IMS seal is seeping slightly (I had the LN IMSB and flange installed about 10k miles ago) so I will have a new seal installed. The RMS is dry but it's been in for over 7 years so my thinking is replace it to know that it is done and should be good to go for years to come. I had coil packs and plugs replaced about 5,000 miles ago, the plugs are NGK and the tech wants to replace them with what he says are the proper Bosch spark plugs. I'm leaning towards replacing them. The AOS is suspect so I will have that replaced, again to assure that things are good to go for years to come. Flywheel spring back tests good - so tech suggests to leave it as is. Left rear strut is a little wet - M030 suspension so about a grand to replace both rear struts. Not sure I should go that far. Tech suggests I hold off on that. My question is that although odds are high that I will sell the car I don't want to begin to skimp on maintenance, yet I also don't want to throw money that I might not recoup. I realize that forums can be biased yet I am concerned that buyers are more proud of price paid than they are about a well maintained and serviced car. Anybody think I am making a mistake by continuing to maintain the car as I always have? Anybody think that a prospective buyer is willing to pay for what has already been done or would they rather buy on price and add the expenses later? I get that opinions vary - but fire away. Thanks

Sorry you are thinking of selling. That said I applaud you for keeping the car maintained. Nothing is worse than selling a car loaded with things that need to be done and letting the new owner sort it out. When I sold mine I even added new rear tires knowing the car was sold. I sleep good.

I would keep the money in my pocket and skip the maintenance. You will never recover it. The next guy will be all excited to spend the money.

With engine seals, I don't believe in replacing them until or unless they leak. You might end up causing a leak by replacing the seal - it happens all too often. I would not change fresh plugs unless they are causing misfires or there is some reason to suspect their performance (like improper heat range or fouling, etc.) I don't know what to suggest about the AOS, as I am not sure what you mean "suspect". If it's bad, it gets replaced. Can it's integrity be verified without actually replacing it? I would hold off on the strut replacement too. If you do sell the car, you can offer a chunk of the money (say, 1/2 to cover the unit that is leaking) to the prospective buyer. The buyer will likely appreciate your honesty and candor about the car and will be impressed rather than turned off. IMO, buyers will only pay pennies on the dollar for maintenance work performed recently. Maybe 10-30%?? I believe that a good maintenance regimen will help you sell your car more quickly and for a higher price, but not equal to the $ spent. That's my $.02

Sounds like you are "tired" of chasing after this car. In all my experience of owning 911's (just acquired my 9th), I always seem to reach a point at which I'm ready to move on to something else. My last 911 a 993, I kept for 7 years. It's entirely your decision. I'd fix whatever might cost the new owner a heap of money. As one of the others said: "just fix what will allow you to sleep well".

I will take advantage of what the dealer owe you only, do it and that's it, no one will appreciate the rest of what you're planning to do. People get pride in how cheap they can get them, the only word they now is IMS and fried-egg headlights they don't care about the rest, unless if you listed with your local PCA or a Porsche connossieur. Good luck!!

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Actually I love the car, purchased as a CPO in 2007. If I take the emotions out of the equation it just makes sense to sell. I also have an 04 C4S that I bought a little over three years ago, I was initially grateful back in 07 that I could finally afford to buy another Porsche. So, one Porsche should be adequate. Deal is that my wife is terminally ill (have to face that fact) and although I finally found another job last November, she had a recurrence on my 2nd day of the job so I ended up leaving that job to remain at home to care for her, the home, and the kids. She has her final cycle of chemo tomorrow and after that the disease will run its course. So, trying to think logically - I let go of the car, pay off a few bills and keep some of the cash to enjoy a few more road trips with the wife in the C4S. Better to invest in positive memories than to hang on to a car that I really don't need, yet the truth is I really do want to hang on to it. It's a personal principle kind of thing on the repairs, do unto others..........

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I'm aware of your wife's cancer from some of your previous posts and can only wish her and you the best. Your comment above is spot on.

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+996. If it were me, I'd sell whatever I needed to, so she can enjoy her life to the fullest. Life can be very unpredictable and you never wanna look back and second guess anything. I'm toying with the idea of selling my ride myself someday to fund a few awesome vacation packages for my folks while they're still mobile and on this earth.

