Freshly rebuilt Vertex Long Blocks

[piper6909]

sfkjeld, I just PM'd you.

[sfkjeld]

Picked up my 986 last week with the “new” $2000 Vertex motor freshly installed. The cost to install at a high end Porsche shop in Marin? $4600! Minus $2000 they gave me for my old engine. The Vertex engine had been sitting on a pallet in a garage for 3-4 years, so I expected issues. The shop installed some stuff I wasn’t too sure about. A clutch disc when the current one had <10k mi on it. MAF, oxygen sensors to make the new engine run right, when the old engine ran beautifully. Also a few oil leaks, probably related to dried seals.

But the new engine sounds wonderful. Smooth and quiet.

There was a new clacking sound coming from the back, audible when I drove over rough road at low speed. Had them check it out and the diagnosis was bushings in the suspension that might have been tweaked when the old engine was pulled out. I haven’t heard the price to correct, but was warned by the shop, it would be expensive. Hah, what isn’t? He also said it was common on 986s at 100k.

[sfkjeld]

Have been quiet happy with my new Vertex engine.... until this morning. When starting the car, the engine seemed to turn over slowly like a drained battery. Tried it again and it actually made the grinding sound of starter into ring gear. One more try and it barely started. I drove the car around for a few miles. Restarting the car has been normal since. So I guess my question is, if the battery is partly discharged or failing, can the starter somehow grind against the ring gear? Have never heard of that before in any car.