Is the 996 engine prone to blowing up?

[steve lyden brown]

Gaxor,
If the purchase of a £50,000 plus car which is then identified as being a model prone to serious and costly malfunctions doesn't prompt the occassional four letter word out of you, then I can assure you that the reading of the bleatings of others who, in the face of mounting evidence ignorantly deny that the car has these latent faults, most certainly will !
Steve

 

[carrera4boy]

Marlin (SLB),

If you want to do something useful, rather than throwing your toys out of the pram (or Aston Martin) why not (in your legal capacity) after work, build a case for Berny et al against Porsche GB and become a hero?

My 996 C4 has an RMS issue too and until i fork out £725 they won't fix it.[]

Enjoying this thread very much by the way, but i'm going to The Nurburgring next Friday and i'm concerned after reading about Vorlands £8,500 engine.[]

Simon
996 C4

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

SLB - I can't recall you saying that you have actually had problems with your 996, only a fear of them. Would you mind letting us know what problems you have had with the mechanics of the car?

 

[Rotorhead]

Spending £100,000+ on an Aston Martin won't guarantee a better engineered, or more reliable car.

Incidentally, saw two DB9s in Tetbury yesterday - a Coupe and a Convertible. Surely the Coupe is the better buy?

It looked breathtakingly beautiful, whereas the Convertible just looked like a chopped-top boulevard cruiser. And, I bet the Coupe is better to drive, and cheaper.

 

[carrera4boy]

Could someone please explain to me why Steve Lydon Brown comes up with [Awaiting Approval]

it's REALLY ANNOYING[]

 

[NicD]

Its because he is not a member and uses abusive language, so his posts are checked for this before being either released or deleted.

And if you think that is anoying for you, its worse for me.[:-]

 

[PGAdamopoulos]

Steve
I hear what you say, but leaving Porsche to go to Aston Martin on reliability grounds... it is taking the proverbial p*ss.... even more when based, by your own words, on other people experiences....
Furthermore, I appreciate your bitterness against PCGB and OPC, but that should not be allowed to spoil the enjoyment of a 911 Turbo and that is relatively to any other supercar...
Nothing is perfect or for ever.....
Cheers
[]

 

[carrera4boy]

ORIGINAL: NicD

Its because he is not a member and uses abusive language, so his posts are checked for this before being either released or deleted.

And if you think that is anoying for you, its worse for me.[:-]

Frankly Nic, this individual who is allegedly a professional, does not have the manners to have a civilised conversation with anyone. I think most of us wish he would drive his waste of money unreliable jazzed up Ford back to his shed in Italy and stay there. And if he doesn't think much of Porsche he slates, then he can't think much of his wife.[]

 

[burrow01]

Hi,
To return to the origin of this thread, and deny SLB any more oxygen []
I was talking to my local specialist today, regarding the reliability of the Boxter / 996 engine.
There was a 996 just coming into the garage - quote "another smoking engine"
He also stated that he will not rebuild 996 engines, only fit replacement engines from Porsche, as if a rebuilt engine failed in another 6 months the owner would blame him instead of the inherent unreliability of the engine...
The price of replacement engines from Porsche has also been lowered, to 6500 GBP, from approx 8500 - "probably due to the no of engines they are producing"......

Pete

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

ORIGINAL: burrow01

..... He also stated that he will not rebuild 996 engines, only fit replacement engines from Porsche, as if a rebuilt engine failed in another 6 months the owner would blame him instead of the inherent unreliability of the engine.........

Sounds like your independent is far too like OPCs - glorified parts fitters. IMO, independents are real mechanics who repair things and stand by their workmanship.

I have to say that this is the first reference I have ever heard of smoking 996/Boxster engines. You will find plenty of threads referring to the minimal oil consumption of these engines, especially the higher mileage cars. The older air cooled engines tend to smoke a lot more, generally from worn piston rings and valve guides as they get older.

 

[carrera4boy]

Can you buy a warranty just for the engine then? I can take a risk with all the other parts, but £6500 plus labour for the engine keeps me up at night.