Sorry about your wife, I hope for the best. Have you looked into accelerated death benefit on any of her life insurance? This is a rider that may have been added to the policy, or something you might be able to add. This will allow you to take some cash from the death benefit, or cash it in completely, tax free money. Hopefully this will allow you to spend some time without too much financial stress. I know it is just a car, but if you and her have had a lot great memories, it might be nice to drive after the fact, to bring some of those back. The life policy (if she has one, with ADB rider) funds will help I"m sure.

^ you will not be able to cash the whole death benefit in, just so you know.

I'd take care of the bare minimums and disclose the remaining issues when you sell it. Used car buyers are fully aware that it always takes a few grand to get a car up to speed. My concern is that you'll never see the investment back if you put it into the car now. For example if a leaky strut costs $1000 to fix but only increases the price of the car by $500 then you've lost money. As long as you are honest and the buyer knows then you can sleep at night. Most important though is enjoy the time you have with your wife and family.

I'm with fpena. As a buyer, the best possible outcome is finding a car on which everything that needs updating has been updated. Second best is a well-maintained car with a list of upcoming maintenance needs. The worst possible case is acquiring a car with no records, like I did...you have no way of knowing how the car was maintained and what may be coming due, so you have to operate under the assumption that everything is original and replace those things we now know require periodic replacement (water pump, fuel filter, etc. etc.). Since you're not going to recover your investment in additional upgrades at this point, finding a seller for the car as-is would be how I'd proceed. As we all know, preventive maintenance / "upgrades" don't make much of a positive impact on purchase prices...

Sounds like there's more backstory to this, so apologies for not knowing the whole story. As long as you own it, I think you should continue to do the basic maintenance. If you keep it, you'll want it maintained.If you sell it, the maintenance may help with the sale and I think there's an ethical piece to it as well. Purposefully not maintaining something just because it's going to be sold is not very respectable. With that in mind, if you're going to sell, I recommend doing it soon. You limit your ongoing maintenance costs and I've always heard selling a car like this in the springtime is easier. I don't think it would take long to sell at a decent price.

I would do IMS flange, rms and AOS. Buyer will appreciate that and possibly pay closer to your asking price.

First sorry to learn of your dear wife's condition. Please know both of you are in my thoughts. Since you are not sure you are going to keep the car or sell it my advice would be to take care of the must do things. Since the tranny is coming out refresh whatever clutch hardware you can. Address the IMS leak and consult with your tech about the RMS. While my philosophy is if it ain't broke don't fix it I have modified this a bit regarding the RMS. Unless your tech advises you otherwise, my advice would be to replace this at the same time. Leave the coils alone but I would remove the NGK spark plugs and have the as the tech said the proper Bosch spark plugs installed. If the AOS is suspect I'd replace it. I know I'm going against the tech's advice here, but with a leaking strut I would not put this off, let this go. So, for the leaking left rear strut I would replace both the leaking strut and its counterpart on the other side. I'd replace these with the same factory/OE struts. No suspension upgrades at this time. Since you are not sure you are going to keep the car no need to mod the car. If you decide the sell the car, the fewer mods the better I believe. The above ensures the car has all currently known issues addressed so you can have some peace of mind that none of these issues will come up and at what can only be the worse time to have to deal with car issues. Besides buying some peace of mind, the above work does not really increase the value of the car, but helps maintain its value and helps the car sell quicker. You of course can show a prospective buyer you loved the car and took care of issues. If you let the above issues go it will make the car a harder sell and when it does sell it will sell for less money. My thinking is you have followed good servicing for the car and it has I think been a good car for you. Why mess with success? Keep doing what you have been doing.

Thanks a million to each of you. Grateful to have some help in thinking through this, which now turns out to be pretty simple. Makes no difference if selling or keeping, I will service the car as I always have. Doing it right is doing it right. Thanks Macster - was hoping you'd chime in, especially on the plugs. As to the strut, I'll budget for that and get it done. The good part is I paid for the car at purchase so I do own it. I'm the 2nd owner and have kept the car 100% OEM, including N spec summer and winter tires. Have all documentation starting with the original sales agreement, all known items addressed, including water pump.

