another dead boxster @#$%! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

02box · 10-13-2010, 06:24 AM

on the first leg of my daily 100 mile round trip, almost to my my destination, 4 miles out on the interstate. big puff of blue smoke, another big puff, running rough. shut it down coasted to a stop. tried to restart and clunky noises ensued.
so now after being towed, I'm sitting here in my shop wondering how I will get the 50 miles back home tonight to my trusty 92 jeep comanche with 160,000 miles on it. I bought the porsche 1 year ago with 52,000. I've driven it 35,000 miles in that year with no real problems but it looks like I have the had the big one.
I'm not far from atlanta, north alabama so I'm hoping I can send it to jake to see if it's salvageable.
the car is in very good shape with 86,000..... except for the dead motor..
somehow it's a little easier knowing some, maybe a lot of you can feel my pain.

do I call Jake? just take to a P dealer and let them bend me over? scrape it?
geeez....

Thanks for listening. I'll appreciate your opinions...

Pat Keefe
2002 base, tip, dead motor

Jake Raby · 10-13-2010, 06:53 AM

Sounds like an IMS bearing failure.. You should have retrofitted that bearing while you could have, people don't think it can happen to them, until it does.

At any rate, sorry to hear the engine failed.. This has been a week of failure, 7 thus far have been called in and thats just since Monday.

I have a new "certified pre-owned engine program" thats designed to get a proven engine into the car with an updated IMS and a dozen other points of weakness addressed without breaking the bank.. That might be the best way for you to go.

extanker · 10-13-2010, 06:54 AM

maybe the AOS went bad and semi lock the motor giving you that nasty cranking noise

ChrisZang · 10-13-2010, 06:55 AM

so sorry about that.
I'd skip the call to the Porsche dealer (this will just make you upset) and start with Jake Raby

02box · 10-13-2010, 07:13 AM

Jake,
Yea, we all think, won't happen right now..... until it does.
I've already talked to my tow truck guy and they will deliver the car to you.
I'm just north of birmingham in cullman, AL.
when can I send the car to you? can I get your info off of your website?
you can email me personally at p.keefe@mindspring.com
Thanks Jake.

Pat Keefe

Jake Raby · 10-13-2010, 07:42 AM

Pat, email sent..
We look forward to working with you.

stab1991 · 10-13-2010, 08:35 AM

Sorry to hear about your dilema, Hopoefully its not the IMS that failed. just curious, I have a base 2010 with the 2.9 Do I have an ims too?

extanker · 10-13-2010, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stab1991

Sorry to hear about your dilema, Hopoefully its not the IMS that failed. just curious, I have a base 2010 with the 2.9 Do I have an ims too?

09 up [gen2] dont have that old system......ours just smoke like hell on startups...well mine does

Jake Raby · 10-13-2010, 09:13 AM

Car is on the way now.. We'll make a posterchild out of this one, I'll share the pics, and mode of failure here on the forum.

stab1991 · 10-13-2010, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extanker

09 up [gen2] dont have that old system......ours just smoke like hell on startups...well mine does

Thanks, and about the smoke on startup- we just dont look back. lol

Perfectlap · 10-13-2010, 09:23 AM

Jake Raby, are you free to ball park the number of IMS failures that have come to your shop and how long a time period that ecompasses?

extanker · 10-13-2010, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stab1991

Thanks, and about the smoke on startup- we just dont look back. lol

sometimes i cant see back there or i get someone telling me that my car smoked real bad....dealer says its normal...i say....porsche,what was i thinking

clickman · 10-13-2010, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

I have a new "certified pre-owned engine program" thats designed to get a proven engine into the car with an updated IMS and a dozen other points of weakness addressed without breaking the bank.

What sort of $ is this?

stab1991 · 10-13-2010, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extanker

sometimes i cant see back there or i get someone telling me that my car smoked real bad....dealer says its normal...i say....porsche,what was i thinking

Havent seen this on mine, yet....

But I only have 1050 miles on mine so far. No oil use so far, which is good on these cars apparently.

Allen K. Littlefield · 10-13-2010, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clickman

What sort of $ is this?

Sounds like a winner. Since these engines are basically 'plug and play', Jake could ship a finished engine to your local mechanic and have him install it thus saving sending the whole car to and fro. I think reasonably priced upgraded engine will be a godsend to all of us on pins and needles while enjoying our M96 engines. Thanks Jake and keep us posted on upgrades and pricing.

