Advice with mechanical issues when purchasing a 996 C4S

This is my first post to Rennlist. I am in the process of finding a 2004 C4S Cab, and I need some advice with a mechanical issue. I located a car at a used dealership, and it looks perfect for my needs. It is a 2004 C4S Cab with only 14,000. Therein lies the potential problem. I was able to to view a CarFax report, and it says that there was a repair to one of the radiators within 250 miles of being brand new. Then, the engine was pulled at 300 miles to repair an intake manifold and to service the transmission. There appears to be normal service performed until about 6,000 miles, when they replaced an axle bearing, removed the transmission to make a repair, cleaned the engine and replaced a front crankshaft seal. After that, it shows regular maintenance at proper intervals through 10,000 miles. The service history ends in 2012. All of the service shown was performed by a reputable Porsche dealer. So now, I am wondering what steps I should take to insure that the prior issues are indeed a thing of the past. It seems like pulling engines and transmissions in the first 10,000 miles of a vehicle's life is a little out of the norm. If I have a Porsche dealer perform a Pre-purchase Inspection, are they able to ascertain whether or not everything has been done to correct the previous issue, without having to pull the drivetrain again? I love the fact that the car has only 14,000 miles, and I'm happy to deal with all of the customary maintenance that comes with 996 ownership. I just don't want to have to deal with a monthly (or daily) service problem. Thanks

I used a dealer for a pre purchase inspection and despite specific instructions on stuff the look for I still felt they didn't do a great inspection. I would recommend finding a reputable Indy for the inspection. For reference I used park place Porsche in Dallas to do a PPI on a car sold by ruf auto center. Ruf actually told me more about the car honestly than was discovered by PP porsche. Those was 2.5 years ago. Things could have changed at park place and not all dealers are created equal.

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While engine removal at any time is rare, it is a bit more common for Porsches, which mainly arises from their unique engine location. There are some repairs that are just not doable with the engine in the car. The early repairs were done long enough ago that provided there are no signs/symptoms the chances of any lingering problems will probably be nil. Note I said probably. All you can do is give the car a thorough used car check out. This involves having a test ride then following this with a test drive and afterwards having the car given a PPI by someone who knows these cars inside and out. The test ride/drive gives you a chance to experience the car in its natural state, with the engine running and the car on the road being driven by first the seller then you as you intend to drive the car. During this time you observe how the car accelerates, brakes, steers, handles, shifts, and so on being on high alert for any signs of problems. My advice is the test drive then ride each should cover at least 15 miles and the route selected enables the salesman a chance to demo the car in a variety of situations. Back at the starting point you take the car out and drive the same route and drive the car the same way. After the test ride/drive if you still like the car and believe you can buy it for an agreeable sum of money than arrange to have the car PPI'd. This will have the car in the air and careful check out made for any leaks, among other things. At this time if there are any lingering issues with the engine seal repair or any of the other work the signs should be present. 'course, if there any new issues, leaks at any rate, these too should be spotted during the PPI. You have to be aware that even though the car is going on 11 years old with just 14K miles the car is still "new". In this regard as you drive it the car could manifest "new" car issues that would of course have been covered by the 4 year, 50K mile new car warranty. Additionally, the lack of regular use can over time allowed seals/gaskets/o-rings to dry and shrink and the car can manifest new leaks or other issues arising from this. So you have to be prepared for this possibility. What servicing is needed is open for discussion. My philosophy is to try to get the car back in a regular service schedule ASAP and renew all vital fluids and filters unless one has proof these services were done and are not now due on time or miles. So, it is possible that you should budget for a full round of vital fluid services: engine oil/filter, coolant, brake/clutch (if equipped with a manual tranny, of course) fluid flush/bleed, and tranny/diff fluid change. Also, I'd replace the engine air filter, cabin air filter, and fuel filter (if this is serviceable for that year). Now granted while the tranny/diff fluid isn't due on miles and AFAIK there is no change interval based on time, I'd still like to get fresh fluid in the tranny/diff to possibly help the seals. However, if they have shrunk from the car sitting unused this fluid change will not undo this. The same applies to the coolant. Porsche considers the coolant "lifetime" but I like to replace this fluid every 4 or 5 years. Fresh coolant refreshes the coolant anti-corrosive additive package and this can help forestall a water pump leak or radiator/oil-water heat exchanger/heater core leaks. The cost of above services should be estimated and your offer for the car adjusted to take the cost of these services into account. Whether the seller would agree to any price adjustment is something you'll just have to learn for yourself. You can of course decide to absorb some of these expenses as part of the cost of acquiring a car that you really really want. Do not skimp on the test ride/drive phase of the car evaluation. You must ensure the engine runs an hour or so which gives any leaks a chance to, well, leak. And the PPI is more valuable if it is done after the car has been recently driven.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the advice very much.