What to expect of a 150K miles 996?

Hi guys, Is there anything I should watch out for with this kind of mileage? Should I worry about water pump, shocks/suspension, brakes, electricals, certain bearings, exhaust system, RMS, etc? TIA

I would just make sure you change the oil every 5,000 miles or so at the most, and always take it in for full servicing every 10,000miles - at a dealer or proven reputable independant shop. They'll check things like the belt, and check for leaks and such and do a good once over on it. All wear and tear items obviously will be at or near the end of their service life at 150k - like brakes, clutch, suspension and stuff like that - but I'm sure it must have been replaced already at some point. You hopefully have full service records for the car. There's no reason it shouldn't be a reliable car. Make sure you actually DRIVE the car, and don't baby it, or you will likely end up with problems. Don't be afraid to hit the redline. You wanna make sure you don't get carbon deposits on your pistons/rings/plugs from lugging it around in high gear and not ever reving it and using it like it was made. Just make sure you keep it serviced properly and don't abuse it, and it should continue to run fine.

I wouldn't worry...it made it to 150K....I would drive it as much as possible...mine has 70K and I feel that when I let is sit for a week..it feels a little stiff...but when I drive it everyday.....it feels like (almost) new. DRIVE IT...ENJOY IT!! And as above..regular oilchanges and keep on checking your rubbers and coolant.

by the way I am not the only night stalker I see El Torrente!!

I am awake. The worst thing you can do to a car is let it sit around. At minimum, you should try to put at least 500 miles a month on a car, driving it a few times a week. It is also needs to be driven for stretches of time in excess of 30 minutes, to get the oil at operating temperature. I would not buy a used car that did not have at least 5000 miles per year on it. Back in the early 90's I had inherited a 79 Buick Rivera with about 20k miles on it. Although the paint, body, and interior was pristine, mechanically it was troubled. At one point the fuel line broke because it had corroded through and the car caught on fire at an intersection. Unfortunately, a nice stranger behind me jumped out of his truck at put the fire out. The car had continuous problems because all of the rubber was brittle. Although I got the car for free (from my step mom), it cost me more to keep on the road than my current porsche. When I could afford to buy my own car, I gave it away.

I really believe this is true. The oil thing is about more than temperature, too. Porsche even says right in the manual that moisture and fuel can build up in the oil enough to actually affect the volume shown on the dipstick. Can you imagine how hard that would be on an engine that only gets fair weather weekend cruises in the city? *shiver*

Yup - it's always the garage queens that have the issues. People scared to drive and think they are doing the car a favor by saving the engine, when in fact the opposite is true.

It is nice to see these kinds of comments about how much more reliable these cars are when you drive them. My '99 C2 just passed 84,000 this morning on the way to work. While there have been the minor things you get in any car, it just seems to run better and better as the miles pile on.

I tend to agree - the cars seem to run "better" when driven more... I drive almost everyday, 40 miles, and we always take the 911 on trips (500 miles+). This is my second 996, the first one a 2001 had few issues, ad over 83K miles when i traded it in.

On a side note, I am having my basement finished, and I will have to drive the 996 to the station and keep it there because the garage and driveway will be used as a storage zone. Will driving for a mile, parking the car, and driving it home, daily, for a month be worse than leaving it in a neighbor's driveway, idle??

......Will driving for a mile, parking the car, and driving it home, daily, for a month be worse than leaving it in a neighbor's driveway, idle?? Take the long way - better for you and the car. Stefan

There is no long way! And I'm usually in a rush in the AM. Hopefully, if I give it a good half hour run on the parkway once a week, that should be fine, warm weather and all - right?

I think for a month it wouldn't be too bad, but I wouldn't want to only drive it one mile at a time. It's not long enough to get warmed up properly, and you don't want to rev the engine over 3500-4000rpms before the temp gets to close to 180. It's not gonna hurt the engine to do that for a month only, but really keep that stuff in mind about temps. When you drive it longer distances just make sure to stretch its legs.

Yes, that run on the parkway will help, but you're still going to have to make sure you change your oil more often than the next guy. Water will accumulate faster in your engine than in most engines.

Well now... Clutch if it's still original! Coolant tank if it's not been replaced - they crack over time and slow leak Coolant tank cap - should have a part number that ends in 01 (recall on old 00 caps) Water pump leaking/failure Creaking suspension/balljoints Oil leaking around the plug tubes Rear Main Seal leaking... Dirty MAF leading to possible CEL

Sorry for hijacking the thread.. Does this apply to any car, or just high performance engines?

All cars, to varying degrees.

