Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Good morning all and as a relative newcomer to Porsche and Tipec please accept my apologies in advance for my ignorance !

Andy has "abandoned" the 996 this morning in favour of the GSXR so I'm left to catch up on a couple of outstanding bits on the to list and know you can help !

Firstly oil - fully serviced & oil changed when we picked her up about 3 months ago. Checked regularly and doesn't seem to be using any, always good news (but then not doing lots of miles - yet !) BUT seems strange not to have some in the garage just in case (previous car RX8, felt like it used more oil than petrol some days !) So what are you guys using/recommending for/in yours ?

Secondly Andy wants to replace the rear light, picture attached, as it's faded/crazed. So I'm not sure of the correct name/part reference I should be looking for - can you just get a replacement cover or is it a complete unit that you buy and I've no idea of what sort of price I should be looking at new or secondhand ?

Lastly as I went out to take the picture of the rear light I noticed condensation in one of the front lights ! Is this a common issue with these 996's and do I/we need to worry ? I've moved into the sunshine with a view to manually drying out later if it doesn't clear up but your thoughts are most welcomed.

Thank you in advance for your help with my hill climb of a learning curve on all things 996 !
Tracey

Shame on you both, today was ideal for shaking down the 996, don't understand the draw of two wheels meself

Oils, a big subject have watched some threads on here and got totally confused. Depending on opinion it appears you can use anything from Mobil to Millers to chip fat
In the end I took the advice of OPC Tonbridge and have a Mobil 5W-40 fully synthetic top up bottle in the garage.

Lights, just run out to the garage and my lights are all ok no misting or cracks phew

Second hand lights my guess your best bet would e-pray or I have just used Design 911 for a load of bits and found them really helpful, well priced and reliable.

Hope this helps

See you soon

OK umm not sure about the bike, that is the way I got a Porsche by suggesting that I passed my bike test & got a bike

Oil, I can bore for England on this, but my views are that A. Mobil 1 is good marketing, not necessarily the best product & B. that the oil used as the bulk tank in OPCs is too light a viscosity for an older Porsche. The latest oils are SM spec & because of lowering emission limits ZDDP is being lowered as it pollutes the catalytic converters.
Lightweight oils like 5W/30 is typical in a newer Porsche are to give good fuel consumption figures, essential for low CO2 & therefore low road tax, not necessarily good protection, especially as the engine ages. There are various issues with the M96 engines used in 996/986, IMS bearings & bore scoring being two. There is a consensus of opinion that these are made worse by 1. short runs, 2. Lightweight oils, 3. lugging the engine in high gears & low revs. 4. extended service intervals, an early car is 12k services a newer one is 20K or every two years!
People like Barry at Hartech has done a massive amount of research on this. He is probably rebuilding the biggest number of these engines in the UK at present. His warranty on a rebuild is dependant on using Millers 15W/60 oil.
I use Comma Motorsport 5W/50 & in fact have two 5l containers in the front of the Boxster ready for a service at OPC Tonbridge next month. This is SL spec.

That light is a high level brake light, if it is just matt then a polish with a mild cutting compound should fix it, or a quick call to the guys at Tonbridge should give you a price. Once you've recovered a ring around the scrappers might be worth a try.

Yup both my front indicators have moisture in, probably a small leak normally where the bulb mounts. It is on the to do list!

Thank you for your notes guys, all really helpful pointers and I've bookmarked Design 911 ( I've already found far to many items that I had no idea we needed lol !)

We'll catch up hopefully Friday evening @ The Horseshoes and I guess I can look forward to learning about "cutting compounds" for polishing at the detailing day !

Light dried out nicely in the sunshine Sunday and funnily enough even though it got soaked yesterday no sign of condensation/moisture in it today

Thanks again and catch up soon.
Tracey & Andy