Info needed on 2004 996 Turbo Tiptronic Cab

Hello, I am looking for some advice on a 2004 996 turbo tiptronic cab with 60k miles that I have my eye on. I have been considering this model/era for several reasons; style, budget, technology, and from what I have learned thus far, the reduced issues with IMS bearing and the head-cooling design. Eventhough I am a manual-drive enthusiast, recent aging of my knees combined with Los Angeles traffic has me choosing the Tiptronic tranny. However, I read somewhere that I should be wary of choosing a Tip of this era due to the fact that replacement parts are very difficult to source. So much that it has been advised to just buy a new, complete tranny. I am sure that is an expensive solution. What I am looking for are your experiences with this model and what issues, maintenance and concerns I should take into consideration when making my decision. I have every intention of having a PPI done at Rennsport when the time is right. Thank you.

By far, the largest problem with the Tiptronic is that their total numbers in Porsche’s are relatively low, so most dealers and many independents’ know little if anything about them. Another issue has been poor maintenance of the Tip, again because they are misunderstood more than anything else. When you tell someone that the trans has no dipstick, and both the drain and fill plugs are on the bottom of the transmission, people start looking cross-eyed at you. The transmission is well designed and quite sturdy, but because they require a plethora of special tools and fixtures to work on them, the internet is rife with stories of cars being tied up for months at shops, and even then result in often shoddy repairs. This has resulted in dealers and indy’s going to replacements rather than working on them. What makes this even stranger is the fact that Mercedes, Audi and VW (where the Tips outnumber the other transmissions) also use this exact same transmission and do not suffer from the same problems; dealers and independents’ both rebuild them without issues, simply because they are more understood.

Those transmissions are pretty much bullet proof. I've seen some issues with leakage where the tip trans meets up with the final drive but no other problems. One thing that is a real pain in the rear on that particular model is when the air oil separator goes bad. Its the worst of the worst to do! Cool car in my humble opinion.

+1 with JFP The 911TT and GT3 engines are based on the "old" Metzger designed air-cooled engines. As such they do not have the problematic IMS bearing or head cooking problems that were more prevalent in the earlier water cooled M96/86 type engines. I do know that when the water cooled car first came out. Parts for engine and trans rebuilds were nonexistent. Now 10+ years later parts are available, the cars have been heavily tracked, weaknesses that have shown up have been addressed, DIY folks are rebuilding them etc.. There is also a pretty good independent support now. Sound like the 901/911 history is being continued? I have more experience with the manual trans the biggest pain is that one needs access to a robust press to disassemble one of these transmissions. In the manual 6 speed box Porsche has also continued the "weak 2nd gear syncro" tradition. Although you have to beat it pretty hard to break it as often as the earlier 901/915 boxes. GBox among others has one answer for that, if you catch it early. http://www.gboxweb.com/detent.html