2002 Boxster S
 

My local indie shop owner recently bought the above vehicle at auction to sell on his small lot. He bought it cheap, which is the first sign of trouble. The second sign of trouble was knowing that the engine has a misfire.

The first order business was replacing the coil on the #1 cylinder. This did not resolve the misfire. So they performed a compression test and determined that there is no compression in the #1 cylinder. A scope of the cylinder revealed a bent valve and possibly a hole in the piston.

Yesterday I stopped in to see what progress they were making. The owner of the garage and the mechanic and I are friends and they don't mind me watching and learning. So they've now begun the process of removing the engine from the car. When they took the right side exhaust off, there was a lot of rattling inside the pipes. When the mechanic turned the pipe a lot of aluminum fell onto the garage floor. Well that didn't look too good! I'm going to stop in again today and see what further progress they made.

BTW, 69,000 miles on the engine.

A few points here!
I am happy you do not own it.
I hope your friend did not pay too much for it.
I would never buy at an auction unless I got something dirt cheap.
And thanks for the education.
Cheers Guy.:dance:

I stopped at the shop this morning and there are a few updates.

First, they have the transmission out now and when the heads were exposed they saw that the plastic holder for the O2 sensor, which is attached to the left head, was melted. Somebody ran this motor very hot.

They still haven't gotten the motor out of the car so the heads are still on the car hence no viewing of the internals yet. The working theory is that the motor got so hot that the valve seat dropped out and the valve stuck open which caused the piston to smash the valve. Again, just a working theory until the heads are off and they can see the true damage.

They paid 11 thousand for the Boxster so even if they have to put a used motor in, they'll break even or only lose a small amount. Overall, an unfortunate purchase for them.

Just out of curiosity, what do you think all this engine work will ultimately cost?
I just purchased my 2002 S with 49K miles for $14.5. I would think the extensive engine work and or replacement is going to put him well above $14.5. :confused:

Well, he is the owner of the garage so if the mechanic isn't working on a customer car then he's working on the porsche. Since he pays the mechanic hourly the labor isn't costing him anything, so to speak. If the mechanic is busy, he works on it himself.

If the motor is salvagable, it is being sent to Second Gear in Stroudsburg, PA. I'm sure that between the two garages a deal can be struck. If this were a car you or I had, it would be a nightmare, but for the garage owner, I think that it will be just a break even point.

Doubtful. Expensive lesson to be learned here. :(


Very unfortunate, but I've never seen a car, any car, this old go for $11K at an auction. Especially one with a known misfire. Experienced bidders know cars and any possible quirks (like a M96 engine) they may possess, and they know what to bid to make a profit on the resell. Was this your friend's first rodeo?

Just wonderin'.........

TO

No, he's been buying and selling for 40+ years. I think what happened, was that he typically will only deal with MB, BMW and Audi so he's not a researched Pcar guy.

Recently he had a few requests from customers regarding Boxsters. He had a few with misfires that were simply a coil. I just think that he assumed it would be a coil again and took the risk. He rolled the dice and lost on this one. I doubt he'll make that mistake again.

$11K for a 70K mile Boxster S... sounds like 'break even' means he can't spend more than $3K if he hopes to make a profit flipping it.

$3K would not have covered my repairs last year and none were engine rebuilds.

That's exactly where I was going, mechanic or not rebuilding a Porsche engine is going to unfortunately set him back a bit more than break even. I had my 911 engine rebuilt in 1991 on a low budget for $4500.00, unless he keeps it for himself, this will be a loss.

Perfectlap......Can you fill us in on 3k in repairs last year? .... Thats nuts.

**Update**

I stopped in again today to see what progress was made. I thought that he paid 11K for the car, he paid 8K, so I was wrong on the price.

The engine is out of the car and the head is off. They were right about dropping the valve seat due to running hot. The valve and piston met and that's where all of the aluminum came from. It's pretty extensive and they have determined that a used motor is going in the car as the labor to rebuild is going to be far too high.

Holy cow....ouch.

They need to assess the cooling system problem. Plugged radiators (inside due to gelled coolant due to improper servicing or outside due to birds nests)? Failed water pump impeller? Lost coolant? Run without a belt? Putting in another engine and then having it fry as well would really add insult to injury!

Parts car is now their best option.

They just lost $4K

My guess is broken water pump impeller clogging coolant streams in the heads. Time to install a 3.4 or 3.6 with LN updates, but not going to make a profit on this one.