What option would you not skimp out on?

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by Giller

I can very easily see spending at least $2000 per year in upkeep. Cars this age need lots of TLC. Doing your own work certainly helps, but for many of us that isn't an option. If you've had the car 5-6 years, could easily climb into the $10-15000 range. IMS, AOS, RMS, Clutch, suspension, water pump, coolant tank, oil changes, fluid flushes.....

Upkeep? Like including regular maintenance on a daily driver? He spent $3,750 a year in 4 years. I have a high mileage car and have not gone anywhere near that in cost. I had to replace the water pump ($250), coils (got for $65 shipped). My turn signal broke, so I went all in with a 4 stalk replacement, including the wire harness Pdwight makes for us to do this I spent $245.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by KRAM36

Upkeep? Like including regular maintenance on a daily driver? He spent $3,750 a year in 4 years. I have a high mileage car and have not gone anywhere near that in cost. I had to replace the water pump ($250), coils (got for $65 shipped). My turn signal broke, so I went all in with a 4 stalk replacement, including the wire harness Pdwight makes for us to do this I spent $245.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

Then you've been lucky, although the IMS you said was $4000 and the suspension would run you about $2500-ish if you had to pay labour so there's $6500 right there. Like PL said - yes, cheaper to do your own labour, but first, cost of proper tools is quite high and then you have to have the time. I'd rather drive my car when I have free time, so I let an expert keep her running so she's in the shop when I'm at work and when I'm not at work she's ready to roll.

To take this back to the OPs original question - one of the best 'options' you should look for when buying a used Porsche is a really good and reliable mechanic! You may not need him, but they are awesome when you do.

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by Giller

Then you've been lucky, although the IMS you said was $4000 and the suspension would run you about $2500-ish if you had to pay labour so there's $6500 right there. Like PL said - yes, cheaper to do your own labour, but first, cost of proper tools is quite high and then you have to have the time. I'd rather drive my car when I have free time, so I let an expert keep her running so she's in the shop when I'm at work and when I'm not at work she's ready to roll.

To take this back to the OPs original question - one of the best 'options' you should look for when buying a used Porsche is a really good and reliable mechanic! You may not need him, but they are awesome when you do.

That's still nowhere near $15k.

IMS Retrofit is blown out of proportion, there was a list, surprised Perfectlap has not seen it, that showed the IMSB failure rate was around 2% or lower. Keep an eye on your oil filter, do your own oil changes. I can probably find 5 stories on here that the person just had their oil changed when the IMSB failed. I think that's another reason LN came up with the screw on type oil filter adapter. You have to make sure the Porsche oil filter went on correctly.

To the OP, be your own mechanic. Fall in love with the machine and give it your attention when needed. The reward of knowing the job was done right is worth more then paying some fool to screw up your car and they do, all the time, they are not there to baby your baby, they are there to get it done and out the door as fast as possible.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by KRAM36

That's still nowhere near $15k.

IMS Retrofit is blown out of proportion, there was a list, surprised Perfectlap has not seen it, that showed the IMSB failure rate was around 2% or lower. Keep an eye on your oil filter, do your own oil changes. I can probably find 5 stories on here that the person just had their oil changed when the IMSB failed. I think that's another reason LN came up with the screw on type oil filter adapter. You have to make sure the Porsche oil filter went on correctly.

To the OP, be your own mechanic. Fall in love with the machine and give it your attention when needed. The reward of knowing the job was done right is worth more then paying some fool to screw up your car and they do, all the time, they are not there to baby your baby, they are there to get it done and out the door as fast as possible.

To the OP, Checking your own oil is NOT a deterrent to the IMSB issue. If you see metal in the filter (cracked pepper corn size or larger)...it is already too late to do the IMSB swap and you face very costly decisions -- engine rebuild or straight up engine replacement. As has been stated infinite number of times by the actual experts on this forum, the time to do the IMS swap is when the only thing in the oil filter is oil. Checking the oil filter only tells you that you are procrastinating while playing the odds at the same time.

KRAM36, as I stated before the IMS failure rate has never been determined. That 2% figure you've been citing is about as useful to most as Ben & Jerry's ice cream in their oil pan.
There are polls in the 996 and Boxster forums on other Porsche websites where owners report failures in the 10-13% range. Also as useful as ice cream in the oil pan. It is impossible to nail down the % of failures because the rate is not static, nor is it tracked and the fleet is still relatively young since most never drove these cars every day. What we do know for certain is that oil starvation and contamination over time will compromise this bearing. How does a second-hand owner know if their car was managed properly against oil starvation and contamination by the previous owners? Most don't even ask.

The figures I think you are alluding to "from a list", are from the class action litigation.
This list is incomplete. It only contained the cars that Porsche NA was made aware of from their in-house mitigation and engine replacement program. It did NOT include all the cars where the owners sorted out the issue on their own (or just ate the total loss), since most of these cars were well past the warranty period. And to my knowledge, no post litigation settlement report of the number of known failures either through Porsche or independent shops was ever calculated and released to the public, which would run contrary to the idea of a confidential settlement. The failure rate, at any one point in time, is one huge guess... all for a KNOWN problem that can be easily addressed in one day your local Porsche shop.

p.s.
You've had a high mileage, out-of-warranty, German sports car requiring expensive parts, driven in cold winters and hot summers, year round, for only two years? then you're only just scratching the surface of parts that are reaching their sell by date. If you were in Souther California different story.
Porsche did not engineer the 986 as a daily driven 100K mile car for kinds of conditions you and I drive. They engineered it to be a once a week car, that saw little use during winter and would be nowhere near 100K miles during its warranty period... because that's what the typical buyer did with it. Exactly as their quality control experts predicted to cut costs to the bone since they were in a precarious financial state when they engineered this car.

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by KRAM36

Upkeep? Like including regular maintenance on a daily driver? He spent $3,750 a year in 4 years. I have a high mileage car and have not gone anywhere near that in cost. I had to replace the water pump ($250), coils (got for $65 shipped). My turn signal broke, so I went all in with a 4 stalk replacement, including the wire harness Pdwight makes for us to do this I spent $245.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

...ignorance is bliss...
You haven't even learned that using used parts means you'll be doing it again soon.

[woodsman]

Porsche crest on headrests! Mostly kidding although it was a real thrill when I first bought the car. I really missed not having the sport seat option as I was always sliding around when really pushing it.
PSM- my car didn't have it and I preferred it that way since I prefer 'analogue' cars and their honesty. It can be a useful tool as Jake pointed out.

[Chuck W.]

Originally Posted by woodsman

Porsche crest on headrests!

Yes....

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by woodsman

...ignorance is bliss...
You haven't even learned that using used parts means you'll be doing it again soon.

Got the 4 Stalk installed today, you can see the mileage and tomorrow the coils go in.




Since it took 11 years for those parts to need replacement, I don't think I'll be doing it again for a very long time, plus the money I saved, maybe you should look in the mirror about your "ignorance is bliss" comment.

Heck my car is running perfectly fine with these coils in them.



Only reason I found out their condition is because I was changing the spark plugs.

Both the 4 Stalk and coils I bought are in perfect condition. If you're still around if and when they need to be replaced again, I'll let you know.