Shortlived Boxster engines survey

[PartialFish]

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?

[jbs986]

Originally Posted by PartialFish

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.

[Spinnaker]

Originally Posted by PartialFish

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?

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.

[Brucelee]

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.

[clickman]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

I just wouldn't own one out of warranty. I am too cheap.

That ain't cheap.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by PartialFish

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?

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.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

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

[Paul]

I'm a reformed denier, listen to Jake.

[danyl55]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

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.

what is the highest mileage upgrade you have done jake?

[seningen]

Originally Posted by PartialFish

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'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

[silverboxter]

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...

[Jake Raby]

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

Once in denial but now I know...these engines are just a ticking time bomb!

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

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

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.

[PartialFish]

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.

[Paul]

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

[Paul]

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:



Bank 1-3 cams:



Cams are turning:





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.

[Jake Raby]

The can of worms is about to be opened....209,000 miles on a non Porsche approved oil!!

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

[Jager]

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