Doing some defensive maintenance

[Benjamin Choi]

As of late, I had the following things go awry at 60K miles on my 2002 C4S:

-Clutch switch (car wouldn't start on the first crank at times even with clutch pressed all the way down)

-Oil sending unit (OBC light)

-Cracked coolant tank (coolant on parking garage floor)

-Aging starter motor (replaced with a new not refurbished unit)

-Battery (Interstate)

After all that, car started like a rocket ship each and every crank. If your car doesn't crank powerfully and that starter motor doesn't whir really rapidly, it's not the same as new.

Now just a week or so ago, the OBC reads "fuel indicator... failure". Yay! It looks like my car's just getting up there in age. Original factory installed parts need to be subbed out for fresh legs. No biggie. I'm just getting a little frustrated with having the car in and out of the shop (unfortunately I don't have a daily errand secretary) so I decided to do the following things this week:

-Replace fuel sending unit

-Replace no issues original MAF

-Replace no issue original air-oil separator (part$:labor$ is insane)

-Coolant flush

The total cost of the job is $1700 which includes 9.X% sales tax. The AOS labor is the most expensive bit.

So in the past two months, I've dropped close to $5K on the p-car which includes the 60K service. And it's worth every **** penny! I hope this helps some of y'all curious about maintenance. The car runs strong and nothing serious has gone wrong. But, yes, let's not get it twisted: It costs to maintain a 911... well.

For whoever is buying my car next, you're getting a mint ride. :) I'll pat myself on the back for being a good 911 steward.

Best,

Ben

Edited August 13, 2009 by Benjamin Choi

[minny]

My'99 C2 has 70 k miles and was running fine except for a very slight whine from the back so had both wheel bearings changed. At the same time it was in I had the coolant tank and coolant replaced, the starter and alternator refurbished and it made a hell of a difference. When the tank was out, there was slight staining at the back indicating the start of a leak. My voltmeter now reads 14v rock steady instead of 12.5v and when cranking the engine, it now whirrs quickly rather than the laboured affair that used to occur. Also had both lambda sensors replaced recently even though there was no CEL. As for Ben, I plan to change the MAF soon. It does take a bit to keep the car running sweetly but the work minimises the risk the car will leave you stranded.

[bmohr]

you should have avoided the shop and done the repairs yourself. Great writeups for everything you had done here in the forums. OTher than that, preventative maintenance is a good idea.

[Benjamin Choi]

minny, good to hear you're doing the same thing as i am. preventative, defense wins champs.

bmohr... should've? no thx. i have no interest in doing the work myself. just not my personality type. and its thx to this forum that i came up with that list of things to do. AOS, clutch switch, oil sending unit, MAF... all these things come up quite frequently. nit picky stuff. thx. :)

[JeTexas]

I believe in preventative maintenance to a point. I replaced belts and hoses, pads and rotors, flush the brakes, flush the fuel system, etc. However, I draw the line at replacing parts like the AOS, starter, alternator, etc. just because they're getting up there in age. Having installed alternators and power steering pumps (not on a Porsche, which seems to have hardier parts, but still) that are bad right off the shelf, I believe that with replacement parts it's just as much risk that the new part will go bad within the same time period that the old part would have lasted through. Except now, instead of just paying once or fixing something once, you're spending the time and money to fix it multiple times.

I have 115k miles on my starter, AOS and all my fuel components. No problems yet.

The only part that I'd make an exception on is the water pump. It went bad at 107k miles, so from now on I will change water pumps in all my cars every 100k to be on the safe side.

I'm in no way saying you're bad to freshen things up. I just see it as an unecessary expense.

[Benjamin Choi]

I believe in preventative maintenance to a point. I replaced belts and hoses, pads and rotors, flush the brakes, flush the fuel system, etc. However, I draw the line at replacing parts like the AOS, starter, alternator, etc. just because they're getting up there in age. Having installed alternators and power steering pumps (not on a Porsche, which seems to have hardier parts, but still) that are bad right off the shelf, I believe that with replacement parts it's just as much risk that the new part will go bad within the same time period that the old part would have lasted through. Except now, instead of just paying once or fixing something once, you're spending the time and money to fix it multiple times.

I have 115k miles on my starter, AOS and all my fuel components. No problems yet.

