Replacement engines? Good, bad, better?
 

I am looking at a 2003 S with a Porsche installed replacement engine. Warranty was two years - which expired in March 2010. About 20K miles on the engine - I was quite surprised of the short warranty...are the engines new, rebuilt?

Will it fail again - or is the second time a charm.

Is it a good deal to buy - my offer will be based on the body mileage - but I think resale may be less as many buyers are scarred off by the engine failure.

Thoughts comments?

Edit: My comment assumed some facts, inaccurate.

If the engine was replaced in '08, it may have the updated IMS bearing, which MAY improve your odds. ( I hope it does, I own an '06! )

If it's from Porsche it should have the latest IMS update which was back in 06.

I notice guys here think it was a IMS failure. It could been something else, like a timming issue or drop rod. I have a 2000 S with 69K and no issues with my 3.2 motor. :cheers:

The car should have the latest IMS and other parts if it was done in 2008. This "should" reduce your chances of a second failure.

IMS Failure for sure
 

I have the maintenance record - says IMS failure. btw Porsche replaced the engine under warranty with no charge. Came was 5 years old and just under 50K.

Personally, I'd say your odds are about even.

Porsche replaced the motor with another M96 motor, built by them to their spec. This isn't necessarily a 'better' motor than the one which broke.

I'm not sure if Porsche has an on-shore repair facility for these motors, or if they are sent back to Germany. Nor do I have any knowledge of what 'repairs' are done.

I have a buddy in Cali, originally from RSA, who came to this country 25 yrs. ago as a warranty motor rebuilder for Lotus. He repaired 'Twink' motors from Europas and Elans as well as 910 motors from Esprits. They'd get a crapped out motor, repair it and shelve it for future warranty exchange.

He was on salary, so when he got a core, he built it right (not that many warranty motors - Lotus was selling fewer than 500 cars in the US annually at that time). He did this because he was under no piece-work pressure, and wanted to solidify his job security. His rebuilds were actually better built than the oem motor because he took almost 3 times the time with it than the Lotus factory, measured and corrected everything before installing it, not just pull parts out of the parts bin and slap them on as the factory engine assemblers did.

I'm not sure that's the case with Porsche.

My suspicion is that while I don't think they're any worse than a fresh engine, I see no reason they would be any better either.

Cheers!