There you go: catastrophic engine failure
 

Engine: M96 2.5 1998 110'000miles

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/19/68/52/710.jpg

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/19/68/52/310.jpg

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/19/68/52/610.jpg

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/19/68/52/810.jpg

http://i55.servimg.com/u/f55/12/19/68/52/510.jpg

A good Dremel will fix that.

So what happened? Slipped cylinder sleave? What does the cylinder bore look like? Need more info.

The lip on the top of the sleeve decided to detach!
The piston then hit it and lost a big chunk of itself and bent a few valves.

The 'ring' I hold on the picture is not a piston ring.
It's actually a part of the liner...

Classic.. This is the notorious slipped sleeve. What you are seeing here is mostly collateral damage.

Note the yellow.... That tells the way that this story started, at the factory.

Jake does the yellow indicate an issue that was picked up at the engine assembly stage and marked with yellow paint? If so what could that issue have been?

Poor casting or poor machining?

Ouch! Is this your car? If so, how long did you own it?

This engine was repaired at the factory. The sleeve that has slipped should have never been there..

See the December 2008 volume of Excellence Magazine for the full story behind this failure, which also features my engine program :-)

I may have a good 2.5 block.

Was your car built in Stuggart (11th vin letter S), or Finland (letter U)?

I don't think it matters where the cars are assembled. Aren't all the motors made in Stuttgart?

In the old days these failures happened over and over and over again.. Today we seldom see them and generally the only time they pop up are in super low mileage 99 models. That 98 must have been a very late production car.

I've read that there were engines built in Finland, and cylinder sleeves were more prone to failure in Finnish built Boxsters. Don't know if that's true, but that was why I was asking that.

Thanks guys for all your interesting feedback.

I own this Boxster for two and a half years now. I bought it with 87'000 miles and it has about 110'000 miles now. It's a Finnish built one (U). It was my daily driver for these past 2 years and everything was working perfectly fine until that day...
I maintain my cars very well, with frequent and best quality oils, always let the oil reach the right temperature etc...

I just can't believe it happened and how it happened. No reasons, no signs, nothing.
I started the engine, drove around the block and boom. That's it.

Got any plan to revive it?

Time to upgrade...3.2 liter.:cheers:

It's kinda recent. I'm still trying to decide if I should rebuild this engine, buy a new used one or sell the car as is (anyone interested?).

What mechanics in LA do you work with btw? Or is it all DIY? I'm always interested in knowing who in LA people go to. PM me if you prefer. If the car is solid and clean, I'd rebuild with the right shop.

PS Racing in Burbank.

I wouldn't rebuild the engine.
I've done it with mine, because the engine had 26K miles, and the lowest mileage engine I could get 2nd hand had about 55K, and because I was expecting to get it done cheaper than I did. The cost of rebuilding mine was about 4K, but the damage was less than in yours (head work, 2 camshafts, chain and some valves). The rest was gaskets, screws, AOS, RMS and other bits and bolts. My failure was due to a worn tensioner pad. The AOS was starting to go, and RMS was cheap because the engine was out. For a little more, I'd get a 3.2 engine. In Portugal, a 98 2.5 is still worth about 16-18K, not the 5 or 6k it's worth in the UK, so that's the main reason why I didn't sold the car.

Yeah I might go that way...
Either I sell it as is for someone willing to have a base for a trackday car or I'll swap another engine in there (and not necessarily a Porsche engine....)