996 repair budget

I'm still looking for one, still debating if this is a wise move or not. So many cars, even documented, well maintained cars, have thousands (and I'm talking 5 digits) in repairs in their history. At the same time I've heard that the 996 is DIY-friendly, and I can do most things on a car short of a clutch or a transmission rebuild (for example, brakes, suspension, etc). I know, buy the best one you can afford. I know, budget for repairs. Say a car has had clutch, IMS, RMS, AOS, and water pump replaced in the last few years. Is there a whole lot else to worry about? I considered 997s but have read about bore scoring, climate control issues (foam separation) and other things that give me pause.

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The basic stuff you talk about being able to do are relatively inexpensive for the fact that these cars were once so expensive. The IMS, RMS, AOS, clutch and flywheel are relatively inexpensive for the type of cars these are, mine was $4300 parts and labor and it will vary depending on where you live. The issue becomes if the engine fails there its going to cost an astronomical amount of money to fix, all the other stuff is peanuts.

OP - �Wise� to buy a 996? Well...These cars and the 997.1s generally have the same strengths/weaknesses. Fun per dollar spent? Whew, amazing drives! I will never claim to be a good wrench, but don�t shy from anything but an engine drop on a 996. As motoo says, engine failure is the $20,000 crapshoot. If you find one with a FSI or Hartech rebuild, for example, you remove a great deal of angst. The rest is your personal risk/reward tolerance. I have around $41,000 in my 3.8-rebuild 02 C2. That�s with all repairs, new complete suspension, new 997S summer wheels, new clutch, new injectors, UAOS and optional �upgrades� to my taste. I feel the car is pretty good value for the performance and smiles per mile. Plus, it�s a Porsche 911.

I will also add that I had never owned or worked on any Porsche before I bought my 996. So far I have done my own oil changes, changed out plugs/coils, changed out mufflers and replaced hardware, repaired my heater flap that had no foam left and it was all relatively straight forward.

Good to hear on the heater flap (is this also a 996 issue then?). In my Audi it was a nightmare, half the interior including the dash had to come out to get to the heater box.

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The foam coming out of the vent is common on these cars. Doing it the book way you would have to take apart the interior but there is an easier way. Under the cowl if you are willing to modify the top of the box the flap sits in you can get it out that way. You just have to cut off a small plastic bit and then you can take the flap out of the top. Its a small piece, maybe the width of your thumb? I took a sawzall blade and just manually cut it, that was probably the worst part because its a tight fit. I put my cut cap back on by using HVAC putty over top of it. It took me a few hours as it was my first time taking all of that stuff out. I actually put the flap in backwards and was able to take it all apart relatively quickly and I would imagine I could do it now in an hour or so.

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No sports car comes without some type of known issue. The 996 is no objection. What you've listed are main points of concern but even then only hold true to a small percentage.

Yes, foam is an issue in the 996. I recently fixed both HVAC flaps.(blend door) Neither are difficult. The Heat/Cold blend door describes above is the easiest. The defrost/dash/floor blend door is harder, but not THAT difficult. Much easier than most other cars! Really except for engine/transmission rebuilds, there�s not a lot of difficult repairs on the 996. Some time consuming ones, yes. But not really difficult. Luckily for almost everything there is someone here who has already done it and can help guide you. Wise to buy a 996? I got an estimated trade-in value on my car earlier this week and it was $500 less than I paid private-party in Sept 2017. Of course my car is NOT for sale. It was for insurance purposes.

I am totally upside down in my 05 996 C4S due to an engine that decided to score some liners and could care less. I had the engine reconstructed and couldn't be happier. This car is a toy not an investment to me. These cars can get expensive. They are not a Camry(nothing against a Camry if that is what you want/need). They are a high performance vehicle and have weaknesses that can reveal themself as the car ages. The 996 is a wonderful car to drive and always bring a smile, but one must realize this performance can come with a steep price. On bore scoring the 996 is as deep into that problem as the 997.