At this highly emotional time now is not the time to deviate too much from what you have been doing. You have a lot on your mind and in some ways auto repairs and servicing should be on auto pilot so you can devote all the attention and energy you can muster in order to deal effectively with your dear wife's terrible and as I understand terminal illness. As an aside, I hope you have looked into hospice care? My Mom entered hospice last May or June and Dad followed in September. The care was very good and in my both Dad's and Mom's case kept them free of pain and yet mentally alert, although with the terminal case of dementia Mom wasn't really the same person as she was before. For Dad he was in spite of his age (95) not suffering from any pain, it was just age catching up with him. For both parents they received 24/7 care -- via the board and care home where they lived -- and hospice nurses and doctors showed up periodically to make sure they were both medically and mentally ok and lacked for nothing. They both died peacefully and without any drama. During this time I don't recall too much about the servicing my cars had but I know I had some issues with the Boxster taken care of -- I think I had the plugs replaced -- they were due -- and at the same time the plug tube o-rings replaced (the tubes on one cylinder bank were leaking). Had something done on the Turbo too but I can't recall now what. My thinking at the time was I didn't want the extra mental burden of having to worry about one or both cars acting up and at the wrong or worst time. I was dashing about back and forth to work and stopping in to visit/check up them twice a day at least. There were shopping trips to pick up supplies hospice didn't provide, like baby food for Mom and some medicines not covered under hospice. I was driving the heck out of first one car then the other. It just seemed mentally less work to stay the course and keep up my habit of having things taken care of when they needed taking care of. 'course, I had the money and didn't have to cut back in that regard. If money is a concern -- your do not need to reply on this subject, I do not need to know any details -- then this can change your decision. It might be -- again you do not have to reply -- appropriate at this time to sell the car as is and while you won't get as much for it, you do not have to spend any money and by selling the car you reduce expenses, obviously.

Thank you Macster. We are not at the end yet, have experience with Hospice, Mother in-law suffered from Cancer and my wife cared for her in our home and we placed her in Hospice when we reached a predicted 5 hours to end of life. It was an amazingly accurate prediction by an in-home hospice visiting nurse. Had a horrific experience with my Father, not cancer related, placed in Hospice at the advice of ICU doctors. He lived for 11 days with no food or fluid, just a morphine drip and it was a terrible experience to witness. Also cared for my Father in-law in his home until he passed from cancer, so we unfortunately have some up close and personal experience. I am committed to caring for my wife for as long as I am able to do so. Who knows, the day may come when I live alone in a box and my wheels are topped with a wire basket and handle, in chrome of course. Again, we aren't in the final stages yet, I am just listening closely to the statements delicately delivered by her Oncologist. And of course, nothing is ever certain, I am one of those die hard believers in miracles. As to the car, it's already disassembled and it's been more thoroughly checked out than any PPI I ever had done. So, I'm going to move forward with repairs that are needed/suggested with the exception of the rear struts. Not financially desperate at this point, and after the family my focus should be on dumping the other house that costs me a couple grand a month (long story as to the house, have a 22 year old son living there with more drama than I want under this roof) The cost of the car is negligible but why hang on to it when I don't need it? At the same time, when I do sell it won't be a fire sale. I don't have the details but the dealer offered to handle the sale on consignment, might look into that and let them have their piece in exchange for being free from the hassle of a private sale. Thanks again.

I traded my 996 C4 about 4 months ago for a 997TT. I had done most everything to the car with FULL maintenance history and was pretty disappointed that even after closing the deal the dealer wasn't interested in all the extras the car had.....guess I should had offered it up here on the forum.... Loved the 996 - lights and all. Just before the sale RMS, IMS SOLUTION, AOS, WATER PUMP, OIL PRESSURE SENDING UNIT, CLUTCH, oil change - by Raby (4k miles) New tires - Michelin PSS New Brakes Bilstein PSS10 - 3k miles Aluminum pedals

