993 in the future - anything to beware of?

movin · 01-31-2004, 10:13 PM

A few of us older Carrera owners may be considering moving to the 993 series. What are the weak points or problem areas to pay attention to or beware of? Cost considerations to address these issues would nice to know about also.
Thanks!

AFJuvat · 02-01-2004, 06:19 AM

Here are a couple of common issues I've seen on 993. Not saying by any stretch that ALL of them have these problems, but these are the most common issues and maintenance "complaints"

1. Lower Valve Covers: they last anywhere from 25K - 30K miles, must remove mufflers to replace them,

2. Windshield "creak"

3. Rust on bottom corners of windshield frame. Porsche has 10 year rust through - Make Porsche fix it if you still have time.

4. AC Evaporator core: Yes, AC actually works well on 993, Unfortunately, the evaporator core tends to corrode and leak. This problem normally creaps up somewhere between 40K and 70K miles.

5. Steering rack: 993 has power steering, haven't seen a lot of these, go bad, but there have been more of then that what could reasonably considered to be "random failure"

6. Oil changes are "unique" The oil tank in the engine compartment is gone. the tank drain is in front of the pass side rear wheel., right above that (must remove wheel liner) is one of 2 oil filters. The other filter is where the engine mounted oil cooler used to be.

7. Twin plug dizzy: inspect on regular basis for snapped belt.

8. Spark Plugs: once the exhaust is off, it takes about 20 minutes to change 11 of the spark plugs. #12 (#6 cyl, upper bank) takes another 30 - 60 minutes to replace. The spark plug hole you see, is located under the power steering pump.

One huge advantage: No more valve adjustments

AFJuvat

movin · 02-01-2004, 06:41 PM

Thanks, but I thought 993's have 1 sparkplug per cylinder.

scca_ita · 02-01-2004, 06:52 PM

Alternator wire harness (The while engine harness basically) It is a factory recall. Make sure it was done.

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

CEL - Check engine light - valve guide wear or carbon build up... t2o plugs per cylinder. Check out how much the replacemend plug wire set is too - ouch!

88911coupe · 02-02-2004, 08:46 AM

Keep in mind the engine wiring harness issue is on the '95s and Porsche has been very good about upgrading it at no cost to the owner. Rear tire wear can be an issue but supposedly can be resolved by using later alignment specs.

KTL · 02-02-2004, 09:28 AM

Movin,

You visited this page?

http://www.p-car.com/

Pretty solid info. on 993 stuff there.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

My car chewed up the last set of rear Kuhmo Ecstas in about 7k miles. Found out my alignment was pretty off around that time too. I haven't had the leaky steering rack issue and my CEL hasn't come on either. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm looking forward to DIY'ing a huge 45k miles service.