Reading between those lines it seems as though no matter how good the warranty is to cover these problems, you may not get anything sorted and indeed end up shelling out of your own pocket to put the problem right?

Begs the question of why bother if the warranty company will pick the contract to pieces to get out of paying up?

Another small issue, is the car smoking on start up, not every time but some times each day and then could be months before it does it again, big smoke though, very embaaaaraaaasing!! TT

I am in New York. I have a 2001 Carerra 4 with 91,000 miles and am still on the original clutch. To date, my C4 has had no oil leaks, no engine failure, no unusual engine noises and burns very little oil. This is my sixth sports car, the others were an Austin Healy Spright, a TR4, a Morgan Drophead Coupe, a 912 Porsche and a Refurbished TR3A. Becase I leaned to drive using mostly British sports cars, I always heel and toe to pop the revs at the shift point so that when I let the clutch out there is little or no shock to the drive train. My former Morgan had a Moss transmission with limited synchromesh gearing and I had to learn to match the revs to the gear being changed or there would be a painfully loud sound of gears grinding. I suspect that most Porsche owners did not learn to drive on the kind of cars that I had and may tend to let the clutch out with vigor. Why else am I at 91K miles on the factory original clutch?

The manager of a shop in NJ (not a Porsche agency) that services and rebuilds racing and street Porsches told me that catastrophic intermediate shaft bearing failure is a known problem with the 966 engine. I was told that a 966 tends to "hit the wall" on or before 70,000 miles and that if a 966 gets substantially beyond that milage, it is unlikely that the Intermediate shaft bearing will fail.

Two suggestions were give to me by that service manager that would aid in protecting the weak Intermediate Shaft Bearing: (1) change the oil at 5,000 miles, not the factory recommended 15,000 miles and (2) use a 5W40 oil rather than Mobile 1's 0W40 as the 0W40 is allegedly too thin to adequately lubricate the Intermediate Shaft Bearing.

I bought this Porsche when it came off of a three year lease with 26,000 miles on it. For the first 45,000 miles I am responsible for I changed the oil filter in between oil changes at 15,000 mile services. After I put on that first 45,000 miles, I switched to changing the oil in between 15,000 mile servicing - so I would have an oil and filter change at roughly 7,500 mile intervals.

This C4 is used to highway commute between Connecticut and New York. Traffic normally flows at between 75 and 85 MPH. My C4 is rarely used for shot stop and go trips and has never been "tracked". My 996 engine runs better after my many highway miles than it ran when I bought it. Of course I have no way to know whether fate is waiting to ambush me with the 966 engine.

Kindly visit a Site on the Internet that sells parts kits that allow one to upgrade the Intermediate Shaft Bearing, which I am going to do when my C4 goes in for a clutch: http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html This site gives detailed information about why this bearing tends to fail and why their replacement parts will be much more stable.

Based on the advice I got at the New Jersey Porsche service shop, I am now switching to a 5W40 AGIP oil and will henceforward be changing at a 5,000 mile interval. When I finally do have to refurbish my clutch, I will replace the Intermediate Shaft Bearing with InEngineering's replacement parts. Despite what I have been told by the New Jersey service manager, I have become mistrustful due to the accusations made against Porsche on the Internet regarding engine failure in the 996 engine.

Regards,

Cicerosecundus (my Internet Nom de Plume)
Bronxville, NY

That's spot on - never leave an engine idling for ages but drive off with moderate throttle and revs and don't give it full throttle or max revs until 15 mins or so and build up to it gradually. It is true about oil circulation - also of course the oil pressure rises with revs until the relief valve opens but is lower at tickover - but also remember the piston clearances etc are not right until operating temperature has soaked through all the castings and exhaust system etc - to run as it was designed for.

Baz

Monitored oil pressure in the Carrera this morning. From a cold startup the engine held a fast idle @ ~1000rpm. Oil pressure reading no less than 4.5bar. This pressure remained until over ~70C, where it entered a gradual decline, and began to become proportional to engine speed.

Surely if oil pressure is this high on a cold start, and remains high until a near running temperature has been attained, then surely allowing to warm up @ idle is as safe as a driving warm up? I don't do the former but am just curious and would like opinion.

