My engine is done as well. (2004 2.7L)
 

I had a simliar incident to jhandy on Monday... driving along the highway doing 120km/h and all of a sudden I lost power. Engine died while I lifted my foot off throttle. Pulled over and wouldn't start. No oil on the floor, no smoke, no strange noise (that's loud enough to be heard with the top down crusing on the highway.)

Long story short, after I got it towed to a local independant Pcar garage I heard the worst news today. Engine suffered catastrophic failure and requires complete teardown to find the actual cause.

Note on the invoice states "Check engine for no-start, engine cranks but does not start. Check fuel pressure and ignition - normal. Scan vehicle controllers for faults - none found at this time.

Remove spark plugs and perform engine compression test - 0 PSI results at all cylinders, suspect valve damage. Scope cylinders, found valve seats dropped, head damage noted, block and lower engine damage possible, requires dis-assembly."

I have 68,000KM on the engine, oil change was done just 3k ago. Owned it for just less than 2 years.

I'm making a few phone calls and preparing a letter to Porsche Canada.

that sucks...maybe po will help out..good luck

Wow sorry to hear about that. Mine turned out to be a cut cam position wire. Fixed and ready to go pick up today.

Did they say IMS? I guess it does not really matter at this point.
Jake may buy it for core if you upgraded with him. If you are thinking of keeping the car, thats an idea.

Sorry
James

Sorry to hear that. If it was the IMS it would have lost Oil correct?

Also curious what brand of Oil was used?

these are the threads that make me lose sleep at night...

i cringe to think what this will cost to fix.

for what it's worth, I am VERY sorry...I am only imaginging this happening to me and it makes me get shivers....

Let us know what happens with your situation... and GOOD LUCK!

Another member here expressing commiseration. Sorry to hear your news Ekam. :(

Man, I am very sorry to hear this. I am supposed to pick up my 2004 (3.2L) next week which experienced an IMS failure a couple months ago.

When my IMS failed I started looking into posts on various forums about other failures and I found (what seemed to me at least) and unusally high number of failures in the 2004 cars. It makes me wonder if Porsche got an inferior batch of IMS parts in some of those cars.

Feel free to PM mail if you want any info into what I looked into for my repair. Good luck with your next steps.

Add me to the list...that's just so disheartening to hear. Sorry for your misfortune, and good luck with its resolution. Keep us posted---when it comes to engine failure, we've ALL become curious (and a bit nervous) onlookers around here...

I noticed that too...that upon reading about all these failures on the net, that the majority or them were 04 model cars. Perhaps as you say, a bad batch that year.

ekam, sorry to hear about it. Hope Porsche helps you with this.

Spoke to Porsche Canada, they want me to tow it to a dealer to do a detail assessment. No promises from them but there is still hope!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Good luck with that. I had success with Porsche on mine. A few things that I think helped me were:

1) I had some 3rd party documentation on the IMS problems (if that ends up being your problem). I used 2 of the 3 Excellence Magazine articles on the M96 motor issues.

2) I tried to build a case on why it made business sense for them to help me. Luckily my age and income put me squarely in Porsche's target demographic for new vehicle sales. I also serve on some local BOD's and have a lot of local contacts with others in their target demographic that I beleive worked in my favor.

3) I had terrific maintenance records I could share with them.

I'd say be prepared to build a case on why they should help you. I think that's best shot at getting some goodwill assistance.

Good luck

Your misfortune makes me both sad and angry. Best of luck to you and please keep us posted.
Bob

Classic example of either a broken IMS drive chain, broken IMS timing chain paddle, or IMS bearing, (or all of the above).One of those possibilities has a preventive available that could have possibly kept this from occurring.

We get a good number of calls from owners with the mileage that you have, it is one of the sweet spots for failure. Sorry for your loss, this has been a week for failure, 7 callers have reported failures this week of some sort and I've had 4 emails of similar situations along with two cars being shipped to us with intermix issues...

They seem to come in herds.

So sorry to hear about the motor.

I have to ask, was your car sitting in storage over the winter up in Toronto?
Is it possible that sitting had an affect on oil getting into the IMS bearing?

Having recently purchased an '04 986 that now has 47k mi... hearing this makes me squirm.

Speaking of which, Jake, I'm getting ready for an IMS and clutch/RMS for the fall (among other things). I'm having problems finding on your site, the cost for the IMS shipped. What's it going for for a 2.5 (99) these days?

Hey Oaktown,

I live in the Bay area as well. Interested in doing what you're doing as well. Let me know if you'd wanna work together. I could meet you at your place with my car as well.

tran

Guys:
we have been so busy with development, engine builds and IMS procedures that we haven't been selling the individual bearing kits for the last few months or any other parts as well.. It was taking our focus away from our specialty; carrying out critical procedures. The other issue was the extreme questions and support that purchasers and shops alike were demanding during the IMS procedure, all that time made the sales of the bearings more of a liability to us than anything else.

I've been referring everyone to LN Engineering directly for the bearing kits, at least for now as I finish the updates to our property and expand operations into a 3rd building dedicated to manufacturing our components and finish up our backlog from the winter.

