Chuck Jones

Ard: Good to see you here....I want to get together...I PM'd you on another forum...I'm buying lunch.

The clutch pedals on these cars are silky smooth....my first thought is that you may have an accumulator going out....search for how to check for a bad accumulator.....turn off the ignition...pump the pedal about ten times....it should go real stiff without the engine running in order to pump pentosin into the accumulator and clutch slave cylinder.....then you turn on the ignition, start the car and the clutch should immediately free up and feel smooth and easy to depress again...very common failure in these cars is for the accumulator and/or the slave cylinder to go out.

This is no big deal...not a major investment to fix....check with Sunset Porsche in Oregon...I think the accumulator is about $110 or so...not sure about the slave....but you may not need the slave....some guys just change out both "since you're already in there"...but I didn't and have had no further problems.

Your description of "stickey" has me a bit perplexed though....usually it just becomes harder to depress the clutch and the stiffness gradually increases over time.

I think that if I had it to do over, I'd be looking at the 05 Turbo S coupe since there were only 186 made and of that I don't know if they were all the S models....most likely so..... and also being the last of the 996TT line would seem to add to their potential resale value down the line...

That's nothing to mess with....the TB should warn of the failures, and since you're losing Pentosin and hearing the screech, you're ofviously losing fluid...it's eXTREMELY flammable and has been the cause of a number of car fires. This is something I would attend to right away.

I'm sure you've pushed in and held the adjustment button and done all sorts of twisting and turning it. The only other thing I can possibly think of is disconnecting the battery and seeing it it sort of "reboots" the clock....but make sure you have your radio code handy. If not....Loren can usually find the code. If you opt to try the reboot, you can get radio info by pushing certain buttons in a particular sequence and it displays radio technical info....check your manual.

Is there any breakdown on the cars sold with the X50 option? Most likely there is a record somewhere, just not readily available. It would be interesting though since it was a $17K add-on option.

Very nice car. I love the white colors. Alex and Sharkwerks do great work....but I'd get rid of that turkey basting pan on the driver's side floorboards.

Don't let WROSS (Statsman) fool you...his car is all stock....he's said so many times. I think he gets confused sometimes. He's probably getting older....hopefully they'll let him keep his driver's license.

I'm 68 and I drive my modded X50 as a daily driver. I'm running "slightly modified" for a little extra kick. They're great DD's, lots of fun...but the only downside is walking up to them after they've been parked and looking for door dings.

Pierre: I tend to agree with you. Here in the US...it seems that more is better and we baby our cars. I see folks regularly changing oil at 3,000 mile intervals. (If your car sits for a year, I would consider changing out the oil, but mine is a DD) IMO This is a waste of money, time, and good oil. Although I can't hold to the recommended 15,000 mile interval Porsche suggests, I do go 7500-8,000 miles between changes. With the TT, it tends to eat oil at the rate of a quart every 1500 miles or so, some report a quart in less than 1,000 miles, so in effect, you're "freshening" up your oil incrementally as you go.

I keep checking the color of the oil and as long as it has the nice light coffee color to it, I'm content to leave it alone and just add as needed, but I also leave it one hash mark below the full mark. Each hash mark indicates about a fourth of a quart.

I've had the 996 C2, a 930 and the 996TT...and from the standpoint of oil consumption, the 3.4 litre 996 used less oil than any of the others....I could go a good 3,000 miles with little or no noticeable consumption....then I moved into the turbo class and the oil consumption increased dramatically....but you're pushing a lot more power and torque...along with the turbo so it's in the nature of the beast.

I have low miles C2. I'd say no more than 0.2 litre every 1000 miles. Mine has used 1 litre only between services...

MN

Mike: Sorry you are being put through all this for something that is usually a joy to get, drive, and own. I am a bit uneasy over the way this thing went down.....your side of the bargain was kept very professionally, but the fact he drove it without re registering it in his name and the major faux pas over listing it as an X50 is a bit unsettling. I would be surprised indeed if he readily agreed to give you anything back on your initial investment....UNLESS there's something in Texas law that can help you out....but the difficulty lies in trying to resolve this through an interstate process via long distance communications. Due to the different jurisdictions involved, it's often difficult to get it ironed out. Your best bet would be to maintain a very positive and low key approach in order to appeal to the man's sense of honor. I sincerely hope he has one.

There's no recourse through the bank draft since it was a negotiable instrument that went directly to the individual, hence no acount to debit via involvement by the banks as a in a VISA challenge to the transaction.

Best of luck to you. At the very least, you will still have a nice car, maybe not as advertised, but a nice car nonetheless.

Regards,

Chuck

Hummh. Do you mean that the VIN Decoder I used to verify that my car was an X50 (450 bhp), as advertised, was wrong and I don't really own an X50?

PM me your VIN and I will have it looked up on Porsche's database.

What's with that? You mean to say the database erroneously had your VIN listed as an X50 when in fact it was not? Did you have any reourse against the buyer to reduce the price to make up for the misadvertising?

