Another Porsche Lemon?
 

2014 Porsche 911 GT3 Sales Halted Due To String Of Fires

Flaming lemons at that.

I was waiting for the RS anyway. Doesn't affect me.

Axis Of Oversteer: 991 GT3s are so hot they are catching on fire.

It's the Ferrari influence causing it!

I wonder if they started using some new bearing :rolleyes:. Seriously though its odd that this is happening under seemingly normal conditions, i hope they figure out whatever the problem is. So correct me if i am wrong but isnt the GT3 engine essentally the same as a normal 991 S, aside from it revving higher? Just 4 wheel steer weight reduction and such added?

Glad the one at the local track day I was at did not go up in fire and smoke. That would have made a fiery mess of the track.:)

With the Gt3 engine they kept it a dry sump while all other engines, including the Turbo still have the standard oil pump and an "integrated dry sump" (aka wet sump).

The failures start with a low oil pressure dash warning, then the driver hears a noise, gets out of the car, finds oil leaking and then a fire ensues. Thats the description that was included in several articles about this issue.

My hypothesis is the engine gains an oil leak and the pressure loss is because the oil thats being lost is under pressure. When the engine shuts down some residual pressure is still there, which sprays onto the exhaust and then you have a fire. This can also be happening when the car is pulled over because air is all around the under side of the engine while the car is moving, which blows the oil away from the exhaust a bit; but when the car stops, air becomes stagnate the fire erupts.

Again, thats only my hypothesis from looking at the under side of the engine and where things are laid out, some of which makes no sense, like the heat exchanger thats UNDER the engine and mounted low ? Road hazard from hell!

Needless to say, I am working super hard to understand this and design my own fix for it. I had a customer who had a new GT3 on order when this happened. He was going to ship me the car as soon as he received it, for me to take it as large as I dared (4.4L). I only wish I had the car here and had killed its warranty on purpose, then I'd have to understand the issue and design my own fix for it, because we would have killed its warranty, on purpose :-)

I got the impression from a couple of overseas threads that it looks like an oil cooler support bracket fracturing.
Its obvious that a loose oil cooler dropping and thrashing around will soon rupture, spraying oil around the engine bay and eventually on the hot exhaust(s).

Whatever the cause. I'm sure Porsche will do everything to rectify the problem - after all, the GT3 is its halo status model.....

4.4L, That sounds mean... but your assumed diagnosis makes sense to me.

The "oil cooler" is now under the engine with the GT3. It's not in the engine bay like other 9a1 or M96 based engines.

I think the increase in recall's and faulty engineering in modern Auto's is the result of going straight from computer modeling to production, with no testing or proof of concept, optimized for lows costs and ease of assembly. Probably young engineers managed by bean-counters, with no practical experience.

This too shall pass, and Porsche will get it fixed. Too much invested into the GT3 to not make this right going forward.

I feel sorry for all the folks that ordered the new 991 GT3's. Lots of delays and now this drama.

Glad I did not order one last year. But, I need at least a sunroof, and did not want a PDK car. I could have saved myself over $10,000 vs a high optioned 2014 C2S Cabriolet X-51.

So basically don't stop driving until you reach the nearest fire department. LOL.

I concur completely!!!!
I'd love to know how long it takes them to get something from concept to showroom floor these days.

They've learned it's cheaper to deal with issues that may pop up later, rather than ensuring there are no issues during development. This seems to be the case for all the manufacturers.