so I have the bug again- former '79 911 owner, wanting a 996/997 now. Please - advice

[FinallyGotOne]

Hello everyone.

I have begun my research on a 996/997 Carrera 4S and am hoping for some owners info. I am in Colorado so plan to also have a old jeep or older 4runner for when the snow gets too heavy, but plan on this 911 c4s to be my daily driver most of the year. I put maybe 7500-9000 miles per year on my vehicle. I am hoping for some education as to why maybe a 2003 is better than the 2004 or vice versa through maybe the 2007 model year. Seems a 996/997 can be picked up for about 25K. I loved my old 911 SC and enjoyed it for 9 years. It needed a gear change and tranny work at a cost of about $5200, and that was the only higher cost repair. $100 oil changes, valve adjustments, wheel bearings, electrical issues with lights and such along those 9 years, and of course a fruitless attempt to try and get the AC working well-but at the time I sold it, it was in perfect working condition-sans AC, and ran very strong. I am hoping this is how the 996/997 will be. I'd like to hear about common problems that I should be prepared for, and an approximate running costs. I'll be saving about $700 a year in fuel alone vs my 08 land cruiser!! assuming an avg of 18MPG. And my insurance will actually drop as well. So the prospect of actually saving money by buying another 911 is very cool. Of course I only have to do tires every 6-8 years on the Cruiser at a cost of about $850, one thing I heard was I'd be replacing tires every 2 years on a C4s. So I am open to learning all I can about these cars, and hopefully within 6 months I will be in one.

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Hello - I'm sure other members will give you a lot of great feedback, but the main issue with the 996 as I understand is the IMS bearing failure. I've added our tech article on it's replacement below so you can read about the issue itself.

Porsche 911 Carrera IMS Bearing Replacement - 996 (1998-2005) - 997 (2005-2012) - Pelican Parts Technical Article

[FinallyGotOne]

Excellent info, I am reading from your link right now- thanks!

[tonythetarga]

If you have a choice between a 996 and a 997, you might want to think about the advantages / disadvantages to both. You're learning about the IMS, I see. The '03-'04 model years you mentioned had the IMS with the highest failure rate. If the engine was replaced, you want to know when. What is the actual engine number on the car? If it has an AT in the engine number, then the engine was replaced with the later style IMS bearing, which means you can't replace it without tearing down the engine. That is the same issue with 997's up to MY 2008. After that, they eliminated that style of bearing altogether.
The 'good news' about the 997 style, is that the failure rate is much lower, however, the problem still exists in some small part. Frequent oil changes are more necessary.
The PPI is always a recommendation, but the difference is that you need someone that knows the iterations of the water cooled cars and their issues. I see ads all the time that tout the '05-08 engines as having the 'never worry' IMS bearing. Don't buy it. Just know what you have.
I wanted a Cayman S and bought an '06. It has the non-serviceable IMS, but I've made changes to do as much preventative damage as possible. baffled the oil sump, removed the seal on the IMS and use good oil with frequent changes. Have the oil analyzed every oil change as well.
Good luck!

[FinallyGotOne]

OK so I tried to learn as much as I could yesterday regarding this. There seems to be a "IMS Guardian" that can be installed for relatively low cost. as well as just making sure the IMSB was updated. Bu the other serious concern is the sleeve "D-Chunking"- That sounds really bad. So would that mean I am looking for a c4s that has had the updated sleeves installed? Once I have met those items, it seems the rest is relatively regular repair/maintenance items. Based on the articles it sounds like EVERY M96/M97 engine WILL grenade eventually. But then I read somewhere that it is only 3-4% of the cars. confusing info out there on this.

[tonythetarga]

The 3.6 L engines have fewer d chunk issues. None of the engines like to be overheated, so it's very important to make sure coolant levels are sufficient, that there are no leaks, and maybe even adding a center radiator to increase cooling capacity.
The reservoir tanks are known to crack and may need periodic replacement.A 2003 or 2004 car will already have an old reservoir tank by now.
It's also important to remove the bumper cover and pull away the air-conditioning condensers from the radiators and clean all the sand out.

[450knotOffice]

FinallyGotOne, I bought a 2000 996 with the 3.4 liter engine in 2006. At the time, the car had 37,000 miles. At 110,000 miles, I finally got around to replacing the clutch, and while in there, I had my mechanic replace the IMS bearing for the L&N Engineering replacement bearing. Afterward, he dissected the original bearing and said that it looked nearly brand new, with no scoring or other visible wear. This was good to hear. Moving forward, that car now has 187,000 miles on it and still runs great on its original 17 to 18 year old engine.

Additionally, in 2006, we bought my wife a brand new Cayman. It has a smaller 2.7 liter version of the M97 engine in the 997, IMS included. Well, 10-1/2 years and 110,000 miles later, the engine runs like new. By the way, she's still on the original clutch.

I mention this as a couple of counterpoints to the idea that these engines are all grenades waiting to go off. They aren't.

[mtelliott]

I'm based in Colorado, live in the Tech Center, own a 1999 C4 Cabriolet, can tell you what I know. I'm not as knowledgeable about D-chunking but have done a lot of the research on everything else. Feel free to ping me and we can chat via phone if that helps.