Chuck

There are all sorts of pros and cons on this technique. I do it...as does a number of my friends, and my indy, and some of the racing guys...but some folks will decry the dangers of doing it this way. I use a short piece of 2 X 4 that I have a saw kerf down the middle that fits over the place where the casing comes together with an edge. There are a number of threads on this subject on Rennlist and maybe even here that show you pictures of where to put it...some guys put it in the wrong place and end up breaking something, but once you're centered on the right contact point, it's easy and it gets both back wheels up off the ground at the same time and allows you to slip in the jackstands.

If you dont' have a white sticker under the bottom side of the front trunk hood...it may be possible that the hood was replaced? As far as I know...all the cars come with that white sticker under there that lists the build codes and options.

Did you use Armoral or some other substance to clean the rubber around the opening to the window? It sounds like you applied some sort of cleaner...because both windows are exhibiting the same symptoms insofar as streaking goes.....so it sounds like whatever it was ran down into the felt pads that are in there to essentially wipe the windows when they move up and down and to keep dirt and debris from falling into the crack. It thats the case, you'll either have to wait till the substance evaporates, put up with the streaks, or replace the felt pads.

jpflip is right...if you can have it tested and simply replace the regulator..you can save yourself a bunch of money...especially if you're taking it to the dealership. They'll probably recommend you replace the entire alternator. This presupposes that you have some degree of confidence in your ability to work on your own car. Most folks are reticent about working on their Porsches thinking that they'll mess something up....but these cars are pretty durable and not as fragile as some think. There are Do It Yourself instructions on some of the forums...possibly here....take a look and see if it's something you'd like to try yourself and save some money.

best of luck in your quest.

Chuck

Mine used to do that especially after a hard run and when I'd come to a stopsign....on would come the ABS/PSM...ended up being a MAF.....the dealership ate it under a CPO, probably as a favor...and I've had no more CEL's since then.

Run it on a PIWIS or PST2 and it will give you an error message that says that the DME has been altered. Loren has the exact terminology. He ran my car and I have a flash and it snitched me off.....Porsche uses this sometimes to deny warranty....but your'e out of warranty anyway.

That's your vacuum line to the top of one of yoru diverter valve....those doofs disconnected it then didn' t connect it up again....then they charge you for it!! Go back and give them hell.....I hate it when these people screw things up and don't replace hoses, clamps, reconnect wiring....

I also saw a post on one of these forums that showed pictures of the intercoolers from an X50 next to a non-X50 and there was a notiecable difference between the two. The X50 runs the GT2 intercoolers....and you can look in there with a flashlight thru the lower rear fender vents and see it.....if you know what the different look is....you might do a search on Rennlist which is where I think I saw it....

Added comment: the X50 is a factory $17k add-on, and at the present price points...well worth the extra couple of thousand that they only seem to be bringing. You get an additional (different figures for this) 30-40 HP and the upgraded K24 turbos, GT2 wastegates, and some interior upgrades like alcantra leather throughout. For the meager difference in price, plus the added attractiveness at resale, I think the upgrade is well worth it. Some folks will tell you that the non X50 with the K16 turbos can be just as "froggy" with a flash...but the fact remains that there are some upgrades in there that for the couple of thousand difference is well worth it. The K24 turbos will also accept the wastegate upgrade for about $400 that the K16's will not. Please dont' consider this as any attept to degraded or diminsh the value of the non X50 cars. They are an EXCELLENT value, and with a flash can and some othe modifications (which arent' cheap) , in some instances, be a better overall value due to a lower price point and upgradeable potential than the X50.

Bill: doesnt that sound more like wastegates than DV's?

If you need another set of DV's....I have an almost new set along with the F hose that I took off my car and replaced with EVOMs that you can have if you need diverter valves....but they are the original OEM plastic ones in good condition and the price is right...but you do pay for the shipping.

It does create a "one off" look and may have a detrimental effect if and when you went to sell it....sort of like looking at a house that someone has put a different looking carpet in....can be a turn off.....you really can't go too far wrong if you stick with stock. There's just something about a stock vehicle that prospective buyers seem to appreciate more than a makeover with individual taste thrown in.

I think grey and black would be better than the tan and black...grey seems more closely associated to a grey than the tan...black is a contrast for grey....think of designer clothes....what do the high priced designers use for color combos?? I've seen the black and grey suits...they seem to look good. Get a women's fashion magazine and look at the color combos for grey and black to see what your reaction is....

Anytime I hear of folks getting a huge cloud of smoke after an oil fill, I think of overfill....just too coincidental of an occurrence. The oil burns off and the smoke goes away after a bit of driving or running the engine.

Sharkwerks is indeed a great place...Alex and James do a fantastic job and have a well earned and deserved reputation. They do not however develop their own product. They are affiliated with Todd at EVOMS and use a lot of the EVOMS products in their builds....the EVOMsit flash being one of them. That flash was developed as a proprietary EVOMS product rather than continue to use the GIAC flash....