One of the cars I inquired about had an IMS failure. But surprisingly, the repair was treated as if it didn't damage the engine. They swapped out the damaged bearing and flushed the engine oil several times to get any remaining metal particles out. Is that even possible?

I have a really hard time believing there was no serious engine damage.

I've seen that done before and they continued driving it for quite some time. You would think that there would be some issues associated with premature wear, metal in the oil isn't a good thing.

Some nice mods...some not so much. Service records though.

1999 Porsche Carrera Coupe Aero Kit

PPI inspection scheduled for tomorrow for a car you guys found me....will keep everyone posted!

PPI came back with too many issues. :(

Let's revive this thread and keep it going!!

Now that you don't owe anyone a finders fee you can tell us which car you looked at.

And what issues you found...

It was this one. PORSCHE 911 CARRERA I had a friend (not a Porsche owner, but a car guy) who lived out that way and had him drop by and give it a quick eye ball test. Just look it over, see if there was anything that jumped out at him, any obvious damage or issues, etc He said it looked fairly clean and appeared the tires needed replacing. He noted it made an intermittent sound in the engine...like a belt slipping or a squeak. Beyond that, it looked OK given his very short look over.

I arranged for the PPI. And it came back with a myriad of issues. On the day of the PPI, the car wouldn't start. Turned out the key FOB/immobilizer was toast.

-Spark Plugs completely worn out (compression was fine though)
-RMS/IMS leak
-Valve cover leak
-That squeak was a toasted water pump
-Bump stops worn out, dust cover on front shocks missing
-Front shocks blown
-Alignment was off which made all 4 tires worn uneven
-reverse lights not working
-MAF error code/not working properly
-Battery needs replacing
-AOS needs replacing
-When seats belts are plugged in, it thinks they are not plugged in
-Seal around rear glass coming off
-undertray missing
-wheel liners damaged
-Cam chain tensioners leaking
-wrong coolant type
and the list goes on......

Like I said, I'm NOT expecting mint condition. And I expect to do some work. But this car seemed to be neglected mechanically.

How many miles were on it?

$18,000-$19,000 for a near perfect car may be worth it and a PPI by a dealer maybe warranted. However, bottom feeding on a $9500-12,500 high miler is a buyer inspection on the spot and hand over the cash or don't spin the sellers wheels. Hit the highway. You might even be able to low ball a dealer, because many know that often Porsche buyers and looky loos will nitpik and waste their time. If the dealer won't meet your come off his high price, leave your number and there's a good chance he will take a lot less if he knows its a cash and no mechanic inspection quick transaction. You pays your money takes your chances.

Diverdan

Walking away from that one was definitely the right choice.

Make an offer...

Porsche 911 | eBay

Sport seats, but is it really that hard to vacuum and dust the damn car before listing it for sale nationally? My car never gets that dirty, and its a daily driver.

Once again slightly above, but he seems like he will haggle:

1999 Porsche 911 Carrera (996 C2)

1999 Porsche 911 Carrera (996 C2) - $21000

It's located around "Baaaston."

One from Montreal:

911 Porsche

911 Porsche - $18500 2000 porsche 911 carrera 2 coupe

I posted this '99 with 45K miles in the other 996 thread but it's still available - been on CL for a couple months now so his OBO might be more flexible.

Clean looking car with sport seats, but the guy comes across as a tool.

"Please don't ask dumb questions like has it been crashed or is there anything wrong as the answer is simple. NO. What more can I say?"

Sorry dude, but if you can't answer a few due diligence questions on your car then you probably aren't going to sell it. That, or you have something to hide.

My daily driver never gets that clean...

Yep I'm in agreement Matt. The car has been on CL for a while. Perhaps the seller is even less inviting on the phone - cause I think the car is a good value (if it all checks out PPI) and should have sold by now.

I'm not a fan of the gold color and with the really low miles I would have the usual suspects inspected immediately.

Beautiful car. That's exactly what I'm looking for....but a bit over budget. That same car and same type of owner with a few more miles would be in my budget. Have contacted him to see how flexible on pricing he is.

The car for $21k sold yesterday.

The description of this car seems promising....

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/cto/4404948651.html