Shortlived Boxster engines survey - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Leslie Beauchemin · 05-04-2010, 07:24 PM

By the way, I would replace your IMS before your motor blows! Just giving you the heads up!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leslie Beauchemin

I don't expect Porsche to pay, just wish they had let owners know there was a problem so they could fix it! They knew the part was faulty and did nothing to help their loyal owners prevent it. Yes, I knew this was an expensive car to maintain before I bought it but there is no reason for throwing my hard earned money away when I could have taken care of it for my regular $1,000 to $2,000 services. I have taken awsome care of my car for the last 10 years. Every time there was a noise, reduction in power, etc... I took it to the mechanic, never missed my 3,000 mile oil change, tune ups, etc. It just would have been the right thing for them to give us a little heads up! If you don't understand that then I guess when it happens to you and you find out the manufacturer could have prevented that $10,000 to $15,000 bill, then maybe you will be a little butt hurt too! I work very hard for my toys and I pay for their maintenance but this was a bit extreme!

Sorry if I rambled but this is a very touchy subject right now!

Brucelee · 05-05-2010, 02:55 AM

Mike is a defender. That is his right.

I can say as a old timer around here, the Box engine has had more than a few design flaws and the mothership in Germany is loathe to admit it or step up to the plate in public.

Denial is a bad way to run a business IMHO.

mikefocke · 05-05-2010, 08:17 AM

a defender of the notion that we are responsible for our decisions. We choose the brand, model, model year, car and either did or did not do the in advance of purchase research to support that decision.

Some cars have problems, some don't. Life is full of chances. Buy a used car out of warranty and you are subject to those chances. You didn't pay full price to the manufacturer and you knew the car was only warrantied for so long.

Mike has also posted on the web for years a page describing in detail the common problems Porsche has had with their Boxster cars. Also a page on the best and worst, in his opinion, features of the Boxster. They are available to anyone contemplating a purchase. Those pages have been repeatedly updated as more is known about a specific issue or as he sees a problem reported repeatedly. He has had public and private conversations with those working on some of the described solutions in an attempt to better understand so he can describe a problem, its probability and consequences and the benefits of a potential solution.

So he isn't sure what he is accused of defending. It certainly isn't Porsche...he loves their car but publishes a list of problems and gives alternate sources of parts and lists indie mechanics for others to benefit from.

Steve Tinker · 05-05-2010, 05:08 PM

Mr Beauchemin,
Looking again at your original post, I see that the problem you had with your engine was a broken valve spring. I fail to see what your comments regarding Porsche paying for failed IMS bearings (after the fact) have to do with your $7,000 repair bill - valve springs and IMS bearings are poles apart...
Upgrading your IMS bearing would not have helped the valve spring failure.
Or am I missing something here??

Paul · 05-05-2010, 06:15 PM

Drive hard, have fun, upgrade whatever breaks, enjoy the honor of driving one of the world's finest handling cars.

hosickjg · 06-27-2010, 06:55 AM

Just got the engine apart. Pictures tell all, the second picture is whats left of the piston. Porsche doesn't care because its out of warranty. Engine has 75100 miles on it and has been "stealership" maintained since new.
The notorious number 6 cylinder crack and EPIC FAIL.
Not sure if I might send the block out and have 'Nicky" cylinders put in.

mtinrunner · 01-01-2011, 01:23 PM

Our 2000 S with the 3.2 failed at 54K with a mixing problem. It wasn't opened up but was thought to be a cracked case because of where the water was dripping into the oil pan. I didn't bother with Porsche on a 10 year old car. Heck the stealership didn't even know what was wrong with it. They even changed the coolant bottle which wasn't leaking hoping for a miracle. We took it back twice and the temp light began flashing again the next day. They wanted $7500 to open it up without a clue as to what was wrong. Replaced it last week with another 3.2 with 32K miles, new mount, new clutch, tune for 7K. I hope it lasts a little longer.

jotoole · 06-29-2010, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Drive hard, have fun, upgrade whatever breaks, enjoy the honor of driving one of the world's finest handling cars.

"Honor." Never seen the bar set as low.

MKlasing · 07-08-2010, 02:53 PM

Hello to all,

I am new to the board. I have a 2002 986S that I ordered new in 2001. I use it as a daily driver and have over 132,000.0 miles on it. It has always been dealer maintained and I was just given the news that I need a new engine. Not from wear or the high milage but because my block is pourous and I have coolent leaking into the oil. From my research on the blogs it looks like this is not uncommon in the earlier 986 (1997 - 1999) but has not appeared in the later models until now! Porsche NA and the Dealership have offered 10% each on the parts and the Dealership added and additional 10% on labor. From what I see this appears to be a manuafacturing defect.

Anyone have any additional comments.

Regards,

Mike