Shortlived Boxster engines survey

[Steve Tinker]

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]

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

[hosickjg]

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]

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.

[clickman]

Originally Posted by mtinrunner

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.

Where did the "new" 3.2 come from? Had it been rebuilt? Had any of the failure modes been addressed?

[mtinrunner]

Norm, the transplant came from a wreck. hadn't been worked on. I was quite surprised the mount was shot already as well as the fact the clutch was toast on my car with 54K miles and my wife putting on most of those miles. I'm not sure what you mean by failure modes. It was looked at by several mechanics and deemed not to be worth opening up. It wouldn't maintain coolant pressure while sitting and coolant leaked into the oil pan. From where the leak was coming it was deduced that it had to be from a crack in the case. A quarter inch metal chunk was found in the oil pan, its origin unknown. The car never overheated.

[clickman]

You said when you put the replacement engine in you did the engine mount, clutch and "tune"(?).

I was wondering if that replacement engine had anything done to it before you put it in your car. Things that get talked about on M96 forums all the time, like replacing the intermediate shaft bearing and rear main seal. If not, why. Thanks.

[jotoole]

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]

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

[clickman]

Originally Posted by MKlasing

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.

Seems odd that a porous block would wait 132k before starting to leak. The porosity must have led to a crack.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by clickman

Seems odd that a porous block would wait 132k before starting to leak. The porosity must have led to a crack.

It is possible it has a cracked cylinder head
or a freeze plug popped.

it is also possible that the oil cooler is leaking.

it is possible that one of the gaskets between the block halves is leaking.

it is possible that the head bolts have stretched and there is a head gasket leak.

many things could cause intermix.

mike

[ALarracuente]

Hello Guys:
Avid reader, newbie poster. Here's my story. A little long but I assure you, worth reading, specially for those of you with a blown engine in your Boxster.

A poor man’s dream…
I bought my 99 Boxster back in 2006, 1 day before turning 40 (talk ‘bout midlife crisis). The odo read 8148k miles, hard top, all original, for only $23K. Not bad, considering that cars are normally 40% more expensive here in Puerto Rico than in the states. One owner (a nice mid-aged lady), all maintenance records, driven 3-5 miles a day... Nevertheless, the low mileage should have raised a big ol' flag in my mind but, I was so impressed with the condition of the car that went ahead with the purchase. I drove the card HARD for the next 18K miles and enjoyed the heck out of it. The best car I’ve ever driven.

The nightmare begins…
October 2009 and 26K+ on the odometer: I stopped for lunch for about an hour after a 2 hour traffic jam in 90+ degree weather. The car did not overheat or nothing. As I was starting the engine, it turned for what it seemed a turn or two and then heard a muffled clunk from behind seat. After that, the engine would not turn anymore. Suspecting battery/starter issues, tried to push-start but the car would come to a halt as soon as I left the clutch out, ouch.... Having blown plenty of VW engines before, had a feeling of de-ja-vu. Towed the car back home and started looking for the culprit…
Checked battery and starter, took off serpentine belt, tried to turn engine by hand and was not able to go past 1/4 turn either way, checked for bent valves with a probe, all good. Damn, looking more and more like internal damage. Not looking good for Porsche’s reputation. It was Friday and I knew how I would spend the rest of my weekends to come.

Light at the end of the tunnel…
Saturday: Got the engine out in less than 3 hours with help from my brother (an experienced tool-dye tech later found to be of great use making special Porsche tools ) and started tearing down. Took off the heads, split the crankcase halves and there it was. Cylinder #1 sleeve had slipped. Good news though, since the failure happened while cranking the engine, it did not exploded like a grenade. Neither the rod, crank or case appeared had sustained major damage and seemed ‘rebuildable. I guess I was lucky after reading other stories on the Internet.
I did the proper research to see the way to go with it. I even considered parting the car out in Ebay and other forums after getting the dealers quote of (12K for a reconditioned engine or 20K new one) but, love for the car and my wife’s confidence in my mechanical abilities kept me from it. Finally, chose to send the block to Charles Navarro from LN Engineering and put brand new Nickies and JE pistons on it. Charles suggested going all the way to 2.9L with the addition of a 996 crank, around $1K more for a good core but well worth it. He also offered me a discount on IMS and thermostat upgrade which seemed appropriate and well worth the price. All in all, the process of sending the block to Charles, and getting it back took 3 months. The total cost for LN’s work was $5443.03 +SH. This included 89mm Nickies with JE pistons (12:1), upgraded IMS, billet IMS hub, billet IMS tensioner, 78mm 996 crank, a 160F thermostat and housing and magnetic drain plug. My brother, an experienced machinist and self-made mech engineer, was very impressed with LN’s machine work and quality of parts used like the JE Pistons.
Additional parts like bearings, cylinder head gaskets, bolts, engine gasket set, oil, fluids, etc. the total cost of the rebuild ran up to $6700. The project took me around 12 labor hours of tear-down and 24-30 hours of engine assembly. Troubleshooting chain timing issues took me another 12 hours work. I actually had the cams 180 off. Guys, remember to rotate the engine 180 before switching to the other head, LOL.

Riding to the sunset…
In the end, the engine has over 7K miles on it and running WAY stronger than new. Oil changes (three since the rebuild) look normal with little or no metal particles. MPG are aroud 25-27 highway, not bad for Puerto Rico traffic and weather. I’ve clocked 0-60 time in the low 5’s (2001 ‘S’ territory) and lower-end torque is greatly improved over 2.5 stock. I have a Dyno test scheduled next week (now that the break in period is over) to see how it measures against stock numbers. I bet anything it has to be around 240-250 to the wheels! Sure feels like it.
For those of you considering rebuilding a blown-up Boxster engine, there’s my story. Let it be a example that Boxster engines can be rebuild with basic VW engine rebuild experience, a budget, patience and a supporting wife, a Porsche shop manual, a good set of metric wrenches and, an ingenious T&D tech brother to help you make any special tool you may need.

Good night and good luck,
Fred Larracuente
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

[FauxDiablo]

Originally Posted by MKlasing

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

Porous aluminum block and head castings are INCREDIBLY rare in pretty much every vehicle made since forever. And by incredibly rare, I mean so rare that a tech will not spot it unless they are looking for it after taking everything apart and using ultrasound and/or magnetic or flourescent testing.

If you had a porous casting, this problem would have been spotted a very long time ago. My guess is anything but a porous casting.

[Liamray]

Originally Posted by FauxDiablo

Porous aluminum block and head castings are INCREDIBLY rare in pretty much every vehicle made since forever. And by incredibly rare, I mean so rare that a tech will not spot it unless they are looking for it after taking everything apart and using ultrasound and/or magnetic or flourescent testing.

If you had a porous casting, this problem would have been spotted a very long time ago. My guess is anything but a porous casting.

I agree, I’d be getting a 2nd opinion on your problem!

[maytag]

Originally Posted by Liamray

I agree, I’d be getting a 2nd opinion on your problem!

I hope he did..... three years ago when he wrote that.....

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