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When it became time to discuss my Mom entering hospice my sister and I were in agreement we were not going to let the hospital/pallative care specialist railroad (relatively speaking) Mom into hospice. I visited Mom in the hospital and once she confided in me that maybe it was time to let her go. I asked her what she meant and she said maybe it was time to let her die. This gave me the idea that maybe she was ready to enter hospice. The effort of having to deal with the doctor visits -- several a week -- with her arthritis pain, near blindness and near total deafness, it was just too much for her. My sister and my Dad and I met with the pallative care specialist and spent over an hour talking with him. We were satisfied that this was the right thing to do and just as important Mom would not be left to starve, or dehydrate, or not be kept clean -- she was bed ridden -- or have to suffer in pain. Mom continued to receive all her prescribed medicines, including eye drops, food and water. The dementia was affecting her ability to swallow. She was aspirating food and water into her lungs. So thickener was added to the water and juice and she was fed baby food sometimes with thickener added. She continued to eat and drink almost until the very end. When it came time to discuss Dad entering hospice again my sister and I were not going to just give in. Dad was mentally alert and participated in the conversation. He too expressed the desire to no longer visit the doctor. He was going quite often to see his primary care doctor, and his kidney and heart specialist. It was a tug of war -- so to speak -- between which organs or organ would fail first: kidneys or heart. Dad was able to eat and drink ok but his appetite was poor. As his heart got weaker just the effort to stand up to use the bathroom required several minutes of time to recover even with oxygen. But he was without pain and still able to with assistance go to the dining room to eat 3 times a day up until the last day. My point in relating all of the above is based on my 2nd hand experience from close observation and monitoring of my Mom and Dad's hospice care I'm at a loss to understand why your dear Dad was treated the way he was. As for your car whatever you decide will be the right decision. If you can dispose of the car without much effort/attention on your part -- to reserve these resources for your dear wife in her time of need -- that is the way to go. Similarly if you can arrange to dispose of the house in such a way that doesn't require much of your time/attention, then do so. I'm not at all experienced in the house selling business, so when it came time to dispose of my deceased parents' two houses I just turned the houses over to a real estate agent at one of the larger and well thought of real estate agencies in town. I have an attorney there in town who reviews the contracts and such. Neither house has sold yet - the weather has been horrible in that region and it is hard to show houses in bad snowy/icy cold weather. For instance, I just got word via email that a showing scheduled for later today was canceled due to bad weather. Temps in the low 20's with a brisk (16mph) wind. I can't help you with any experience on my part regarding your son living in the house. Evicting someone with a rental agreement can be difficult. If there is no rental agreement eviction can be doubly difficult. Before you do anything you might consult with a real estate attorney to see if there is any groundwork you can do that might make getting your son out of the house with the minimum of effort and drama so you can then proceed to dispose of the house. Be sure you have the right type and amount of insurance on the house including liability because prior to selling the home you will likely have people coming into clean and make some repairs to the home and you want to be sure that if someone falls and breaks a leg you are protected. I used only licensed/bonded workers but you still need to protect yourself. For my parents' houses I had to buy unoccupied dwelling insurance, which is unfortunately a bit more expensive than insurance for if the house is occupied. But I wanted to properly protect the houses against any risk and my deceased parents' estate against any risk.

Picked up the car yesterday and really pleased. Yes I am sure I went too far but I had decided to care for the car as I always have. The release arm upgrade for the throw out bearing did the trick for the clutch - works perfect and now it is identical to the feel and operation in the C4S - was out cruising last night and for a moment I wasn't sure which car I was in. Man I love these cars, I didn't want to head home last night, just wanted to keep on going. Dealer is covering the labor for R&R of the trans and I am going to meet with them on Thursday to see if they will cover the IMS seal and labor under warranty. Tech doesn't think so because it's the LNE - purchased through the dealer but tech doesn't think they are going to cover a non-OEM part, even though he stated that the LNE flange uses the same seals as OEM. I'll do my best to negotiate. Really enjoying the car and difficult to think of selling it. Wife finally understands that financially it's the right thing to do but she is sort of hung up on feeling as if I am only selling it because of her health. I am trying to get her to plan a couple of road trips - take her mind off of the here and now and have some hope for some fun over the summer.

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All this said, I would follow Spokayman's advice above. You will still be an honorable seller, you will be fair to the car, and you will have money in your pocket for the issue in your life that is most important.