worried - should I be??!!

Ive posted afew times - but a quick recap.....had a lifelong obsession to own a 911 - and finally did the deed just before Xmas and bought a 1999 Black 996 C4 cab and so far - I havent stopped smiling. But......readign through this forum - and others like it - the problems with the 3.4 engine have made me very very nervous. I bought it from an independent local dealer and the car (48K miles) has a pretty immaculate PSH and it seems has had no expense spared on it. How can I tell if I have a 1999 facelifted version - and really should I be worried about problems with the 3.4l. I realise that forums like this are established to help with problems so many many posts will be concerned with the problematic side of ownership but are there any tell-tale signs to look out for or any pre-empticve work that can be done? I spoke to the OPC nearest me (Hatfield) who can do the 111 point check and a years warranty for £1,150 or so. Thing is - I really dont want to spend all that cash after using every single penny of savings on the motor itself....as I say the car runs perfectly (apart from a rattling hard top) and all the gauges and dials do everyhting they should and react as they would be expected. If the engine is likely to pack up soon - what do I look out for (if anything) and should I be as worried as I am now!!???

As you say, 90% of the posts on this problem are problem-solving and fact-finding questions. It is rare to see a post with someone waxing lyrical about how reliable their car is. Personally, I don't worry about using mine (and I don't have any warranty). It would take all the enjoyment out of it if I thought it was going to blow up at any moment. Also, there is a school of thought that the majority of catastrophic failures have been on lower mileage cars, and that at 50,000+ miles, you are less likely to suffer a major failure. If you have clear indicator lenses and side airbags, your car is probably an 'uplifted' model. The real 'facelift' was done in 2002. Just enjoy it, and stop worrying!

Your '99 is pre facelift - this happened in around '02. You can recognise the facelifted cars easily as they have the headlamp units from the Turbo - the bottom edge of the light curves into the bumper rather than your ones which should be flat accross teh bottom. There are many other improvements, not least the 3.6 engine plus a revised facia, electronic rather than manual lid releases, cupholders and so on. The issue of a warranty is down to your consideration of acceptable risk. You may pay £1100 per year and have nothing ever go wrong, but one engine failure will make you wish you had taken it out. That said, you should not feel that there is an inherant fault with the 3.4 engine - these things do get exaggerated. You will find that if properly maintianed, your Porsche will take a huge mileage. The Porsche warranty is very comprehensive with no excess or upper cliam limit like some other after market ones - however it doesn't cover absolutely everything. It is well worth considering and is faily priced considering how sophisticated the car is, and how expensive major issues could be to sort out.....

If you're ultra-paranoid, there do seem to be a couple of common occurances to look out for just before the "big bang" of a cylinder liner failure (I'm assuming that's what you're really concerned about): 1) A sudden rise in water temp and/or 2) White smoke from the exhaust However, as Richard says, liner failure seems to be more common in low mileage cars.

As Richard says, POSIP (Porsche's Side Impact Protection System) was introduced for the MY99 car as well as clear lenses...however the clear lenses can be upgraded later, so the best indicator are the side airbags. If it's a late 99 car u may also have E-gas (fly by wire throttle control) and you may have the option of PSM (earlier cars only had a more basic traction control system), both indicators of a post 99 (pre 2001) 'mini'-facelifted car.

Ooops... I thought you meant "did I have a 911 facelift" rather than a '99 f/l... better hand stand back and let the proper anoraks take over....[ ]

Hi Alex, Glad your enjoying your car. For what its worth, I think engine or gearbox failures are pretty uncommon on these - you only hear about the bad stuff and rarely the good stuff as Richard said. I have a 103,000 1998 C2 tiptronic and the engine has been faultless over the last 3 years of ownership. Track days, daily town driving and long fast drives and never a problem and still drives and sounds 1st class. However, my gearbox packed up last year and thank god for the OPC warranty - that was £6,500 [&:] In my opinion, if you can afford a warranty then you should. I have renewed my OPC waranty for the last couple of years. It doesnt cover everything but its pretty comprehensive and when the car has been in for service there are usually a few little things that get done under warranty. The dreaded RMS is also covered. If there was a slight leak/drip most people would suffer it until a new clutch was needed but the warranty covers this as well. The warranty has covered lots of smaller items over the last three years that I am sure would have cost more in the long run. And, its peace of mind. Just my opinion as I also spent every last penny I didnt have and major problem would have meant the worst. Enjoy your car, Rob

That's what happens when u let a boy do a man's job! [ ][ ] As for the warranty, I agree with Rob, if u can afford it u should get it, I've made thousands of pounds worth of claims on my warranty already this year and I'm still not done! Not only that, it gives u peace of mind to use the car like it was meant to be driven without constantly worrying if it might go bang (unlikely) or anything else.....it only takes a couple of things to go wrong for the cover to pay for itself....and then u have Europe Wide Porsche Assist included as well.

If its going to be your every day car and you are going to do 10k+ a year I would definately take out the warranty if it saves you the worry, if its a a bit of a stretch then borrow the money and treat it as a £100/month running cost which just leaves you with just the maintenance and wear and tear items to worry about. Last I new, they were selling replacement engines with 90% of the ancillaries for £7k plus fitting would cost you a total of £8k at an Independant, I understand that Autofarms relined replacements are around £5k so that and with £6k for a gearbox, £2k for RMS leak, then £1100 doesnt sound such a bad deal, presumably Year 2/3 etc costs are around £800 pa

Alex Buy a copy of this months total 911, that may put your mind at rest, there is an article about people who have owed 996 for a few years, also i have a copy of an old article i think from last year somtime which is all about 3.4 996 also good postive reading. Email me if you want and i can copy these articles and post them to you. [email removed] cheers Phil