Lessons learned: Buying a "used low mileage engine"(must read)

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Sounds like it was making alot of power, any thoughts as to why?

When I had to reset the cam timing I altered it to my specs... The other reason was due to the under drive pulley, our exhaust system and the ECU flash that I have been perfecting for the "stock" 3.2 with this cam timing for over a year now.

Now the other reason is because the heads had been re-machined, thus bumping up the CR and boosting power..

Another 3.2 I had in this car made 247 RWHP with the same components, with heads that had been remachined .010

[jbox53]

damn Jake... that post made my knees buckle!

[Topless]

This story could be applied to a whole host of things for sale on ebay. (Ask Randall about nice used Boxsters). Let the buyer beware!

[RandallNeighbour]

Originally Posted by Topless

This story could be applied to a whole host of things for sale on ebay. (Ask Randall about nice used Boxsters). Let the buyer beware!

Rub it in!

Jake, I sure do appreciate your dedication to doing things right, not fast, not cheap, or not to make your company look good. Thanks for sharing this horror story.

I take it the seller of the POS M96 motor is a forum member. How very sad.

[blinkwatt]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

I take it the seller of the POS M96 motor is a forum member. How very sad.

Just from some quick looking in the classifieds I think the engine came from a non-daily visitor of this forum....one of those 'parting out 00' 3.2L 986 S' dude that list what they have and never come back.

[jmatta]

And yet owners continue to think the easy way out of an engine problem is to purchase a used one off eBay or from a dismantler...

This thread should be required reading by any M96 Porsche owner if they do not wish to throw more money away at a problem.

[Jake Raby]

Yes.. A forum member.. I'd say he is prett active here because it took him 9 hours after my posting to write his email to me, ********************ing about my sharing of this story with his peers.
He made his own bed, so now he'll have to sleep in it.

Attached is a very general pic of the area of the head thats cracked.. The crack is too small for eyes that are not trained to see, so its hard to get a pic of. Its marked with the pale yellow marker near the spark plug recess.

I'll use my Hi-Res camera to see if I can get better pics for our documentation.

This is an area where M96 engines have head cracks, especially those employed in Boxsters..

If the person who did these repairs knew enough about the M96 to be making internal repairs to one, they would have known to look here for the issue... Like we did.

The last crack I saw in this area was much larger and could be seen with the naked eye at room temperature.. We repaired it and it's been give pure hell with no problems!

I agree that this story should be required reading.. The "purchaser" is very passionate about mechanical things, Boxsters and M96 engines and has been contemplating writing a book about his experiences with constructing his track car... This will certainly be a full chapter!

I have already published this story on my Flat 6 Site :-)

We've installed used motors for customers over the years, some with great success, others without. We put a used 2.5 into a customer's car last year, which we recently had to do a head gasket on (he elected to only freshen one side of the engine, against our recommendation). See our other thread for today's fun with that car.

In terms of the M96 motors, it's not unheard of to have head cracks, and sometimes, they can be very difficult to diagnose. Pressure testing is the only method, and since these cracks can be small, heating the head to temperature is highly recommended.

As to trusting an engine from a salvage yard, while we've used that approach many times over the years, it seems to be becoming more and more risky now that less qualified people are starting to put M96 motors together.

Now that we are an LN dealer and have our own M96 engine program in house, we strongly urge customers to have any work done by us, as we can control the entire operation and warranty our work.

What he should have done is offer a FULL refund....period. The 3k he got isn't worth his reputation. But people who sell things like this seldom care about their reputation.

I almost bought that engine when my 3.2 failed.

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

Yes.. A forum member.. I'd say he is prett active here because it took him 9 hours after my posting to write his email to me, ********************ing about my sharing of this story with his peers.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by jbox53

damn Jake... that post made my knees buckle!

And you didn't even lose any money in the deal!!

The seller maintains that he knew nothing and the engine was sold "as is", though it was mis-represented entirely.

So, people here will know who he is soon enough. He seemed like such a genuine guy, but those are always the snakes in the grass that you have to watch.

[jbox53]

this may help someone:
"The most common type of implied warranty is the warranty of merchantability. That means that the seller promises that the product offered for sale will do what it's supposed to. An engine that will run is an example of a warranty of merchantability. Breakdowns and other problems after the sale don't prove the seller breached the warranty of merchantability. A breach occurs only if the buyer can prove that a defect existed at the time of sale. A problem that occurs after the sale may be the result of a defect that existed at the time of sale or not. As a result, a dealer's liability is judged case-by-case.

Of course, in your case, it sounds like there was a defect at the time of the sale. Before taking your case to court, you should put your grievance to the seller IN WRITING and formulate it under the pretense that you will be seeking litigation if this last attempt at resolving it amicably is denied. If that does not work, you may take this issue to small claims court since it likely falls within the small claims court cap amount in your jurisdiction."



Read more: http://www.justanswer.com/questions/1kt25-bought-engine-car-four-months#ixzz0SRYTMUV5

[Jake Raby]

The purchaser has determined that persuing this in any form just isn't worth the time. He'd much rather my efforts be expended on making his Boxster a GT3 killer.

So this person will go on as a part of our community, mingling with others that have no clue that they may be the next one that he decides to take advantage of, then pass the blame onto others....

So, allow this post and our expenditure of funds to be nothing more than a reality for those who feel a used engine is a viable means of solving the issues associated with an M96 engine failure.

This will only get worse as people get a few special tools in their hands and think this engine is a ssimple as a Briggs and Stratton... More will be screwed and for much more money than we were.

You have been warned.

[jmatta]

Very interesting read...sends chills down my spine.

The seller knows who he is...what goes around, comes around.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by jmatta

Very interesting read...sends chills down my spine.

The seller knows who he is...what goes around, comes around.

Yep.. And he has read this post and responded to me via email. He isn't happy- I don't care.

He threatened libel if I disclosed his identity... Imagine that.