I'm buying a very low mile 1999 996, quick question

Hey all. I'm looking at a 1999 996 in Jacksonville Florida. I'm from Detroit. The car has 24k miles on it. The sellers seems pretty upfront, and as soon as he calls the dealer that he's had all his service done at, and gives them permission to share the service information, I'll have a better idea of the vehicle. If the service sounds good, I'll have a ppi done by that dealer. If the car is in tip top shape I'd like to drive it back to Detroit. Is there a valid concern like I've read on the forums of the IMS being in worse shape from lack of being driven/low miles? I'd likely have the ims fixed at a very reputable shop in MI, but I'd prefer not to have it done in Florida. Honestly, I'd prefer not to have it done until the clutch needs replacing. Any feedback appreciated. *Maybe someone knows a reputable shop in Jacksonville Florida.

Me personally I would rather have a well sorted/maintained low milage 996 then a high mileage with ims already changed. Get the ppi done and pay a little more for them to do an oil change so they can check the filter. Then buy it drive it and never mention ims again. It's been well established that the bearing is wear item and at some point it will need to be replaced.

That car has a double row bearing. The least failure rate of any. Check out the filter at first oil change for clues of anything going wrong. I had mine changed with even less miles on the car than yours but I am more of a worrier than most. The normal person would probably wait until the clutch needs replacing especially with the low miles and a dual row bearing.

I'm in the Jax area and know most shops there. I recommend Omega Motorsports for anything. [phone removed].

And by the way, my 99 has 110,000 miles on the original dual row IMS with tons of track time and I sleep well at night.

Wow! A 16 year old 996 w/24k miles. That's a pretty good find. Good bet the 99 engine is a dual row bearing meaning >99% never had a problem. Like Atrox said, do the oil/filter change (or was a recent one done?), check all fluids and drive it. You can fret over whether to do it when/if you have the clutch replaced which may be a long way down the road depending on how you drive. My 99 w/134K is still on original bearing and original clutch, but I'm a pretty easy driver.

Thanks guys. Good to get owner feedback. Also good to know of a shop in Jacksonville. The dealer(Brumo's) wants 300 for the ppi, even though shops/dealers in my neck of the woods do them for 150. Maybe more is involved at this particular dealer.

I also recommend doing an immediate oil change and checking filter just to be sure.

DBJoe, I know right. Not only that, but it's selling for 22.5k. A 35k mile 1999 911 closer to home is listed at 26k. Pretty good deals it seems.

Is an immediate oil change necessary if he had an oil change done a couple weeks ago? He very well might have had the oil changed right before listing it.

Quotes source post: 12418810

Brumos in Jax is the best! They have sponsored/built Porsche race cars in many series. Experts and knowledgeable. I would pay the $300.

Brumos is well known but you can get it done cheaper with Steve at Omega. Trust me on this.

Since you're driving back up and if you're really paranoid about the IMS, maybe drive through Jake's neck of the woods on the way back and see if you can get the IMS serviced there. Then you'll know exactly what you have and should eliminate any doubts on future reliablity issues for the most part. Brumos is a big place with big overhead but they are a good dealer as they actually have several race cars and do a lot of hardcore work(compared to other dealers).

Quotes source post: 12418816

I'd first ask if the oil has been changed...

Quotes source post: 12418728

Brumos is probably the most well known dealer in the US due to their racing history. On the service history you are looking for annual oil changes. Don't be surprised to see more than 1 RMS replacement, & that might be all.

[QUOTE=DBJoe996;12418800]Wow! A 16 year old 996 w/24k miles. That's a pretty good find. Good bet the 99 engine is a dual row bearing meaning >99% never had a problem. Dual row IMSB was the only IMSB in existence so that would be a good bet!

Quotes source post: 12418800

[QUOTE=Byprodriver;12418979] Hedge bet. True, if original engine in original car, which it probably is. I was being cautious because how many times have we seen original engines replaced at some point in time with a later engine with single row? It has happened, not to say in this case, but it has.

Quotes source post: 12418852

Best advice! I'd totally do this.

I've been a bit of a risk taker all my life, and I'm definitely not paranoid. I like the advice of the others, and will verify that the service is good, and the ppi goes well. Thanks so much guys, very much appreciated all of your feedback. Hopefully I'll have the car by the end of next week. It's at a price where it might be sold by the weekend, but there are more low mile 996's out there.

Quotes source post: 12419106

You should jump all over this one. (If it checks out) Mileage and price makes this one of the better deals I've seen. Throw down a deposit at least if you are serious.

My '99 had about 50K on it when I snatched it up a couple years back. Everyone here gets an "attaboy" - I have not heard a single peep from the "lower mileage means doom" stooges. Hope the car checks out and you buy that bish.

Sounds like a great car and an awesome adventure. A thorough PPI around here would be about $500, but would be money well spent IMO. As others have mentioned, the dual row IMSB is arguably the most reliable of all. So, if it is the original engine and bearing I wouldn't worry at all. Good Luck!

Some early 996's had porous blocks or was this only limited to the boxster? Anyway it would manifest itself early on in the life of the car. Check the coolant after a drive, have the shop pull the oil pan, and replace the transmission and motor oil.

My 99 had a replacement engine, with a single row. Check the serial number on the engine if you don't have a full history, as it will tell you if it is a reman.

Good luck with your MY99 in Florida. Sounds to me like a no brainer. My 99 only has 70k miles with original clutch, RMS, IMSB. If the oil was just changed I'd change it again after a few thousand miles. Post pics after you buy it.

Thanks, I hope to have my deposit in my Monday. Brumos sent me the service records from 2012 until now (15k miles to current 24k miles). It looked pretty legit. The seller spent around 6k on the car in that time frame. One of the big ticket items was the hydraulics for the convertible top, and the other was replacing the oil separator and coolant lines after the owner noticed a coolant leak. If it works out I'll have photos up within the next week or two

My 2001 had about 26,000 miles and I had the IMS changed immediately. It also had a dual row (which most 2001s don't have), but we didn't know that till the trans was pulled. So I had it replaced with an LN dual row an replaced the rms while they were at it. I have no worries about it now...

Sounds like a great deal, OverTake. When I buy a used car, if I don't know when the fluids were last changed out, I do all of them.

Quotes source post: 12422914

When they do ppi they should be able to tell you if oil looks new or no - and make sure to ask them to open filter and take pictures for you ( not just to replace it). If there is service record when oil was last done - and it is not really due (< 6 months 5k) then they should be able to just change and inspect filter for you as part of ppi ... Not all the oil as well. Btw - if you read the raby site there are all sorts of other failure modes for you to worry about - so make sure coolant is tested for oil etc. You are right that there was some thinking on the site here that low mileage bearings were more likely for failure - but I'm not sure that is really proven with real data. I would just buy, drive and enjoy the car ... Chance of major problem is low - of course you can always read the horror stories here - but mostly those are the exceptions not the rule. Just be prepared to budget $2k or so per year for maintenance ( including occasional expensive items like rms, water pump , window regulator etc.) . Depreciation at this point should be fairly low - so even with higher maintenance it might not cost you much more than a Camry !!

Picked up my 2004 garage queen with 10k on her in Jan. she's sweet and is all original. as she now has 12.2k, I'll be changing oil every 6 months and checking filter. Nothing in the filter this last time. Good luck to you and enjoy her.