Big hole in my 2007 Boxster S 3.4 Lt engine!!

[ypoirier969]

Hello everyone,
I've been following the forum for a long time, but have just recently joined. I'm looking for some advise or information that's hard to come by from where I'm from. My engine, I'm told is toast. I'm told also that an engine swap is the way to go. I have found one in MASS. The 3.4 Lt engine is out of a 2008 Cayman. The seller is telling me 2007-2008 Cayman & Boxster engine are the same and easily swapped. My mechanic is saying maybe the wires and sensors may be a problem. I would certainly appreciate any input from the forum. Thanks in advance.

[maxbottomtime]

Howdy. While there may be some info here, this is generally a forum for the prior generation boxster. I would expect the boxster and cayman engines to swap easily (the cayman is a hardtop version of your car), however there can be differences in sensors, controls, wiring year over year so will defer to others more knowledgeable there.

[husker boxster]

I'd say you have a 97% or higher chance it will be plug and play.

However...
You need to be sure that engine doesn't have bore scoring. S engines from that era are highly prone to BS. Add to the equation it's probably from a cold weather environment car. You'll want to scope the #6 and 4 cyl, which is where BS rears its ugly head.

There are several ways BS can be initiated. One of them is short drives in cold weather climates. The electronics run the engine rich until it warms up and lots of short trips mean it runs rich more often. The rich condition washes the cyl coating off and you're left with pistons rubbing on raw cyl.

I mentioned S vs base, as the S is much more prone to BS as the base (very rare in base). Lots of speculation why the S has issues but the one that makes the most sense to me is the longer stroke causes the piston to be exposed more at the bottom of the stroke vs a base (the bottom half of the piston goes below the cyl wall). Over time and tolerances loosen, the piston slaps the cyl as it heads back up into the cyl.

Scoping the cyl will show you the top to middle of the walls. To truly know if there's the potential of BS, you need to remove the sump plate and look at the bottom of the cyl. BS starts at the bottom and works its way up.

Sorry if this scares you, but you don't want to buy an engine that could potentially need $30K of repairs. My Cayman S developed BS 5-6 yrs ago and it left me with lots of expensive options to consider - none of them were good as they were going to cost me a lot of $$$ regardless of which one I chose. An option now might be to sell your Box as is and buy a 987.2. When you consider the cost of replacing the engine, how far away are you from the cost of a 987.2?

Something to consider... Good luck.

[ypoirier969]

Thank you Husker and Max for your quick responses. The problem I have with selling as is....is that in this area i will be very lucky to get $5,000. The engine i'm looking at sells for about $12,500 in canadian funds. I can go pick it up for about $500. The removing of the busted engine and replacement cost about $5000. In this area a 2007 Boxster S with 125 km will sell for $30,000.
I could still enjoy driving it. I don't do track and my wife and I just drive around in the summer (it has never been winter driven). The car is mint. Question: any idea what the cost of engine swap similar to my situation would cost in your area?...by the way the warranty the motor for one year.