I think my engine just took a #$%!!
 

Karma is a b&%ch~!! I just said this past week I've had 0 problems with my car in the last 4 yrs and wouldn't ya know my car is on a flat bed headed to the dealership as we speak. I just got it back from the body shop today (for swirl removal) and as I'm headed to work the engine stumbles and nearly dies as I'm pulling away from a stop sign. I was pretty surprised as this has never happened before so I roll into a gas station and roll down my window. I hear a very loud clack clack noise that sped up as I raised rpms. I shut her down right away and I called a flat bed and it is now picked up and on the way to the dealership. Hopefully I'll have some answers from them tomorrow as to what's wrong with it. I'll keep you guys posted.

Sorry to hear that, Adam. I hope it turns out to be something minor, but I know you've got to be pretty worried. Let us know what you find out? Good luck.

Yes, please keep us posted. Wishing you a Texas-sized GOOD LUCK! What's up with these unprovoked engine problems. One minute you're riding high, and the next minute riding next to Big Al in his flat bed.

Hey Adam, that sucks. Sorry to hear about this.

Did it drop any fluids...oil...coolant? Did the bodyshop drive the car? If so, can you tell how many miles?

Yeah Worries me big time. Makes me wonder if its engine oil or just defective parts...

Whats up with that... One minute your driving and the next, your being towed by Freak Show to his at home garage and touch his wifes tits and get offered a 3 some by Freak Show and his wife... Well maybe only in the movies.

I've worked with the body shop a couple of times in the past and they are good and honest people. I highly doubt they did anything; I didn't record the mileage before I dropped it off to them. I even called them to ask, and the owner assured me nobody drove it unnecessarily. The car seemed to run fine right up point of meltdown. No leaks, no overheating, nothing. If anything it maybe seemed like it lacked a little power lately, but that may be in my head. I have an extended 7 yr warranty so hopefully any and all cost will be coverered. Something definately let loose in the engine, so I'm expecting the worst :o

Could it be the dreaded intermediate shaft?

If you have to do an engine replacement, might be a good time to get the 3.6L Carrera motor!

Did you send the car to Indy?

Geez, Adam, that really sucks. Like Bill, I'd have to guess IMS.

Sounds like IMS. My neighbors was idling at a stop light. Then, bye.

Lets hope not! :confused:

Yeah, the car is in Indy right now. I am thinking IMS failure myself, but I should know for sure in the next day or two. The engine isn't locked up, but it sure sounds like s**t!

This post certainly seems eeriely similar to "my IMS crapped out on me" posts. How did you get your 7yr warrant and do you think this will be covered?

To me, IMS failure is the only realy scary part of boxster ownership. I really wish our community could mobilize and get some policy in place because this is clearly a major design flaw inherent to the engineering of the M96 motor.

Couldn't this fall under the realm of the implied warranty of merchantability and fitness?

:confused:

Geez, you guys jump to the worst conclusions first!

I hope it's not IMS failure.

Thanks for your support guys! Ok, Bubba (yes that was the name on the flatbed driver's shirt believe it or not) rolled into Indy right before 6 pm and the tech there briefly checked it out. I didn't talk to him directly, but word is the tech feels it's a collapsed lifter or some sort of lifter issue, not IMS. This makes sense I guess as an IMS failure would probably lock up the engine or just not run at all. This will still necessitate engine removal and lots of labor. As far as the 7 yr warranty is concerned, I got that through the dealership. It covers the expensive stuff ie: powertrain so either way I should be ok. I'm glad I got it because the car was bought 4 yrs 3 weeks ago....right outside the standard warranty!! :eek: Well, I wasn't hoping for a catastrophic failure, but the silver lining in the back of my head was a 3.6L engine transplant....that may not be neccesary yet :cool: I'll keep you guys posted as I get more info.

Adam,

Screw it. Just get a 3.4 or a 3.6 anyway. There is no better time than now! ;)

bad lifter eh?

were you hearing a tap at all in the weeks before this occured?

p.s.
incidentally, how often have you changed the oil and filter
and do you watch your temps before raise the RPMs?
how long does it take your car to get up to temp?

Hey Adam,how many miles are on the engine?

Yikes!

Sorry to hear the bad news.

You might be jumping the gun there with the 3.6 idea, i know of only 1 person who has done that on the 986 and hes still working out the kinks, the 3.4 however is doable but the engine costs more and there still is some mickey mouse work involved that the indy-mech will have to dive into. I'd consult with the mechanic even before you purchase the engine.

