Car coming out of warranty, what should I check?

Hi all, My car will soon be running out of (an aftermarket) warranty. Should I take it in to the dealer and have it checked out for potential troubles? If something is wrong, I could get it fixed this time, or at least it could help me in deciding whether or not to get another extended warranty. RMS has been fixed, and I don't have any leaks now. Clutch was also replaced. Thanks in advance ... 2000 C2 with 55K miles. Warranty is till September 06, 60K miles.

Bumping up for attention Anyone have any thoughts or comments?

i agree, good question as my cab is heading towards the end of the CPO from Porsche. Dealer told me not to bother with extending it, since it would of been 3K or something. Ive only got 32K on it so its still young..

Don't think you will get to much comments. You shouldn't really have any problems. RMS is not a big deal and you've all ready had it done. I doubt your clutch needed to be even done. The cats seem to go early on this car, but that may be due getting water into the exhaust by way of car washes. Your battery should still be ok for a while but it is now 4 years old so don't count on it.

I just installed new plugs in my 2002 C2 at 55k and noticed that the coil packs were cracked so I have 6 of them on order. You may want to check them also. Roger B.

When mine was coming out of warranty, I took it into the dealer for an early major! Told them to look everything over very carefully, because from now on, I will be doing all the work (hint..hint..wink..I wont be back, so find eveerything you can get PCA to cover) They found nothing they could get warranty to cover! that was 38k miles ago and still nothing has gone wrong!

Check the coolant overflow tank. Mine cracked. $250 part and 30 mins of labor. Other then that, you should be good!

With regards to the extended warranty do note that in general many items mentioned in the replies will not be covered, as they are considered wear items. Namely batteries, spark plugs, clutch, coil packs. So check the fine print and be proactive about it, it would be hard getting an extended warranty once your original warranty runs out. In many ways getting one is a personal decision on how much risk you want to play with and how long you plan to keep your car. And it can also give you and edge when selling the car, as it may provide an incentive to the buyer if there's some warranty remaining. A kind rennlister on the 997 board has recommended getting an account at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union (you can open an account there even if you are a regular civilian), they offer many financial resources/products, and under insurance they offer a mechanical breakdown protection. Check it out here (not sure if it is applicable in CA) I may be in the same boat 2 years from now... so I'm curious to know how it goes. Keep us posted.

Just wanted to give everyone an update: I finally got the car checked from the dealer today. Nothing major, except an RMS leak !!! I have two options: 1) RMS was replaced by another dealer 6 months ago. They have a 1-year warranty on their work. I could take it there and get it done. Don't know about deductibles, etc and total cost to me. 2) Take the car to a new dealer and get it done under the extended warranty. Should be a $200 deductible, plus the cost of oil and few other replacements. Approximately $400. Any suggestions? Also, the inspection showed I'm going to need new brakes soon (rotors and pads). Any recommendations, and is this a DIY, or should I pay the stealer? Thank you all

Final Update: 1. Got RMS leak done (second time), Intermediate shaft seal, cam covers done. Car is now leak free. Have two years warranty on this work. 2. Aftermarket warranties are getting too expensive. Best I heard was $4500 for 3yr / 36,000 miles. Car is an '00 C2 with 56K miles on it. 3. I'm going to take the risk and go on without any warranty . Putting aside $4.5K in a bank account. If I need less than that, I won. If I need more than that, well ... then so be it.

I just wanted to resurrect my own thread and share my thoughts with everyone else. About a year and half ago, my car came out of warranty and I was debating whether to buy another extended warranty then. I did not at that time, and decided to stash away the $4k warranty cost (mentally) if I ever need it. Now after reading about so many more engine failures, I've gotten nervous, and have decided to get some powertrain coverage for my car. I'll be going with the basic powertrain warranty (engine, transmission, etc), since I've done the RMS, IMS, coolant tank, etc and I don't have any leaks. Is there anyone else here in the same boat as me? MY 99-01 996 with no warranty whatsoever? What are your thoughts?

I just had an IMS complete engine failure at 11k on the clock this weekend on my 2003 C4, but CPO is going to cover me on this one. Looking at your data, $4.5k in the bank vs. a potential $15k if you get a catastrophic failure... statistically, I would suspect you are better off with the $4.5k in the bank. But if you are one of the few, unlucky... I am not worried about the occasional $500 to $1k bill, even $2k, for items like RMS or MAF ore more... - these are Porsche's after all, meaning service and parts are more expensive then Honda, and we should be able to stomach that. But I do worry about $15k bills (if $15k were nothing to me I'd be driving a 997TT).

I'm in the same boat jsmirand. I can swallow the 1-2k repairs ... the 12-15k ones are scary. I've zeroed in on a powertrain warranty, 4 years 48k miles, for $2800.

I've got the remainder of a 2-year warranty on my 3.4 engine that was replaced in December 2006, but after that, I'm naked. I've got no reason to believe I'll need the warranty and am prepared to deal with whatever might pop up. If peace of mind costs $2800, I'll take my chances, and I'm not sure if I could get an extended warranty on a 1999 Porsche anyway.

I am sittting with my '99 C2 now at 97,000 miles, just out of the CPO warranty. From my persepective there is no choice but to go naked or sell the car. While I think I have a very strong car and know that it has always been well maintained, the thought of having to replace an engine is not pleasant. But everything else is solid and I am hopeful that the engine goes a long way before needing anything more than the normal maintenance. I do have a new transmission, new clutch, new alternator, new MAF, new coolant tank and cap, and a few other things courtesy of the CPO warranty. I was putting 25,000 miles a year on the car, but have now slowed down probably to less than 10,000, maybe lower. Not driving the car is my real worry.

Check your brake bleeders and lug nuts for abnormal rust.

My '03 is just coming off full warranty this month. Even though it has just a bit over 20K in mileage, I had the local dealership do a 30k service on it....in part, to have a thorough check to try to catch anything starting to go, and also assuming that some service items even though they are expressed in miles, probably made some miles/year assumptions (e.g., apparently the plugs should be replaced after 30k miles or 4 years). Overservicing, when done properly, just costs money--it doesn't hurt. (the good news or bad news, depending on how you look at is, was that they didn't find anything....saying it was one of the better condition ones they've run across recently--so nothing to fix) If you don't want the dealership to do it, you could follow the 30k warranty service items yourself or with an Indy. You could also consider taking your car to an Indy or dealership for a pre-purchase inspection as a way to try to catch anything....or follow a list like that yourself.

Anyone know if the Exhaust warranty (8/80k) starts from manufacture date, or when the first owner bought the car? Anyone know where I can find out when my car was first sold?

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Date when the initial delivery took place. All warranties start then. C

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Cool, since mine was manufactured in late '99. I am hoping they didn't sell the car until May so I have some time to get the cats checked out! Is there an easy way to see when the car was first delivered?

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Carfax has that usually. Mine was delivered May 2000.

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Ask the dealer to look up the history of the car. They should be able to tell you when the car was delivered, which dealer delivered it, and if all the TSBs or recall repairs have been done. I suspect they also have access to the dealer repair history too, but I doubt they will give that to you without the previous owner's permission.

MY '00 here, no warranty, nor did I take the care I should have when I bought it. Today, my warranty is my credit card. I overservice the car (love that expression, 'Pilot). I'm quite confident that the only thing that could nail me would be an out-of-the-blue intermediate shaft bearing failure. If that happens, I'll **** and moan and then buy a new motor.

+1. Enjoy the car until it needs to be fixed.