I'm not with anyone as of now, but may be looking to get with one of the companies out there. Doing that research now.

 

OhioC5 - I don't believe the dealer one bit that they have never seen an IMS or other failure. Even if they are not as common as some of us think they are, Never?, Not a chance of that being true. Ask how many engines they replaced under warranty without knowing what was wrong with them.

 

Just stay away from US Fidelis

 

I guess he could have been lying, but I don't see what he had to gain. I did ask how many engines they have replaced. He said zero, so I don't know.

 

I love Porsche apologists. Really, I do. What is wrong with you people? The 996 came out in 1999 and I had a 2001 that blew a motor. That's 3 years after they hit the market. I promise I'm not the only 2001 that had that issue. I don't honestly know how you can sit there and not acknowledge that a MUCH greater percent of Porsche 3.4's in 996's have gone than most cars - even sports cars. I had an e36 M3 with a TON of engine mods and beat the **** out of it. I personally watched that car turn over 150k. Challenge accepted.
There was a design flaw in the 3.4 engine - there were two actually. RMS and IMS. If there wasn't a design flaw please tell me why Porsche redesigned the imtermediate shaft post 2005? If there wasn't a design flaw tell me why the Atlanta warehouse can't keep 3.4's in stock? If there wasn't a design flaw tell me why a cottage industry has sprung up around 3.4 motors?
Anyone with a 1999-2001 996 MAY get lucky and not have an engine issue but if you own a 996 without some sort of warranty you are playing Russian Roulette.

 

Dood, an M3 is NOT what I'm talking about. Something like a Cavalier, etc, etc your standard A-B transport. An M3 is not what I call a common car... nor is a Porsche, Ferrari, etc. I see lots of them on the road, but I don't call it common.

And I apologize for nothing. Engines blow, its a fact. The statistical loss rate on all Porsches 2000 and up in the 996 is probably very low. 1999 had issues, this is well known. (ie first year) and there was an article that came out noting it was an issues with maching being out due to a dropped piece of equipment that was tested and corrected in late 1999.

That is why if you had an RMS leak they check the bore and Porsche replaced bad motors no question even if off warranty. By now, most if not all of these have already been caught.


My opinion, you have you opinion, and that's cool... my old man has been a mechanic and owned a shop since I was born and all I can say is, I've seen many many cars blow engines for many reasons. Its a machine, they break... The 997 and 998 is supposed to have "fixed" all these issues but we'll see... perhaps one day we'll be in here arguing about something else.

I like my car and its treated me well. When it breaks I'll put in an upgraded 3.6 for more HP. I bought it for $31k more than a year ago versus the $96k new sticker price, so putting some money in it to fix it is fine by me.


Cheers
A

 

By this logic, the aircooled engine is a design flaw.

 

Ldts not forget the well documented D chunk failures of cylinder liners, the slipped liner problem and what appears to be very common cracked heads. The M96 engines ahve had a unacceptably high failure rate. Amd Porsche has never provided figures or information of the nuimber of engines replaced and what the source of the failure was. If there was nothing to hide why don't the provide some back up and documentation. It shure appears that they were hiding something. And the IMS failures, cracked heads etc. did not end with the 1999's or even the 3.4's, the 3.6 have had lots of problems.

 

Ya. Again, all cars have issues including exploding engines. I've had 30+ cars now of all makes and models and been around automotive repair my whole life... trust me there is no perfect car out there no matter how cheap or expensive they are.

If it works now, enjoy it and love it. No need to worry until it breaks... and if it really scares you buy a warranty.

Two things for sure, machines break and people die but there is no need to worry about either.

A

 

Why not? The [U.S.] E36 M3 is basically an overglorified, albeit great, 3-series. The engine is an over-bored 3-series engine w/ different cam profiles. My M3 is a first year model and it still runs strong w/ 128k miles.

Just saying that makes you a Porsche apologist. If you want to split hairs, then yes, all machines will eventually fail. HOWEVER, machines can be engineered to a certain life expectancy. You are justifying why Porsche engines are failing prematurely. The only other car that I know of that have premature failure besides the E46 M3 (which BMW rectified) is the 3rd gen Mazda RX-7. I don't know of ANY other modern car that is rolling the engine kB dice between 0-100k miles under normal driving circumstances.

My personal expectations on my 996 is 100k, but I have no way of knowing because PCNA is keeping us, the customers, in the dark.

Well my old man was an electrician and I've seen all sorts of busted up electronics growing up. But you know what, I don't know jack about electronics since it's neither my career or hobby. Therefore, I can not comment on the circumstances on how those electronics got busted up. So, do you work on cars for a living or as a hobby?

(For the record, I do work on my cars)

It sounds like you have depreciated your 996 completely that you are willing to incur a $10-15k expense when it comes time to replace the engine. I can understand that as I'm willing to drop $7500 if my M3 w/ 128k takes a dump tomorrow. HOWEVER, I'm not willing to drop $10-15k on my 996 if it takes a dump at 50k.

///Michael

 

cool beans.

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engines blow. sure. if you have a 1978 Gremin with 110k the engine is going to blow. If you want to know why the price has dropped on the 996 so much it's because anyone that can use google can find out how bad these engines are and how ****ty Porsche treats their customers. When you want to make a point compare apples to apples - find me engine failure rates in the e36 or e46 M3 AND what steps if any BMW took to make thier customer base happy. Hint - use google.

 

Cool, I'm going to sell my car and buy a BMW as the dealership is next door to the office... Actually, nah I'm not.

A

 

I once had a 95 Grand Am with a dealer installed new motor (number 2) that blew at 1500 miles. Also had a Ford crate motor for a clients 67 Mustang blow at 50 miles... Both were design flaw issues after much dealer denial.

Never had a Gremlin blow ironically...

A

 

lol...wow I didn't know you were Mr Sensative.