Rear Spoiler

monamie · 06-20-2009, 12:45 PM

I'am new at this as you will soon see, but does the rear deck lid on the 1999 911 open into a rear spoiler? Thanks

JHoffman · JHoffman's Garage

it should. Press the switch on your fuse panel.

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

Not sure if you actually have a car or not, but when you hit 70 mph it will raise up automatically and you should *just* be able to see it in your rear view mirror.

monamie · 06-21-2009, 07:38 AM

I don't have a car yet. I've been trying to educate myself on the 1999 911 models. We've been looking at a carrea 4 and it seems theres a lot electronics (PSM) and AWD with this car. Where would I look to find out how reliable this model is? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks again

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

The Pelican 996 board isn't particularly active unfortunately. This is where the aircooled guys hang out. You'll find what you're looking for over at Rennlist.com.

In a nutshell though, the 996 are solid well built Porsches. Electronics are not a big problem at all, unlike some other German cars. Brakes, suspension, clutches, nd teh six speed gearboxes are all good, great even, the mechanical bits are all typical Porsche stuff which has been developed and evolved over the years. Certainly the rear spoiler is nothing to think about, much less worry about.

The 996 series cars do have a fatal flaw though, and that is the engines. With the introduction of the 996 and 986 (Boxsters) came a brand new engine design for Porsche. This was a water cooled flat six and it was totally unlike the air cooled flat sixes that came before. The engine is known as the M96, and in 2009 Porsche finally replaced it with their next generation motor which designation I can't recall at the moment.

A lot of the early M96 motors suffered from bad castings which weeped oil, all generations of M96 motor were susceptible to catastrophic intermediate shaft failures. Some early cars also failed due to the cylinder wall failing. Articles, book, websites have been dedicated to the M96 motors and their various isues so I won't go into a lot of detail here.

That's all the bad news. The good news is that most of the motors are fine and as they get older we are seeing M96 motors making well in excess of 100,000 miles. The motors are lively, make great power, they're light and are easy to service.

I've just bought y second 996 because I like and trust them more than the air cooled cars. The cars are easy to drive, they'll basically drive circles around the older cars, they look good. They're a nice modern 911.

So...buy carefully and you will not be disappointed. That's not to say that owning a 996 will be cheap....you've still got to maintain the cars (they eat rear tires at a rate of 1 set per season) but they're no better or worse than any other high performance car in this respect.

If you have more questions (and you should have) I'd recommend heading over to Rennlist.com.

Cheers

monamie · 06-22-2009, 02:52 PM

This is the info i was after. That engine thing had me scared, wondering, and this helps a little. Any other tips you have will help. We've only test drove 1 (it was a C4) that missed when was cold and smoothed out as it warmed up. It may be a sensor according to pelican parts. Other than that, i really liked the car. NOW, we want to drive a 2wd and see what that feels like. Thanks, Ron

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

Well, if it's misfiring it will probably just need a coil pack or a sensor, but I'd personally run away from any seller who would allow potential buyers to drive his 996 with a misfire. Shows he either doesn't have a clue about maintenance, or he doesn't have the money to maintain the car. Either way...it probably wasn't maintained well.

Caveat Emptor.

monamie · 06-22-2009, 05:54 PM

He has to pay the price. Thanks Ron

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

I'll only add that I have a 2000 996 and love it. I've had it for three years now and it's been my daily driver. I've put 57,000 miles on it in that time, and it's been basically trouble free. It now has 86,000+ miles on it and gives absolutely no indication that it is anything other than perfectly healthy and VERY strong and smooth. The engine is a joy. It has a nice fat powerband and loves to rev. Heck, it feels as smooth as a turbine and feels as if it would rev to 8000+ RPM if given the chance.

Good luck with your search.