I had a 996 C2 1998 for two years and it was spot on. I got it with 43000 and put it up to 50500. I am told that the new 997 TURBO are using an engine like this, lets see what happens with that. As for my car, would it put me off buying one again, i dont think so.

TUV Reliability Stats

Guys I just checked the TUV reliability stats and thought this would add some useful balance to the debate. The last major survey they did on 996's was done in 2007 and they got the following results:

Vehicle Year 996 Survey Size 996 Fault Rate All Vehicles Fault Rate
1999 96 Cars 6.3% 15.8%
2001 107 Cars 3.7% 10.7%
2003 113 Cars 3.5% 5.9%

Now assuming a small proportion of the faults are actually engine failures then it looks like the TUV stats suggest a relatively low fault (and therefore engine failure rate). Check it out yourself at: www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-model/porsche-996

Unless I have misunderstood your point - Blue Streak 2 - I think the problem is not so much the fault rate as the actual type of faults contained within the figures (and their costs to repair) and also since we have always stated that the failure rate of engines is very small statistically - if - say over 12 years the engine failure rate is say (for arguments sake), 5% - that equates to an average of 0.4% taken in any one year.

Furthermore - from a sample of 500 cars there would be a good chance that - even if the incidence of a failure was spot on inside the statistical window - it would still only be reported as two failures every year.

What would be more revealing to me in comparing the relative virtues of owning each model would be the average repair costs - as this would then be the issue that enables people to consider the value of preventative maintenance schemes and warranty/maintetance plan costs.

Would you - for example - rather own a car with twice the fault rate, by minimal cost to fix those faults on average - or half the fault rate - but that almost bankrupts you if you are the unlucky one.

I am sure that on this basis - as the 996 and 997 age - the average cost of repairs would exceed most other models (if not all) - although I fully accept that those figures would be heavily loaded by adding in the cost of the rarer engine failures - apart from which - the running costs are very resonable.

This is why - for my money - some form of reasonably priced, reliable protection scheme is essential - as we all accept it is for other issues of similar rarety but similar high cost - if it ever happens - like a house fire or a stolen or crashed car.

Baz

Just to add to the general thrust - we have now stripped our first 997S 3.8 engine and found that we can also make liners for these (and they are now in production) and this now makes a range from 2.5, 2.7, 3.2, 3.4, 3.6 and 3.8 engines.

Porsche have taken the trouble to modify the casting to increase the outer liner diameter for these bigger pistons by 3mm and having done so I wonder why they could not have used that casting for the 3.2, 3.4 and 3.6 and avoided liner cracking as a result of the additional 3mm diameter (1.5mm wall thickness) they would incorporate?

The 3.8 only has the same liner thickness as the 3.4 and 3.6 - so may well experience the same ovality problems in time.

Baz

Don't shoot the messsenger! I think my most useful role is to inform and if I then didn't do anything to help or support - I suppose it could be regarded as bad form to just criticise and point out failings. However by finding out the weaknesses first and designing, manufacturing and providing cost effective solutions in time - I hope that the information I provide is received as a way out of a nightmare rather than as something to be upset about.

My findings have no influence on whether a particular car or engine fails or not and those that have a Porsche warranty need not worry - but I would hope it would be beneficial for anyone who has a failing and is stuck without a warranty - to know an affordable (or more affordable) solution - than a new engine - is available or for those who may have thought that this engine was not going to have the same problems and who may have therefore not renewed or provided themselves with a warranty - to know in advance that IMHO they should get one on board or potentially suffer the horrendous consequences. Please note that so far all the initial warnings I provided years ago about the technical problems I expected to increase as the years went by have so far proven accurate and as a result on my confidence in those expectatuions we have got well ahead of the game and provided equipment, facilities and people set up to cater for the needs of those in difficulties - in advance.

I guess anyone who thought that buying a 997 would avoid future problems may be a bit narked - but look I didn't design or make it (and if I had it would not have that problem) and if they would rather not know tehn some of them are going to catch a big cold one day and say "why didn't anyone warn us this could happen"!.

I hope therefore that my passing on of this discovery and the corresponding solution - is taken positively by most.

Baz