Engine Failure - Help, What do I do?

2001saxster, do not get any hopes of PCNA giving you any good-will coverage. Your car is well beyond warranty.

[skip_168]

well, if ya need a new engine, go with a used 911 motor conversion... I hear they will fit.. I don't know for sure...

[easyc]

If you have oil in your coolant, then the engine is most likely dead... have them run a compression and leak down test to just make sure... the most likely culprit is a cracked cylinder sleeve... they may tell you its a head gasket, but I from my experience with the problem, no one I can find has had a head gasket go out on a M96

[2001saxster]

Originally Posted by easyc

If you have oil in your coolant, then the engine is most likely dead... have them run a compression and leak down test to just make sure... the most likely culprit is a cracked cylinder sleeve... they may tell you its a head gasket, but I from my experience with the problem, no one I can find has had a head gasket go out on a M96

They told me it was a shifted cylinder sleeve actually. Sounds like the same thing to me.

[2001saxster]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

2001saxster, do not get any hopes of PCNA giving you any good-will coverage. Your car is well beyond warranty.

That may be so, but I have no intentions of letting this go without a major fight. If you go back in the boards a ways you will see that this is no isolated incident. A lot of people have had engine failures of a few different types. Porsche really needs to stand behind their product, warranty or not. There is absolutley no reason that in this day an age any car, let alone a $50,000+ performance car should experience an engine failure after only 60,000 miles when it has been properly maintained. So far everyone on the dealer level (the dealer I bought from and the tech at the dealer where it currently sits) agrees that there is nothing that could have possibly been better as far as maintainence goes on this vehical.

[Osprey01]

Makes we want to steer clear. I can handle increased ticky tacky maintenance requirements and being vigilant with things like belt changes, but I can't handle catastrophic failures.

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by 2001saxster

That may be so, but I have no intentions of letting this go without a major fight. If you go back in the boards a ways you will see that this is no isolated incident. A lot of people have had engine failures of a few different types. Porsche really needs to stand behind their product, warranty or not. There is absolutley no reason that in this day an age any car, let alone a $50,000+ performance car should experience an engine failure after only 60,000 miles when it has been properly maintained. So far everyone on the dealer level (the dealer I bought from and the tech at the dealer where it currently sits) agrees that there is nothing that could have possibly been better as far as maintainence goes on this vehical.

Your error in logic is assuming that Porsche gives a crap about their customers. I have never seen evidience of such when it comes to warranty coverage.
So the answer to the bolded statement above has been provided, time and time again.

The car is out of warranty. Posche has no obligation to the current car owner.

Please be aware too that if Porsche does extend a "good will" effort to help an owner with a specific problem, whether the car is in warranly or out of warranty, those arrangements are considered confidential between Porsche and the owner. A document is signed as proof.

So I would say that Porsche may (or does) help the customer in some (many) situations, and we are not privied to that information. Something to think about.

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by bmussatti

The car is out of warranty. Posche has no obligation to the current car owner.

Please be aware too that if Porsche does extend a "good will" effort to help an owner with a specific problem, whether the car is in warranly or out of warranty, those arrangements are considered confidential between Porsche and the owner. A document is signed as proof.

So I would say that Porsche may (or does) help the customer in some (many) situations, and we are not privied to that information. Something to think about.

Yes, I am aware that the car is "out of warranty." I was responding to the bolded statement. There is plenty of "anecdotal" data on this forum and others that I suggest makes it very clear how Porsche feels about its obligation to its customers.

Can you say RMS and IMS? Design issues that go on for years seem to tell us all we need to know? At least that is my interpretation. Perhaps they are just slow or in denial. That is also possible.

My personal experience and long and candid discussions with the local Porsche service folks lead me to my conclusions.

Having said that, I can't prove anything. The company has all the data and they ain't talking.



PS- My neighbor still talks about her 2004 Boxster grenading on her with 12K on the clock. She can't figure it out and neigther can I. Dealer told me the reason he could fix it in a week is the large number of spare engines shipped to the US for just such an event.

[dgentileksu]

You have my deepest empathy on this one...

I just bought my 98 box last week and have it going in on Monday to repair a leaking coolant tank, get a new clutch and replace a leaking RMS...

Do any of the members on this forum know how common these total engine failures are? I love this car, but these issues are causing me to wonder if this buy was a good idea...

Any thoughts?

[easyc]

From my understanding the cylinder sleeve dis-forming (shifting and etc) was a early engine problem... the cracking is a new problem that has started to come along now that the early 3.4's (from 996), 3.2's and 2.7's are getting up in miles

I wouldn't say this is a big problem, as I would guess a good percentage (25% or so) will get on a message board to tell their story... the M96 engines do die... but a lot of engines die too....