AKL (over 48k and still chugging along)

02box · 10-13-2010, 11:45 AM

The car should be at Jakes by 8pm tonight. 12 hours after engine failure. now that's service. I'm already looking forward to getting it back. these guys are on the ball. I'm feeling good that my car is on the way to Jake's even though I'm bummed that the engine failed. security that comes with confidence in how professional these guys at Jakes place are.
will keep y'all posted...

Pat

stab1991 · 10-13-2010, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02box

The car should be at Jakes by 8pm tonight. 12 hours after engine failure. now that's service. I'm already looking forward to getting it back. these guys are on the ball. I'm feeling good that my car is on the way to Jake's even though I'm bummed that the engine failed. security that comes with confidence in how professional these guys at Jakes place are.
will keep y'all posted...

Pat

Hope for good news. AOS and hydrolocking or something.

Jake Raby · 10-13-2010, 12:38 PM

When I do a certified pre owned engine, I prefer the entire vehicle.. Thats because I want to install the engine here and I want to test it on the chassis dyno. I also want to throw my data logger in the car and test the engine to and from my house for a couple of days before release.

The cost associated with this isn't much more than shipping engines to and from the facilities, since we do require a "core" with the Certified engines. Generally shipping the entire car runs less than shipping the engines both ways! This way we also can provide specialized installation and test work to KNOW the engine is solid before shipping. This is especially critical because its a used engine and has no warranty, I won't warranty Porsche's engine, only those built completely here at my facility and completely updated.

The going rates for a certified pre owned engine is generally 7-10K, with that we do the following:
-Update the IMS bearing with the LN/ FSI unit
-Replace the water pump
-Replace lifters with FSI updated units
-Replace chain guides and vario-cam wear pads
-Replace clutch assembly
-Replace AOS
-Replace RMS with 997 unit
-4th and 5th timing chains replaced
-Install new LN Engineering lo temp thermostat
-Install LN Engineering Spin On Oil Filter Adaptor (SPOFA)

This program is proving to be very successful and is giving those who can't spend 18-22K on our fully updated engine a way to take advantage of our special services and a few of our parts without killing the bank account.

Yes, these prices are still more than the "rebuilds" of the mass producers, but if you compare notes you'll see that they don't even replace the AOS or lifters in their full rebuild, but we do these things to a "used" engine because they are simply required.

No, this engine doesn't come with the warranty or pedigree of a fully built FSI updated engine, but it is updated as much as possible under the same roof.

Pat,
I'll keep you updated when the car arrives and etc.. If its ok with you we'll use this thread as a way to communicate so people can see first hand what is associated with the aftermath of an engine failure. I'll post all the pics here and updates to the project as they become available.

As soon as the car arrives I'll take some pics and find it a stall in my stable until we can tear into it at the beginning of the coming week!

(Pat is a great sport, he was still witty even after experiencing what looks to be a full blown failure, most people act like their dog just got shot, for good reason)

mikefocke · 10-13-2010, 02:50 PM

that prevent turning a core into a CPO engine? In other words, I have a "massive" engine failure and I ship you the car, what could you find that failed that would prevent you accepting the car/core into this program?

And do you have a list of what you don't do to the CPO engine that you do do to the typical full rebuild? (I've always been fan of compare and contrast questions. And figure such a list would help people chose between the CPO and the full options.))

Jake Raby · 10-13-2010, 04:04 PM

Quote:

that prevent turning a core into a CPO engine? In other words, I have a "massive" engine failure and I ship you the car, what could you find that failed that would prevent you accepting the car/core into this program?

ANY core will be accepted, BUT these cores with massive failures will not ever be offered as a CPO engine, they will be dissected, studied, logged into our records and then their parts that are still good will be filed by part number in my "core bank".

The biggest issue that a CPO engine would have repaired is a cracked head. We are documenting all the repairs of these things and divulging them along with full documentation to the purchasers of the CPO engine, BEFORE we sell that engine to them.

Quote:

And do you have a list of what you don't do to the CPO engine that you do do to the typical full rebuild?

Not really.. but its a lot of differences, you are buying a premium 18-22K engine on one hand and on the other a CPO engine that has some upgrades made to it that can be done without being totally dismantled. There HAS to be a big difference for the difference in price.

Quote:

(I've always been fan of compare and contrast questions. And figure such a list would help people chose between the CPO and the full options.))

But the purchasers of the two are completely different.. The CPO purchaser can't even fathom spending 18-22K for an engine, while the purchaser of the updated engine appreciates the fact that he has a car that doesn't need to be touched again.

They are completely different products with radically different price points, both designed to fill a void.