The only part that I'd make an exception on is the water pump. It went bad at 107k miles, so from now on I will change water pumps in all my cars every 100k to be on the safe side.

I'm in no way saying you're bad to freshen things up. I just see it as an unecessary expense.

I didn't post this to argue whether what i'm doing is too much or too little. replacing pads and rotors is not the same thing as replacing a maf. a MAF works or it doesn't. pads and rotors wear over time and is easy to visually see when it's time to swap out. my rotors are about 5K miles new now, replaced when it was called for by my indy. cool.

so i know for sure the rotors would've lasted a good 50K miles on my street driven car. it did. but i don't know how much longer the MAF has to go before it goes kaput much like the clutch switch. same deal for the AOS. the fuel sending unit just started malfunctioning one day. with that said, i can see why someone would say the work i'm getting done to my car is superfluous/premature.

but what you believe to be an "unnecessary expense" (my list of things i'm doing) i consider peace of mind. going further, some may find my wheels to be "unnecessary". i have a different tolerance level on the condition of my car and the look of my car. it must be tip top else i don't enjoy the drive. i'd rather garage it until it gets back to 101%. going against what may have been predicted, i highly dislike garaging my car. i put consistent miles on it.

again, it was more the frustration as of late of stuff going out than me really feeling the need to drop $ on parts that haven't gone kaput. i am clearly justifying the expense and would encourage others to go ahead and do the same thing given that these parts are known to go bad on the car and it's really not that expensive esp if you're going to DIY.

i can't wait to pick it up on friday and drive it around town this weekend w/ $2000 worth of peace of mind added to the value equation. :)

P.S. thx to you, i will replace the water pump at my next oil change which would put me at 65k miles

Edited August 13, 2009 by Benjamin Choi

[phillipj]

Benjamin,

I think I'm replacing every part on my car (against my will.) :o It's not that I want it perfect ..I just want to be able to drive it! I wish I were spending money like you are..Trying to pervent issues on a good car. All I have is issues on a bad car :angry:

[deckman]

Phillip, why don't you get rid of it and get another one? That's what I'm going to do.

[phillipj]

Phillip, why don't you get rid of it and get another one? That's what I'm going to do.

That's the plan. Problem is until I get some more things sorted no one will want it. What do you have now and what do you want to get?

[minny]

I believe in preventative maintenance to a point. I replaced belts and hoses, pads and rotors, flush the brakes, flush the fuel system, etc. However, I draw the line at replacing parts like the AOS, starter, alternator, etc. just because they're getting up there in age. Having installed alternators and power steering pumps (not on a Porsche, which seems to have hardier parts, but still) that are bad right off the shelf, I believe that with replacement parts it's just as much risk that the new part will go bad within the same time period that the old part would have lasted through. Except now, instead of just paying once or fixing something once, you're spending the time and money to fix it multiple times.

I have 115k miles on my starter, AOS and all my fuel components. No problems yet.

The only part that I'd make an exception on is the water pump. It went bad at 107k miles, so from now on I will change water pumps in all my cars every 100k to be on the safe side.

I'm in no way saying you're bad to freshen things up. I just see it as an unecessary expense.

To be fair, preventative maintenance can be taken to far but on the 996, the starter, alternator, coolant tank are all known weak spots. My car was running great but since I was getting the wheel bearings done and I was away for a week, I told the indy to do the other jobs. Thing was he kept all the old parts for me and the tank was just starting to leak, the brushes on the alternator were worn, the voltage regulator was becoming tired and the brushes on the starter were just about to give up completely. I also changed the lambda sensors as most cars I have when they reach about 70-100k miles, although still working ok, they are switching a lot more slowly. I thought about changing the dampers, lower wishbones, control arms, drop links, ARB bushes then wised up as the car is still handling fine. Don't get me wrong I'm sure it would have been a lot tighter if I had replaced all those but had to draw the line somewhere. Basically preventative maintenance should be carried out in items that potentially can leave you stranded. Obviously this is just my take on it. Good point about the water pump as I find most start to leak around 90 - 100k miles or not long after.

[perryinva]

What year and how many miles, minny? I knew the water pumps were a 75kish item, but the starter & alternators are news to me. Already did the coolant tank.