There are always times when I move the car from the driveway, to the garrage. Turn it on, move it, turn it off. That goes for every car I've owned. I guess added up, these quick drives are why you change the oil on a Honda every 3k miles!

I am new to Porsche and love driving my car "spirited" but afterwards, I always wonder if I am mistreating my car. I've bounced if off the red line a couple of times in the past 6 weeks but if I want to play a bit, I will shift at around 6,000 RPM. Is this bad. The service guy at Porsche told me that this was what the car was designed to do. Still can't help but think I could be hurting my baby. By the way, I have a 2004 40th Anniversary 911.

I take mine to 7000-7200 all the time and I have 103k on it. Runs great, burns zero oil between fillups. 6000rpm is when it's just getting going, heh. Heck, it doesn't even make it's maximum horsepower until 6800rpms - so don't you wanna get what you can out of the engine? You gotta stretch its legs.

Just got back from the dealership to get a shot of oil on the clutch pedal spring (it was creaking). Confirmed that these cars run much better when driven. Told me to keep on driving it. I can tell with my car that it is a lot faster and more responsive now that I drive it everyday.

In my old Mazda RX-7 I had a job for six months where I drove the car about two miles each way every day. Not even time to warm up. I started having significant mechinical problems with it. I won't do that again.

On my Honda Accord, I drove that thing for 176,000 miles with zero problems. Abused the hell out of it. Of course, got the Porsche and drive it all the time, so the Honda sat, and sat, and sat. Overall it sat for 6-7 months probably with very little usage. Then winter came along (and I don't like driving Porsche in the rain - gets too dirty) and I had all sorts of problems with the Honda. I don't recall everything done, but it was this belt and that belt. So, I think it's safe to extrapolate this to all cars - they are meant to be driven and will last much longer if they are.

Totally and I find it funny how guys think the ultra low annual mileage cars should somehow be preferred. And they willingly pay for it. We're talking like 3000 miles a year. That's a lot of time twiddling its thumbs doing nothing. My car averaged 500 miles a month with the previous owner - I'll bump that up to 800-1000miles per month.

w/150k miles I would worry about everything, but why? you never know when something is going to fail. just do good maintenance.

If there is any incline to your driveway, consider rolling the car with the engine off. I'm serious. It's not that your car will just fall apart (and I don't want you to worry too much about it if you have no other choice, because it's just a car), but 50% of all engine wear occurs on startup. So starting your car for 30 seconds is equivalent to starting and driving it for 500 miles. But it's not just the engine. It's also hard on the battery, it's hard on the spark plugs, catalytic converter, and especially, the muffler. For example, your engine will give off about 1 gallon of water for every 1 gallon of gas you burn. If you don't get the muffler and exhaust system hot enough, that water will sit in your metal exhaust system and rust and rust and rust...

Think of it this way: When you are exercising your body, you are doing it a favor. If you get your heart rate up and lungs pumping, blood flows and you are pushing your body to perform. Push it a little harder, and it's even better for you, provided you don't have medical condition. But push it past your limits, and you can overheat or do some damage to yourself. Same with the Porsche. Get it warmed up properly, put the good quality gas & clean oil it in, and push it and get engine moving quickly and pumping fast. It is fine to run it up to 100%. But do not go above 100% by crossing the line. Things such as over revving it or holding it at redline for an extended period of time (10 minutes) is bad. Also, do not shift too quickly, and do not drive your car over large potholes, bumps or gravel. Another thing, don't lug the engine (under 1500 RPM). Otherwise, full throttle and full brake, once you are in gear on smooth, flat surface, run the car up to 100% as many times as you like.

murphy i'm thinking you take care of your 911 better than yourself

Probably . I exercise plenty, don't smoke, drink occasionally, have little stress, but I eat like crap! Oh, well, I'm still working on it

No one from the board has mileage that high, there should be no responses..lol!

Maybe. But there is this thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...st+mileage+996

It's my experience in other makes...the higher the mileage >90k, the higher the cost of yearly maintenance from wear and tear. Most of my cars are retired around 200k from a reliability factor. We'll see how high the 996 will go, it's at 83k right now.

You got me.

I just like to promote the idea that Porsche still makes high quality cars. Just because we have a few 996 engines go bad, doesn't make it unreliable. Truth is, many of the air-cooled engines on the road now have higher mileage because they are older, yes, but also because the non-surviving cars are long gone. I don't think the 996 is any less of a Porsche than any other and expect to find plenty of 100,000+ mile examples in the years to come. It will just take some time because it's still a newer car...