 

[burrow01]

Hi - he is quite willing to rebuild aircooled engines, and stand by the quality of his workmanship on those. He just does not trust water cooled engines to be reliable, and would rather Porsche warranty them than himself.
The last trackday I did was at Bedford last August, and I saw a Boxter there with smoke absolutely pouring from it's exhaust - I'm obviously not sure of the cause, but it did put me off water cooled engines a bit.

One thing that I have not seen discussed is a comparison with the Dual Mass clutch / Oil leak issues that appeared with the introduction of the 964. Is the RMS / Engine Failure (making the assumption that there is some kind of issue) any worse / better than the situation then, and is it being handled any differently by Porsche?

Pete

 

[burrow01]

Hi,
There are non Porsche used car warranties of the type a lot of normal car dealers will sell with used cars - not sure if they would be willing to cover a Porsche - it might be interesting to see if they would, and if there would be a loading for "unreliability" of water cooled engines.
I read in Evo that the Ferrari warranty, just for Engine and Drivetrain on a 550 Maranello was about 2400 GBP for a year, not sure what that says about the relative reliability of Ferrari engines...
Pete

 

[burrow01]

Hi, this is from the 3.2 topic

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=129909&mpage=1&key=&#129909

Not sure if it would be the same price for a 996

Pete

 

[Pete B]

Burrow01 - when the DMF failed in my own 996 I researched various web-sites looking for previously reported threads on that type of failure. I was assured that they are relatively rare. Earlier 911 models did suffer a spate of DMF failures and they were specific to as particular manufacturer of DMF flywheels, who were then dropped in favour of a new supplier. No names...no pack drill!

 

[burrow01]

DMF failure on 996's - not heard of that one

I was just wondering if anyone had experience of how things were handled by Porsche in the early 90's as opposed to now?
The values of 964's are definitely affected by it's supposed unreliabilty, so will this also affect 996's even if the rumours are unfounded..

Pete

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

ORIGINAL: burrow01
.................... so will this also affect 996's even if the rumours are unfounded..

I fear that it has already happened. So much bad press and extensive forum topics can't fail to devalue the model, and simply put buyers off. No matter that the majority have not experienced any problems, we are all tarred with the same brush. If you look around the classifieds, you'll find loads of UK RHD 996's in the £25-30K bracket that should be £30-35K. It's a real buyer's market, and there are some real bargains out there.

 

[steve lyden brown]

Hello Richard,
Your recollection is quite right- I never have said I have had any problems with my 996 . In fact it has been as relaible as most and more reliable than some of the 8 or 9 911's I have had over the last 25 years. The trouble is that I only ever use it for long distance Continental touring holidays and the prospect of a engine blowing/RMS failing when I am in Southern Italy (for example) with my wife and 7 year old daughter does seriously give me cause for concern ! In years past I have had holidays like these in elderly Austin Healeys and Jags etc. all of which I could generally either repair at the roadside or obtain local help...............not so anymore, I think, if my 996 engine destroys itself hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home.
OK, so maybe I am a bit of a pessimist, but it does cheese me off, not just to find myself with this potential problem lurking ahead of me, but when ......persist in maintaing that there is neither any potential problems with 996's or even any weight of evidence indicating that there is !
Cheers,
Steve Lyden Brown.

 

[burrow01]

I would agree with the values of 996's being much lower than historically you would expect from a Porsche, especially a 911.

It shows the value of a reputation for reliability, which Porsche worked hard to get, but seems to be drifting away from. I think Mercedes are also having the same issues, having traded build quality for profit margin recently, and now having to state that reliability / build quality is back on the agenda.

With regard to percentage chance of failure, does anyone know the UK numbers of 993's vs 996's ?
If a certain percentage of 996's are having problems, the actual number of cars with problems will be larger with a greater sales figure?

Pete

 

[burrow01]

We await SLB's views - [Awaiting Approval] - with baited breath...[]