I change the oil and filter yearly. I have almost 23k on engine so I have put roughly 5-6 annually on the engine. I'm also careful to keep the revs low for the first 10 min or so until the engine is up to temp. The tapping never occured until yesturday.

hes got an 03, a 3.6 would be fine

Actually, I think the 3.6L swap would be the easiest and best swap for my car. The 3.4L from the 996 is designed to work with the Bosh motronic 7.2 ECM that was on pre-03 boxsters and pre-02 996's. The 3.6L in the 02-04 996's are designed to work with Bosh motronic 7.8 which is what my car has. I believe I can reuse my current ECM and the swap should be fairly clean as far as swaps go. Of course everything is dependent on what the dealership says so yeah, it's a nice idea, but I don't know if it's in the cards yet or not. If the engine does need to be replaced they might say they will only replace it with another 3.2L even if I offer to kick in some more money.

Sorry to hear about the problems Adam. Good luck with that.

There's a local shop here who advertises 3.6 engine "conversions" including swapping out the crank, new conrods & pistons, etc. Power output is bumped to a purpoted 360bhp.

I wonder if that saves all that much versus swapping in a 3.6 complete engine?

Although, I've read the newer crankcases have an additional crankshaft bearing to help deal with IMS and RMS issues(reducing crankshaft pertubations). So if true, I'd want to go with that.

I'm sure the best way to go is just swap in the entire engine. Besides parts, they would also have to machine the original heads and case to make way for the bigger pistons. Low mileage 3.6L engines can be had for 5-7k and I saw a brand new one for about 9k.

The 3.6 into your car is a straight plug and play swap, the 3.8 is as well. Just as simple as the 3.4 into the earlier cars.

However, since you have an extended warranty i wouldn't think it makes any sense to do the swap if you need a new motor.

Todd

Adam, what was the diagnosis?

Ok, I got word from the mechanic yesterday. They still don't know what is wrong. He and another tech drove the car and the CEL started to flash! So, they are driving the car around with flashing CEL and then the tapping and the CEL would disappear for a short time only to reappear again. They plugged in the diagnostic Porsche tool and it said cylinder 5 is misfiring. He said they are going to have another tech drive the car soon and see what he thinks. This doesn't sound like it going to be minor little problem. I'm just going to let them do their thing and sit back and wait.

Adam, at first glace they don't appear too competant. Are you sure they are up to the task? Why are they driving the car with a blinking CEL? They have had the car over a week, and still don't have a clue.

maybe its a good idea to tow it over to the stealership and pay for a diag.
Good peace of mind even if you have the indy do the actual repair.

PL, Adam has the car at Tom Wood Porsche in Indy. So, it is at the dealership now.

Yeah, that's right. I don't know what to think at this point to tell you the truth. The mechanic who is suppossed to work on my car was out sick one day last week and he said he had a couple of jobs up on the lift before mine thus the delay. I think they are going to have to drop the engine and open it up if they really want to know what is going on. I'm betting this is going to end up in the direction of total engine replacement so I'm just going bite my tongue and let them do what they do.

Update:

I guess the problem fixed itself? Jeremy( the mechanic) said he drove it around the last couple days and the problem went away on its own. No more flashing CEL and no more tapping noise. He said to come pick it up whenever I'm ready. He said he thinks maybe one of the holes that are located in the discs leading to the lifter might have been temporarily plugged up with debris preventing the lifter from pumping up corrrectly. He said the flashing CEL might be caused by an O2 sensor sensing unburnt fuel. I'm a bit skeptical about this whole deal. I believe emissions malfunctions cause solid CEL's not flashing ones. I guess the proof will be in the pudding once the car is picked up. What do you guys think? :confused:

I had a bad MAF and it was causing unburnt fuel to reach the catalytic converter. This resulted in a flashing CEL.

I'm not sure about the remainder of the story. I would think that it is pretty rare for a car to heal itself.

Pretty rare for any other car.....EXCEPT A PORSCHE!!!!! Muahahahahahahaha. The uber car. The car that plays god and that runs off of the soul of orphans. *lightning cracks in the background*

Have you considered running some Techron thru it?

Good luck with your situation. Let us know what happens.

Adam, that's very strange! :confused:

I'd take it to another shop and have them diagnosis it,better to be safe then sorry.

Actually, strange you mentioned that. I added a bottle of techron to approx 12 gallons of gas in my tank about a week before all this started. Maybe just a coincidence, but the engine seemed down on power and then this all happened afterwards. That was the first time I had ever used a fuel additive in the Porsche.

What were the CEL error codes??

He didn't say. He just said that cylinder 5 was misfiring. I'll see if I can find out.

I think mine took a dive today too. Just left the gas station 1/2 mile from the house. I pull out and start to accelerate and I hear a clack-clack noise from the rear passenger side and the check engine light comes on and it dies on me. No power steering, all lights on and I pull over. I restart it and barely get it home. No signs of leaking oil. It's a 1998, and I only have 22,000 miles on it and it gets driven 2x a week. Man, I'm pissed. No signs of any problems prior to this and just had the 15,000 done 8 months ago.