[deckman]

Phillip, I have an 03 C2. I like the car but not the engine, specifically the RMS and IMS which are regular issues on my car. I'm going to lose the car before I regret it. I've decided to get a 996TT because of the GT1 engine. I like the looks of the C4S better, but I don't have faith in the M96 anymore.

[minny]

What year and how many miles, minny? I knew the water pumps were a 75kish item, but the starter & alternators are news to me. Already did the coolant tank.

Mine is a '99 C2 Tiptronic. If you do search on this forum and a couple of others, alternators and starters can give trouble. It's probably a bit like the worry about the engine going ballistic, there are a few that go wrong but gets reported more often. However, in a few buyer's guide they also mentioned both as potential failures. Then again, it probably applies to any 10 year old car depending on its use. As I do house calls daily, I can start my car up to 20 times a day hence the decision to refurbish the starter ( and to change the oil and filter every 6 months regardless of mileage). As for the alternator, mine would start off reading 14v then drop to 12.5 v when the car is warmed up. To be fair, it has been so for 2 years and the battery has been kept up to charge.

[bmohr]

+1 on keeping an eye out on the waterpump. Sorry minny, i wasn't trying to critizise you. I just shudder when I see people drop thousands of dollars on repairs that one can do themselves...especially with the help of loren and team renntech:) Again, good work on the preventative maint...you've covered alot of bases and it's good to have confidence in knowing the state of components in your car.

[minny]

+1 on keeping an eye out on the waterpump. Sorry minny, i wasn't trying to critizise you. I just shudder when I see people drop thousands of dollars on repairs that one can do themselves...especially with the help of loren and team renntech:) Again, good work on the preventative maint...you've covered alot of bases and it's good to have confidence in knowing the state of components in your car.

Didn't think you were being critical so no worries. I do a lot of the work myself anyway except for the heavy work like replacing wheel bearings or trying to remove the starter. I'm lucky as there is a very good independent I use who doesn't charge too much and is happy to provide technical support as the bonus is that he is the tech guy for my region of the Porsche Club in the UK. That doesn't happen too often.

[Benjamin Choi]

i've seen threads sharing that X part went wrong, but very few that provides a collective list of 996 carrea weak spots so that was the purpose here.

if things happen to... clutch switch, oil sending unit, fuel failure indicator pops up, starter is slowerish to crank (battery/starter), you get a crap load of smoke coming out of the car (AOS)... you know not to be alarmed. esp now that the 996s are getting closer to being a decade old + many are not regularly driven.

as for the continued talk about people actually paying others to do work... GASP! time is money buddy and you obviously aren't gonna step up to pay for it. lol

[1schoir]

i've seen threads sharing that X part went wrong, but very few that provides a collective list of 996 carrea weak spots so that was the purpose here.

if things happen to... clutch switch, oil sending unit, fuel failure indicator pops up, starter is slowerish to crank (battery/starter), you get a crap load of smoke coming out of the car (AOS)... you know not to be alarmed. esp now that the 996s are getting closer to being a decade old + many are not regularly driven.

as for the continued talk about people actually paying others to do work... GASP! time is money buddy and you obviously aren't gonna step up to pay for it. lol

The reward in doing a repair yourself is far greater than just the $$$$ involved.

Additionally, for some tasks (e.g. an oil change), it actually takes less time to DIY than to bring it to the dealer and wait, etc...

To each his own. YMMV.

Regards, Maurice.

[Benjamin Choi]

the reward of picking up a car in tip top shape and enjoying the drive home is sweet memories for me

[kristian]

I did my 60 000 maintnance myself recently. But I would also change the three pulleys. One of the three just broke and I was lucky that it did not do more damage. I heard it can even crack the side of your engine. So I would add that to the "to do list" too to be on the safe side.

Kristian

Carrera 4 1999 65000m

the reward of picking up a car in tip top shape and enjoying the drive home is sweet memories for me

[Benjamin Choi]

i had one of the pulleys replaced because it seized. this was 2 yrs ago. thx, man.

update: the fuel sending unit part was shipped broken and they ordered the wrong AOS :( need to go back on monday.

[phillipj]

i had one of the pulleys replaced because it seized. this was 2 yrs ago. thx, man.

update: the fuel sending unit part was shipped broken and they ordered the wrong AOS :( need to go back on monday.

:cursing: :censored: :cursing: