Yes, we changed all those things...would certainly be dumb not to eh? For what its worth I just wanted to list it as another total failure... 54K miles.

Blown '05 987
 

All you guys on here telling people with blown engines to "live with it" are just whistling in the dark. My '05 went out with 29,000 miles on it and the Porsche shop wants $17,000 to fix it. Anyone know a good indie mechanic in Memphis or St. Louis?

I here you dude, I love my Boxster but the motors in are cars SUCK,and God forbid if you criticize Porsche on this board for the M96 motor that thay have been using in there cars for over 10 years.

If you do criticize or complain about it, some members on here will tell you to man up or do'nt cry like a little girl or better yet, shut up and just sell your car on Ebay or craigslist.

I Wonder how many of them will pay the $17,000.00 to have your car fixed for you with the same piece of JUNK motor with more then 20 desingn flaws in it?

I am afaid you have 4 choices,

1, Sell the car as is.

2, have dealer put new/re-built motorfor big $$$.

3,have Indy shop put a used one in.

4, send it to Jake at;Flat 6 Innovations and have them put one of their motors in it and drive it forever.

Sorry about your motor blowing,but all M96 motors will eventually suffer the same fate as yours.

Good luck dude. :)

Call Flat6Innovations and see what they have to say.
"Questions? Call 706.865.1963 or email info@flat6innovations."

You will probably get a better engine at less cost than from the Porsche shop.

Not all of our members are "deniers." The fact is, the engine design blows (from a durability perspective).

That said, I love driving the car. I just wouldn't own one out of warranty. I am too cheap.

:D

That ain't cheap.

Or west coast truck is inbound at the end of this week.. He'll be traveling down I 40 with two more Boxsters on the back.. Yours can join them!

We could do our CPO or a full upgrade. My price for a full upgrade is generally 18K installed/ dyno tuned/ fully broken in/turnkey with a 1 year unlimited mileage warranty... The warranty is only offered if we carry out the install.

I have 7 cars on site now with catastrophic failures, the highest mileage of any of then is only 47K.. Mileage really, doesn't matter at all.. We received a failure call yesterday from someone who was sure his 18,000 mile car had to be a record for the lowest mileage failed engine. He seemed a bit disappointed when I told him our record for a low mileage failure was 1800 miles.

More and more people who know about the IMS retrofit being available, but are not sucking it up and upgrading are having issues that could be totally avoided by the application of preventive upgrades.

If you are in Central Texas and want IMSR or other engine help
and don't want to ship it to Jake, give us a shout and
we'd be happy to help you.

We're on our 3rd IMSR this year already. Maybe not Jake's volume -- but quite a bit of M96 and IMSR experience.

mike@lonestarrpm.com

cheers,

Mike

I'm a reformed denier, listen to Jake.

what is the highest mileage upgrade you have done jake?

I've read where 05 owners have had their engines replaced by their Porsche dealership.
I also personally know an 05 that has had the same done.

try harder with your local guys,

maybe you'll get lucky.

mike

I was in denial. I figured my 2001 base box had gone past the "worry" zone. I had over 120k miles so I figured, "hey, I'm okay!" WRONG!!! Coming home on the I-10 on a beautiful Friday afternoon, top down thinking of nothing else but getting a haircut, buying valentine flowers for my wife and enjoying a great SoCal weekend....again, WRONG!!! Lost power, CEL starts flashing, trail of oil. Big time engine failure. My Box died at 129,666 miles. Not sure if the "666" had anything to do with it but now I'm considering my options. I only wish that my clutch had given out a few thousand miles ago. I would have had the shop change out the IMS bearing while they were there.

Once in denial but now I know...

Now I've gotta get my wife's 2002 S in for the "preventative" IMS repair before I get "twice bitten".

Jake, here I come...

Ouch...
Yours may be the highest mileage IMS failure that we have seen to date, if thats what failed.


Don't say that!! Else you'll get labeled a "Fear Monger".. I am so fed up with that BS.

Yep.. Send them both to me at once, get a group rate on the transportation and work too! :-)
Seriously, I have a truck loading today thats heading back to Cali with a 996 on board, he'll be there next week and could load you up when he brings back TWO more to see us.

Failure cause
 

As Jake knows, the problem with my 29000 mile '05 987 was IMS bearing seal failure, with lots of metal dancing around in the engine. The cam cover plate was cracked all the way through by the timing belt. I just sold the car today.

Finally had the time and ambition to drop my drive train today, pretty straight forward, or should I say downward?

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3120033.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3120032.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3120039.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3120037.jpg

Blow down check on 1 and 4, air blowing out the exhaust valves strong and out the intake valves weakly. Vey little air out of the oil fill tube.

Timing seems to be spot on....

TDC:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3130040.jpg

Bank 1-3 cams:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3130041.jpg

Cams are turning:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3130058.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P3130061.jpg

Popped the 1-3 oil pump, 2 row chain, no slop in chain.

What am I missing?

Remember all this happened while cranking the starter.

thanks to this forum,some of the people on it and this thread in particular I sold my 120000 mile 97 and got my Road King back and am riding worry free--Thanks again to all---

Many will disagree, but I think you did the right thing. There is too great of a likelihood that the car was going to cost you it's full value soon with an IMS failure. Enjoy your ride.

I don't think too many here would disagree that if the stress of owning a Boxster is greater than the enjoyment, it is definitely time to move on.
:cheers:

Very true, and it applies to all toys. Toys are supposed to make us happy, not induce excessive stress. That what a CAREER is for!!!!!!! :cool:

Nothing I've read supports that language
 

Could it happen, yes. Likely to happen, no. I read 6 forums daily and the number of failures that are showing up is small compared to the number of total M86 engines on the road. So I see little justification for "the sky is falling" language.

Many I see reported are not diagnosed by an expert so we aren't sure what went wrong. And some reports I'm convinced are by people trying to stir up trouble with no real Porsche ownership. Another group are recent purchases with uncertain maintenance histories and a high probability that they were not driven regularly and had just come out of hibernation/storage.

If I were changing the clutch, would I install the LN bearing, yes. I have a Tiptronic car, said more likely to fail by some, but I feel quite comfortable with the odds. You can't maintain against all possible failures or you go broke or paranoid. And if it stops being fun, why own it in the first place.

I have a 2001 Boxster, original 2.7L engine, with 209,000 miles on it. No major problems, normal wear (tires, brakes, battery, wind shield replacement). DRIVE THOSE PORSCHE BOXSTERS!! I believe these cars need to be driven at least 10 minutes/miles, come up to temp so that all the water moisture is out of the oil after start-up... And change that oil regularly!

Had some more time and ambition today:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P1010074.jpg

Some seepage from the RMS but no obvious oil leaks.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P1010079.jpg

Clutch is about a mm above the rivets, would have made it a few more miles.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P1010098.jpg

I guess I need to order the tools necessary to remove the heads next.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P1010084.jpg

Oil brand and frequency of oil changes?

Mobile 1, 5w-30w, every 3500 to 4000 miles. I know this is more frequent than recommended but I think clean oil is important. I change and inspect the filter every other oil change. I use ramps, it makes the job quick and easy.

Interesting. I've heard often that 30W is not good in our cars.

To clarify I use 5w-30 year round.... I live in southern California the temperatures don't get extremly cold or hot.

The can of worms is about to be opened....209,000 miles on a non Porsche approved oil!!
Jager,
I've not read one thread advocating that viscosity of oil, even in cold climates. I'm not saying its the wrong viscosity (I believe oil flow is probably better than oil pressure, but I'm in a minority).
More details of how long you have owned the car and how long the engine has been fed a diet of 5W30 oil is required.....

Steve Tinker,
I have been using Mobile 1 5W30 since I purchased the vehicle in 2003, it had just under 30,000 miles on it at the time. I'm not advocating anything about oil viscosity (maybe there is something to it?). I think it's the fact that I drive this car every day and the motor runs at least 20 minutes after start-up. Just sharing my maintenance and driving information.

One maintenance item I forgot to list is that I had to change the water pump at~ 204,000 miles, it started making noise and leaking.

Jager

That wasn't the first time the water pump was replaced, was it???

Frodo,
Yes, that was the first time the water pump had been replaced (~204,000 miles). I had to cut the old metal gasket between the collant pump and coolant manifold at the connecting webs before installing the new gasket. For those not familiar with this task, that's the indication of original water pump. I was very impressed that no liquid sealant is used with the new gasket. The new water pump bolted-up easy and most importantly no leaks!

Jager

Thats probably the reason for such success. Liquid death is a reality.

Jake,
What's the highest mileage you've seen on a 986?

Being able to buy a Porsche is much different than being able to afford owning the car.
if you don't have the budget to replace an engine or do preventive upgrades, this isn't the car for you.

We see people all the time who have to second mortgage their house or get a line of credit from the bank to afford our engine work and repair procedures. Those people should not have purchased the car. I hate to say that, but its the truth.

The Porsche approved viscosities are probably for a wide range of operating conditions particularly aggressive driving. I am going to take a stab here and ask if the 5w-30 fed boxster is ever tracked much?

I have never taken my Boxster to the track... It's my daily driver. BTW I am putting a new set of tires on it this month.

Jager

Still waiting for the tools to remove the head to arrive, but since I had some time, I drained the oil.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4090204.jpg


Found no metal or coolant. Oil filter clean of debris.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4090205.jpg

Flipped the motor upside down in my stand so I could access the IMS. Loosened the tensioners and removed the IMS cover, some oil but the bearing looks good to my untrained eye.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4090201.jpg

Found some more time today so I removed the cylinder head cover for 4-6. Looks like 10,000 -12,000 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 at least kept the engine clean:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4160237.jpg

Another blow down check verified all valves are bent since air flows from both the exhaust ports and the intake manifold:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4160226.jpg

All chains are intact and working:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d6...t/P4160224.jpg


I'm guessing the gear on the IMS must have slipped 360 degrees. This means a complete tear down is needed.

New tires
 

Good day, I'm new here;

I am due for new tires on my 2002 Boxster, I live in Southern Florida (hot year round), don't drive it much (30,000 miles in 9 years!), I don't take it to tracks either, but I do like to "open it up" from time to time, what tires do you recommend? I was looking at the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2.
Also on another subject, just replaced my battery for the second time, the car sits in my garage for weeks at the time, I work oversee, and the OEM batteries keep dying on me, won't recharge, so...I went to Costco and bought one of theirs, has a bit more cranking juice that the OEM, had to tape the vent tube to their venting port since it's oval, but apart from that it seems to work well. I have also ordered from Costco their 12V battery saver/charger/analyser, next time away I will plug it in the cigar lighter and see if it helps keeping the battery charged up. Do you have any experience or comment on that subject?

Thanks and happy driving
:cool:

Many threads on this forum discuss the benefits of battery maintainers. Not chargers; maintainers.