You getting younger? Didn�t think so. Buy the best car you can afford, drive it, love looking in garage before you go to bed, learn a thing or two by doing what you can and welcome to the club!

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YES! Perfect!! Took the words right out of my mouth!!! Do it!!!!

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Hear! Hear! It's an aging sports car so you're going to deal with some weird stuff you wouldn't on a new car like foam shooting in your face. It's gonna get in your mouth, too, cause you're going to have a huge stupid grin on your face. Enjoy your new Porsche. Speeding tickets!

If you do not have a good Porsche mechanic near you then you might want to look for one before you buy. Things will go wrong and sometimes you may not want to fix it yourself or invest in the tools required.

No shortage of mechanics around but at $150/hr and up, DIY is always my first choice. Fair point on the not getting younger. If I were a car, I'd definitely flag the failing knees (budget for a double replacement), worry about the feet and hips, and order a regular Blackstone report on that liver...

Beyond the stuff you already know (they were expensive new so still more expensive to own and now are 20yr old so lots of parts to replace), along with the fact that they are HP cars not designed with reliability at the forefront; they are pretty DIY friendly, just be prepared to DIY fairly often. im a bit **** (as are most Pcar peeps), so if you want a good idea of what you have to look forward to as an owner, have a look at some of the stuff I�ve done over the past 3 years... https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...me-03-c4s.html

The only thing that has broken in 10 years of ownership is the driver side door latch. I've done tons of preventative maintenance and even that hasn't been expensive if you prorate it over 10 years. Tomorrow it's going in for $$$ preventative maintenance and I'll be content if the car lasts another 10 years or outlives me, whichever comes first.

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Every car that uses foam on the flaps will have this issue. My PO spent $21K in repairs in his 7 years of ownership before the motor lost a timing chain...

A LOT has to do with working on it yourself and finding a model that is well sorted, with good records, taken care of by the PO. You can spend a lot by paying someone over $100/hour to do the basics. As much as I originally dreaded it, the 996 is really pretty DIY friendly on, and most things are pretty accessible. FWIW my maintenance and repairs over 3 years have been about $2300 over 27K miles (Bought at 107k, and have 134k on it now), which is $0.085 per mile not including gas. Its about to jump up to about $0.11 per mile, since I have to do front and rear brakes in the coming weeks to the tune of about $700 for pads, rotors, shims, etc. To me anything less than $0.15 per mile is pretty solid and in the range of what I'd expect to maintain a comparable Japanese sports car. There are good videos and write-ups on just about any repair you could imagine. I have been able to do everything myself except for extracting and replacing broken exhaust manifold bolts that were very rusted - that was my most expensive repair at $700 for basically 7 hours of work - but only $25 in parts. Typical repairs are anything you'd expect with any car of commensurate mileage (water pump, alternator, brakes, engine/trans mounts, etc.) and if you price shop parts, for the most part they are no more expensive than the parts on my wife's Mazda. I've been able to do everything with a good assortment of basic hand tools and an OBD reader. There is always the gamble - and anyone who ever bought an older Porsche (or any older high end German performance car) has made that gamble - that a catastrophic failure can lead to a big repair. This can happen with rod bearings on a BMW M3/M5/M6, IMS failure or cylinder scoring on a 996/997, head bolt stretch on some Mercedes AMGs, Audi V8 plastic timing chain guides on S4s, Haldex failures on VW Golf Rs, etc. No brand is immune. The best you can do is get a thorough PPI, review the maintenance history, and roll the dice. I have been pretty fortunate with my 996. There is a small percentage of guys on the forum who have not been so lucky. The failure rate is small, but it does suck if it happens to you. Good luck in the search. I'm part of a pretty active car community and have been fortunate enough to drive some really great cars. I think most on the forum would agree that a well sorted 996 is about the best bang for the buck you can find for a world class driving experience for $20K +/-.