1999 Porsche 996 Carrera

Welcome on board and what a great introduction - looking forward to reading more 

Very nice. 😊
Welcome on board 😊

Thanks all, yes the wallet has taken a hammering, I can’t recommend keep a spreadsheet of the costs!

So back to when I bought it.
I saw the car on pistonheads locally, but thought it was a bit expensive and wasn’t in a position to proceed until some house renovation costs were known. 10days later when the house costs were in it was not only still available, but had been reduced 👍 A couple of photos from the advert:





I had a good look over the car and a test drive which didn’t identify any issues until going back down the lane to where the car was stored which revealed a knock from the front of the car, and restarting it once back it was slightly slow to turn over. There was a ramp to hand so I had a good look underneath and was pleased to see it had been undersealed, and not so pleased to see 2 slight oil leaks, a slightly crushed aircon pipe (only replaced a year or so prior) and leak from the adjacent joint.

Oil leak 1 - this is the left hand (bank 1) cam chain tensioner)


Oil leak 2 (circled) - what I assumed (correctly) was the AOS (air oil separator), effectively the crank case breather.


Crushed and leaking aircon pipe


A price was agreed subject to an inspection, the car was with a storage company who I got to trailer it over to the nearest Porsche specialist. That was a mistake because I’ve never had the proper report, only a photo I took of their job card at collection, they flagged:
- aftermarket gearbox mount causing vibration through car
- rear track control arms have excessive play
- front inner track rods have slight play
- front tuning forks
- coolant rad splitting and leaking
- oil air separator bellows [misting oil]
- bank 1 cam tensioner seal [weaping]
- bank 2 blank off plate sweating coolant
- bank 1 core plug needs further investigation (below AOS bellows)
- oil cooler seals sweating coolant
- bank 2 - 1no manifold bolt broken [not leaking]
- front to rear AC pipe crushed and leaking at join
- O/S headlight aim too high
- passenger vanity mirror cover missing

Not a horrific list, or so I thought, but definitely warranted some further negotiation. Some of that lot hasn’t needed attention - the cam tensioner seal was fine, just wet with oil from the AOS bellows, the oil cooler seals sweating are so minor it doesn’t warrant doing, and the aircon pipe leak sealed up and is still blowing cold. I wiped the leaked fluid clear when viewing the car and it never visibly leaked again, so I suspect had happened very recently. Precision Porsche looked at the blank off plate when it had a major service there and couldn’t see anything of concern.

Once the radiators clips had arrived I set about getting it back together.  I installed the radiators first so the frames and shrouds didn't impede getting the hose clips on, but then struggled getting the shrouds back on which took so long it was too late to bleed the rads which involves warming the car up, then holding the revs at 2.5k rpm for 5minutes, revving it to 5k rpm every 30seconds. I started but it was approaching 9pm on a Friday evening and revving the car wasn’t going to improve neighbourly relations.

While the front of the car was apart I started looking at the front suspension which had been highlighted in the PPI. I starting with inner track rods, but I couldn't get the track rod ends out of the front hub without risking damage, so added them to the list for Parr to do on the Monday. The tuning forks and top mounts went well, but while doing the 2nd side I spotted the bump stop was disintegrating.
These weren't picked up by the PPI:



Thankfully Porsche Centre Tonbridge had some in stock, so picked them up and fitted on Saturday morning, then got the front back together, and had a battle getting the bumper to sit right, but I got there though it took all morning, to save my wife's sanity I thought we'd better do something as a family in for the afternoon, I only had toe arms to do on the rear so I could do them quickly after the kids were in bed, right?

For the nearside which I did first that theory was sound.  On the offside the eccentric bolt holding the toe arm to the subframe has seized iteself to the inner sleeve of the bush, so I soaked it penetrating oil and left it overnight. Still no luck with it Sunday morning, and no option to cut the bolt off as I wouldn't be able to get a replacement before the morning, when I need to take it for the geometry, so that also got added to the list for Parr the following morning and I moved onto bleeding the coolant.

The bill from Parr was pretty eye watering for a relatively small amount of work, £100/hr mounts up quickly.

2.5hrs for the inner track rods.
1hr for the rear eccentric bolt and arm.
Geo £250
Coding passenger airbag switch (just the coding) £75.
Brake fluid change £75 + £19 for fluid.
Replacement eccentric bolt £7ish.
Parts disposal £7.50

All +VAT. Lesson learnt, order associated parts as well before doing things myself and can return them if not needed. £420 of that I could have avoided if I’d ordered £60 of bits.

AUD$200 per hour. Im with you i work to cheaply WOW.

Its all relative really our local independent 4 x 4 centre is £90 per hour + vat (Ex LR dealer mechanics who do very well) - My local chap who does my MOT's & the wife's modern is cheap by comparison at £45 per hour + vat - I would hate to have the overheads of a unit building etc let alone staff - its only because my workshop is owned outright that I can keep a lid on the overheads 

Fast forward a few months, I’d tidied up a few bits of trim, some missing underbody bits, the rubber stops on the armrest and so on and so on. I’d finally got round to remove the lower part of the centre console and moving the HVAC controls up in place of the cubby that was there before. I was struggling to get hold of the centre console delete trim ala GT3 in the right colour as it had recently been discontinued.
Generally the car was running very nicely, but it was clear the gearbox doesn’t like extended periods in London traffic and at this point I’m driving in once or twice a week. I found a good lease deal on a Renault Zoe electric thing, and the lease on that will cost me less than the fuel I was putting in the Porsche.

On what was to be the last routine trip to London with the 996, on the way back in the dark just after joining the m25 I notice the headlight dim slightly as I change gear. Keeping an eye on the volt meter was showing 12.5v, when hot it typically sat at 13v (due to corrosion in the Y cable). I limped it for 15miles, and as I came onto the slipway to exit the a21 realised the colts were fluctuating with revs. Idle = 10V, 2000rpm = 14V, 2500rpm = off the top of the gauge. It was pretty late at this point and the prospect of waiting for Greenflag wasn’t appealing so I thought I’d carry on. It was clearly getting worse, and the change to 3rd as I came into the 30, saw the volt meter ping to the top, followed by a flash and then darkness. I risked restarting and driving it to the top of the hill (200m), then engine off, fog lights on and rolled the last 2/3rd mile home.

It was obvious the voltage regulator had died, but it had also taken out the battery, headlight switch and all the headlight bulbs in the process. Swapping the regulator shouldn’t have been a problem, but the 2 screws holding it to the alternator sheered. 1 drilled out and retapped fine, but the other didn’t shear level, and kept pushing the drill bit into the aluminium alternator body. So new alternator too, thankfully only £43 from eBay.

Once that lot was sorted I discovered a screw in the O/S front tyre, too close to the sidewall to be repaired. It had 235wide tyres, so that was a pair new fronts in the correct 225. Also discovered that the headlight tray on the n/s, which holds the electrics socket was broken.

On the plus side, while pulling the dash apart to fit the new headlight switch, I did finally get around to relocating the vents in the drivers airvent, which were previously loose and rattly.

A few days after the Porsche issues, but before it was fixed, our Passat started leaking coolant through the water pump shaft, so we were carless. My wife has never understood the Porsche, verging on resenting it, but not having a second car working when hers was broken was clearly all my fault. The Zoe couldn’t arrive soon enough.

Yep, it’s in having the gearbox done at the moment, back in about 2 weeks. I’m trying to catch up so I’m current by then.

Love this - I had its identical (other than being LHD) twin back in the day - cracking piece of kit