Oh no, another...

[78F350]

The car is at a small independent Porsche specialty shop. Easy to spot by the cars in the lot.


The shop's owner is busy tinkering, so he keeps the story short. The car had overheated. There's no coolant and it's leaking oil. Not likely the engine is worth repairing and will have to come out anyway. Everything else on the car is good except for the horn. Looking at the potential repair bill, the owner just wants it gone. He handed me the key and got back to his work.

Time for my PPI, this is a $2,000 parts car I'm planning to strip, not something I'm worried about driving.

Exterior walk-around:



Paint looks good.
Bumperettes are nicely painted.
Painted intake grills.
Left side wheels have bad rash.
All 4 wheels have OE metal crest center caps -some fade.
All tires are old and worn.
996 front bumper -some minor defects, but pretty nice.
Headlights, very slight haze and mild lens burn.
Small chip in windshield, looks repaired.
Top is good other than a small scuff.
Rear window is good, flexible and fairly clear, just needs cleaning.
Right wheels look very nice.

Interior:




Wow, this smells bad. ..oh never mind that's me. Worked last night and haven't showered since yesterday morning.
Leather needs some conditioner, but is in good shape.
All electronics and lights look good.
132,xxx miles.
Rear speakers!
Complete wind deflector set.
Generally all clean and cared for.
I decide not to try to crank it.
The top and windows work.

Frunk:
Clean
Tools and locking lug key.
No spare tire.
A little water pooled by the battery.

Trunk:

Liner is pulled out around the tank.
Coolant cap is .00 part number.
Empty gallon jug of drinking water.
I pull the dipstick and it is dry. No trace of oil on it. It's difficult to slide back in.

Underneath:

Typical of a 100,000+ mile 1999 other than the oil leakage.

I make a deal slightly below the $2,000 bottom dollar price and make arrangements to have the car towed. The tow shop owner finds out it's a Porsche and says he better pick it up himself. His other driver gets all flustered when she is around 'high end cars'. I started to tell him not to worry about it being 'high end', then looked at some of the cars around me, "Never mind."

[78F350]

The driver dropped it off Tuesday afternoon. As he was unloading it he mentioned that they had started it up and drove it to his truck at the shop.
I was thrilled that it had run and horrified that they had run it without coolant or oil. Oh well, the assumption was that the engine was not salvageable...

I put it in the garage, jacked it up. I have a couple hours before I have to work.

The plan:
>Find out what is left of the engine.
-Get a look from the top and bottom.
-Read the DTCs
-Check the filter
-Add fluids and see what happens if I crank it???

Top looks decent.


Bottom looks pretty nasty. RMS? IMS? Could be ugly...


Here's the codes from a generic reader:


Yep, that looks pretty sparkly.


...Hold on a minute. None of that is sticking to my magnet. Most of it is black sealant? plastic? chain ramp?


I put a filter on and went to the store to get the cheapest oil I could find. This is mostly for a flush and to see if anything catastrophic happens when I crank it. I got 2 gallons of "Lubriguard" 15W-40 for under $20 and poured some in the engine. Checked the dipstick. Still totally dry. I remembered that the oil level on the instrument panel had actually read full when I was checking the DTCs. I checked again to verify. Yes, oil level is maxed out on the gauge. Suddenly I put it all together.... Dipstick tube is broken and the stick is not going into the engine! It's had plenty of oil the whole time.



That was all I had time for. Cleaned up a bit, closed it up and put a cat-resistant cover over the top. :dance:
More tomorrow. Will I crank it? Is it going to run? Will everything be sunshine if I just replace the dipstick tube and coolant cap????

[MARTHA]

Originally Posted by 78F350

The car is at a small independent Porsche specialty shop. Easy to spot by the cars in the lot.

.
Will you tell the name and/or location of the shop.

Or maybe you know of an even better one.

Thanks!
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