Common issues with Turbo

Hi all I am currently seriously investigating investing in a 996 Turbo (of the 2001-2 vintage). For me it will be a reasonable level of investment, and I wonder if you guys could possibly give me the benefit of your experience. What goes wrong - what should I look for? Am I buying the right porsche?! LOL Thanks in advance! JJ

Sorry - realised I have posted in wrong place JJ

Apart from their obvious liking to rear tyres and petrol, [ ] mine had the front shocks replaced under warranty, an issue with the front Diff.. (which was never resolved) Auxiliary drive belt replaced again under warranty. After that it was pretty much bullet proof, some small niggles as the majority of 996 like radiators and expansion tank.. garyw

heatshields and front rads too [ ]

Thanks for the responses guys! So what happens to the rads then - split? Do they suffer with the same oil leak issue I associate with the N/A 996? also I understand that it is a dry sump engine? Is that correct (as I believe that this resolves the small shaft issue) Also the front diff issue intrigues me.... Thanks for the responses though! JJ

The rads are fairly vulnerable to stone damage, and they also collect road debris, leaves, fag ends, and all sorts of other rubbish which accumulates into a soggy mush that rots the bottom of the radiator matrices if left to build up. Vacuuming them out on a regular basis with a crevis tool on the vacuum cleaner helps to prevent it. Some people fit mesh grilles to the PU openings, which virtually stops the problem. The TT engine is completely different to the M96 N/A engine, and uses the crankcase from the GT1 engine, which is virtually bullet-proof. It uses a different seal, which is very unlikely to cause a problem. It is a true dry sump engine. I can't comment about the front diff, as I have no experience.

I'd reccomend you buy with a Porsche warranty, budget for tyres and enjoy.............

Thanks guys, All good advice! I currently run an M5 and a 400bhp Sierra cosworth, so my overall tyre bill can only go down! Agree about the warranty - I will definately go down that route for at least a couple of years to ensure all the big stuff is covered. Nothing has been said to put me off the idea! JJ

nor should it, I came from two consequetive new M3's, the TT is a real feel good car, I bought instead of the new BMW M3, which i had waited 2 years for! actually, new rubber for the Porsche is cheaper than the BM!

My front diff on over run after full load made a metallic rattle, Porsche cars GB sent an engineer to inspect the car as at the time there were two others with the same noise..[&:] The report said that it was a characteristic of the car, even though it never did it from new.... So I sold the car.. the cars were all MY2001 My later one never had any such issues in 24K miles, it was the polybelt that split and was replaced under warranty... A per comment above, the radiators need cleaning and can suffer stone damage... garyw

Thanks for that - so the diff issue seems to relate to the 2001 year. Good reason to maybe go for the 2002 or later just to be sure. The rads thing sounds like good advice - forewarned is forearmed etc. So how about the turbos - as far as I can tell they operate apretty low pressure (0.7 bar ish?) which should mean I guess they should last a long time? JJ

yea 0.7 possibly 0.8 on cold days with boost spikes. Believe that all the mods with ecus or reflashes lift this to 1.0bar and haven't heard of many probs so must be pretty understressed at standard pressures.

What I never understood is why Porsche chose to replace the turbos on the S model. Presumably the std turbos running the additional 0.3 bar will increase the power to a pretty comparable amount? I am basing this on my experience of tuning the cos.

don't know why. K16's running 1.0 bar will produce more bhp (about 480?) than a std x50/gt2's k24's (think at 0.7/8 bar again and 450)

I am sure they had their reasons - perhaps a desire to justify the cost of the pack! [ ][ ] JJ

probably right, what other manufacturer charges extra on most models for a rear wiper on a car thats meant to be "the everyday supercar"![ ]

ROFOL - Mind you - who needs them! JJ

Hi, I have posted on the turbo site in reply, but again would encourage you to look back to Stuart Martins posts back in march 2006 or so, all info about differences are there. The X50 is basically a GT2 in turbos intercoolers etc plus stronger gearbox ( some ecu differences limit the bhp but torque I think is the same. Obviously "chipped" it gives out more than a standard turbo does when it is chipped. As a Cossie man think of it as the 500 compared to the standard Sierra Cosworth. If you can find an X50 it is definitley worth getting it as midrange acceleration is much improved.

Hi Thanks for the input - greatly appreciated. The RS500 comparason is a good one I suspect - the X50 basically capable of offering far more than it actually does then! The big trouble for me is the extra cost of the X50 over the cost of a non X50. Also - any mods would have to be done on the quiet, as the wife is only allowing me to do this on the basis that it will stop me buggering around with cars! JJ

i recomend trying an x50 and std one as close together as you can. I didn't feel the x50 pack was worth that much more to me than a std car, although if a good x50 had come up i wouldn't have turned it down either if that makes sense! The x50's definately the way to go if you plan big mods, but imho theres not a huge difference between them, eg like subarus with prodrive packs are more noticeable gains. Another thing to remeber is that x50 packs would have to be noted by your insurance company and this made quite a bit of difference in the quotes i got[ ]

I agree with Scott, I wouldn't get hung up with the X-50, more grunt yes, a little more noise (Turbos are a little too quiet!!) but also a little more lag, rather like the R500! You can also add a carefully chosen (some have bad resonance!!) sports exhaust with racing 100/200 cell cats & gain an extra 20hp-ish, quicker turbo spool & much better noise on the standard car! X-50 is still nice to have but isn't crucial, better to choose on condition, service history, ensure it is a C16 car & have it fully checked at an OPC to ensure you can buy the warranty, at £850-ish pounds its value on the Turbo. I'd choose an 02 My onwards just because the spec is slightly better, there are no specific major issues with the Turbo, but if it goes wrong the bills can be big, hence the need for history & warranty!

I have revised budget to about 45k now, and as suggested I am aiming at a manual 2002 car with sub 50k miles and warranty. Seem to be a couple at this level. Getting quite excited now - anyone want a cosworth? LOL

I have Turbo S - truly fantastic car - I would echo other responses - my rear tyres lasted 10,000 miles - that was no problem but just had to replace all 3 front rads and it cost £1400 - car's only done 12000 miles in 3 years and been very well cared for - Porsche GB were really excellent though and agreed to share costs with me. Other than rads - faultless.

Hi, the above posts have it more or less correct, When i sold my 964 3.6T decided the only car to replace it was a 996TT, Hard act to follow [ ] So looked at a few, with and without the X50 pack and the difference is noticeable, Lucky enough to find a 03 model TT with the X50 pack ,just under 20,000 miles, with all the options i was looking for, and the only thing i had done were the 3 front rads , rest has been no problems and a joy to own and drive, till i get itchy feet again [8|]