If we start selling the bearings again, I'll let you know. in the mean time we are kicking ass on IMSR procedures carried out under our roof, of course we provide the bearings for those procedures that we do here..

A word to the wise:
If you are considering a procedure during the fall you had better order the parts and schedule your procedure NOW.. You and EVERYONE ELSE that owns these cars wants to do the same thing. Due to that schedules and components in the fall will be in much more demand and you'll either have to wait or will be disappointed when we say "The schedule is booked". The economy hasn't impacted us at all, hell we are busier than we were when times were perfect!

Right; well, today would be a great day to meet each other as well as an indy mechanic. I'm heading from the City at 2:30 to Oakland to 23rd where Bauer Repair is to have him check out my 99. Wanna meet up around 4ish there? I have to make a quick trip to my e. bay crib to pick up the car after I get done working...

Moving our convo to PM.

... and this is why I have scheduled with a local LN Engineering listed dealer to install the new bearing retrofit with my new clutch and RMS next Wednesday before I start enjoying the new Boxster S I picked up for the summer... :cheers:

I'm a dealer for LNE in Austin, Texas.

If you're in the Texas area and are considering the IMSR
or if you've suffered an engine failure and want to pursue
your options. We'd be happy to help you out,

Mike at lone star rpm dot com

Got the call from the dealership and they told me Porsche is willing to cover half the cost of new engine. They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Most positive thing is I'm getting car back end of next week. :dance:

Dickson,

I just read your thread and I feel terrible. That is just brutal! I'm glad to hear that PCNA is going to help you out ... best of luck getting the car back on the road ASAP!

Congrats!! Great news getting the car back on the road so soon!! :cheers:

Half the cost of the engine (including labor?). Isnt half the cost of the engine still around $7k? Guess that's better than no assistance. Glad you at least got some help.

darn good deal. i dont think he was the first owner but what ever he wrote to po sure worked

Well I got 3 options.

1) Find a used engine.
2) Sell the car.
3) Talk to Porsche.

Option 1 - wouldn't give me any confidence at all, since I'm buying a used engine with little history to go with it, not to mention it could have IMS problems unless I put additional money into it. And not to mention the downtime, few months wouldn't be out of the question.

Option 2 - not going to happen. I will get nothing for it and not to mention I still like driving it. :)

Option 3 - most sensible option, since it's a new engine and will have the latest IMS upgrade from the factory. 2 year warranty. No mileage as well which I'm rolling back 68,000 KM.


They might have more incentives to give me a free engine if I'm the first owner and I brought the car to the dealer every single time I needed something done. Would I have done things differently knowing this? Perhaps. I'm just rolling the dice like everyone else and I wouldn't be paranoid over it. But one thing for sure, if the time comes to buy another Boxster it will be a 2009 or newer.

Amen to that! I think a 2010 Cayman S with PDK sound pretty good right about now. If only I could get the my wife to go along with my line or reasoning....

Glad you're seeing light at the end of the tunnel! See you on the road!!!!

Got the car back. Still love it. Got to take it easy for a little while I guess... never break in a new engine before...

The new padded steering wheel I got from Suncoast is pretty awesome.

Congrats!! :cheers:

Yes Congrats! Now only if I could get a new one too....

enjoy your new motor

again, congrats on a good outcome! i always remember your post bec. of the girl in your avatar :)

ekam what an ordeal.......congradulations on a great outcome. I didn't realize that Porsche is now taking some responsibility for our cars! I have not heard anything this positive in a while.

do you know WHY Porsche agreed to foot half the bill?

you were well out of warranty... is this just something you think you were able to obtain because:

a) you knew someone
b) you threatened them with something
c) you were just so nice they felt sorry for you / sob story letter / phone call

OR

are they starting to treat these types of failures differently? your car was "newer" than many of the older 986 here...not sure they would do the same for a 2000... ??

I'm curious..if you know..what it was about your situation that got them to help out financially with it?

glad to hear you have the car back on the road!

Porsche called me old
 

When I began to have engine trouble at 44k miles I called porsche who called the dealership and then called to tell me that my car (2000 Boxster S) was too old and they would not participate even though the mileage was so low. I had no luck complaining further. Now the engine is for sale in the parts section here.

Warranty Good!

I'm sure a newer model year has something to do with it. MTS is the lucky one here who got Porsche goodwill to cover full cost of the engine.

It's actually very surprising, IMO. You were the second owner, and the car was what...2 yrs out of warranty already? Maybe after VW takeover, and hearing all the buzz about these engine failures, they decided on damage control. Or maybe they just like your avatar. :D

Unfortunately, I don't think they're starting to treat these failures [much] differently.

As such, not so sure we'll find out the answers to your questions above either.
Since we haven't heard much of the story other than the car is back w/ new motor and Porsche helped w/ the engine [an offer he couldn't refuse]... I suspect ekam may not freely disclose all the particulars...

If I'm wrong, please tell us, ekam, how you did it ;)

Otherwise, congrats :cheers: