Joel Newman
London, UK
Model 996 Turbo Year 2003
Acquired April 2014
Old Porsche, and old cars in general, degrade over time. Wear and tear is a simple concept, which is why it’s odd that every time I suffer its fateful hand I feel so begrudged! This month, far from driving the Turbo in the crisp morning air, I have been glued to Whatsapp, awaiting news on just how big a bill I’m in for.
Over the past few months I have alluded to a noise from the car’s gearbox: a hum that seems to get louder at speed. This was initially rather worrying, as on my drive home from purchasing the car, now over two years ago, second gear would just pop out when selected. It was a horrible feeling, and involved some serious words with the specialist I purchased the car from. They said it was just bad luck until they found out I wrote this column! In the end they agreed a full first and second gear rebuild, so this of course started to worry me.
From my own research, I had learned that the 4x4 systems in the 996 Turbo and C4S can, after many miles, make a low, murmuring, drone-type sound. I was also told it’s nothing to worry about and is one of those things most just live with. So, for the last few months, I have dealt with it, and embarrassingly even mentioned the noise to passengers. “It’s all part of the experience”, I would say as I floored the throttle and launched them back in their seat. I think that’s the sort of bravado one only displays when they are worried about a big bill. A few days back I took the car into Porschacare, my Stevenage based garage. 15 seconds in the car and the specialist stared at me, where I soon felt both relived and stupid. “That sounds like a total wheel bearing failure to me. The noise is horrendous. That’s nothing to do with the ‘box.”
And so, after writing about cars for over 18 years, and in that time suffering an encyclopaedia of failures, I still have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. It was a couple of hours to fix, and I’m told the noise has gone!
With the noise dealt with, the car was checked for boost leaks. Recently I have felt the car just wasn’t as rapid as I remember, but there were none, and so attention turned elsewhere. The car’s MAF sensor was seemingly draining 0.5 of an amp and potentially robbing power. I decided to change it while the car was on the ramps. I also had the secondary air pump I purchased from ebay for under £20 fitted, as the former one was screaming like a banshee. The part does some sort of voodoo magic with the cars emissions on start up, and now replaced works perfectly and is silent. That saved me near enough £1,000, as it’s the same part as found on a Boxster!
So the car is now back with me after near enough two weeks, a price I was willing to pay for a clued up mechanic. Lets hope next month I can do some proper driving!