Shortlived Boxster engines survey

[mikefocke]

a defender of the notion that we are responsible for our decisions. We choose the brand, model, model year, car and either did or did not do the in advance of purchase research to support that decision.

Some cars have problems, some don't. Life is full of chances. Buy a used car out of warranty and you are subject to those chances. You didn't pay full price to the manufacturer and you knew the car was only warrantied for so long.

Mike has also posted on the web for years a page describing in detail the common problems Porsche has had with their Boxster cars. Also a page on the best and worst, in his opinion, features of the Boxster. They are available to anyone contemplating a purchase. Those pages have been repeatedly updated as more is known about a specific issue or as he sees a problem reported repeatedly. He has had public and private conversations with those working on some of the described solutions in an attempt to better understand so he can describe a problem, its probability and consequences and the benefits of a potential solution.

So he isn't sure what he is accused of defending. It certainly isn't Porsche...he loves their car but publishes a list of problems and gives alternate sources of parts and lists indie mechanics for others to benefit from.

[Steve Tinker]

Mr Beauchemin,
Looking again at your original post, I see that the problem you had with your engine was a broken valve spring. I fail to see what your comments regarding Porsche paying for failed IMS bearings (after the fact) have to do with your $7,000 repair bill - valve springs and IMS bearings are poles apart...
Upgrading your IMS bearing would not have helped the valve spring failure.
Or am I missing something here??

[Paul]

Drive hard, have fun, upgrade whatever breaks, enjoy the honor of driving one of the world's finest handling cars.

[hosickjg]

Just got the engine apart. Pictures tell all, the second picture is whats left of the piston. Porsche doesn't care because its out of warranty. Engine has 75100 miles on it and has been "stealership" maintained since new.
The notorious number 6 cylinder crack and EPIC FAIL.
Not sure if I might send the block out and have 'Nicky" cylinders put in.

[mtinrunner]

Our 2000 S with the 3.2 failed at 54K with a mixing problem. It wasn't opened up but was thought to be a cracked case because of where the water was dripping into the oil pan. I didn't bother with Porsche on a 10 year old car. Heck the stealership didn't even know what was wrong with it. They even changed the coolant bottle which wasn't leaking hoping for a miracle. We took it back twice and the temp light began flashing again the next day. They wanted $7500 to open it up without a clue as to what was wrong. Replaced it last week with another 3.2 with 32K miles, new mount, new clutch, tune for 7K. I hope it lasts a little longer.

[clickman]

Originally Posted by mtinrunner

Our 2000 S with the 3.2 failed at 54K with a mixing problem. It wasn't opened up but was thought to be a cracked case because of where the water was dripping into the oil pan. I didn't bother with Porsche on a 10 year old car. Heck the stealership didn't even know what was wrong with it. They even changed the coolant bottle which wasn't leaking hoping for a miracle. We took it back twice and the temp light began flashing again the next day. They wanted $7500 to open it up without a clue as to what was wrong. Replaced it last week with another 3.2 with 32K miles, new mount, new clutch, tune for 7K. I hope it lasts a little longer.

Where did the "new" 3.2 come from? Had it been rebuilt? Had any of the failure modes been addressed?

[mtinrunner]

Norm, the transplant came from a wreck. hadn't been worked on. I was quite surprised the mount was shot already as well as the fact the clutch was toast on my car with 54K miles and my wife putting on most of those miles. I'm not sure what you mean by failure modes. It was looked at by several mechanics and deemed not to be worth opening up. It wouldn't maintain coolant pressure while sitting and coolant leaked into the oil pan. From where the leak was coming it was deduced that it had to be from a crack in the case. A quarter inch metal chunk was found in the oil pan, its origin unknown. The car never overheated.

[jotoole]

Originally Posted by Paul

Drive hard, have fun, upgrade whatever breaks, enjoy the honor of driving one of the world's finest handling cars.

"Honor." Never seen the bar set as low.

[MKlasing]

Hello to all,

I am new to the board. I have a 2002 986S that I ordered new in 2001. I use it as a daily driver and have over 132,000.0 miles on it. It has always been dealer maintained and I was just given the news that I need a new engine. Not from wear or the high milage but because my block is pourous and I have coolent leaking into the oil. From my research on the blogs it looks like this is not uncommon in the earlier 986 (1997 - 1999) but has not appeared in the later models until now! Porsche NA and the Dealership have offered 10% each on the parts and the Dealership added and additional 10% on labor. From what I see this appears to be a manuafacturing defect.

Anyone have any additional comments.

Regards,

Mike

[clickman]

Originally Posted by MKlasing

I have a 2002 986S that I ordered new in 2001. I use it as a daily driver and have over 132,000.0 miles on it. It has always been dealer maintained and I was just given the news that I need a new engine. Not from wear or the high milage but because my block is pourous and I have coolent leaking into the oil.

Seems odd that a porous block would wait 132k before starting to leak. The porosity must have led to a crack.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by clickman

Seems odd that a porous block would wait 132k before starting to leak. The porosity must have led to a crack.

It is possible it has a cracked cylinder head
or a freeze plug popped.

it is also possible that the oil cooler is leaking.

it is possible that one of the gaskets between the block halves is leaking.

it is possible that the head bolts have stretched and there is a head gasket leak.

many things could cause intermix.

mike

[FauxDiablo]

Originally Posted by MKlasing

Hello to all,

I am new to the board. I have a 2002 986S that I ordered new in 2001. I use it as a daily driver and have over 132,000.0 miles on it. It has always been dealer maintained and I was just given the news that I need a new engine. Not from wear or the high milage but because my block is pourous and I have coolent leaking into the oil. From my research on the blogs it looks like this is not uncommon in the earlier 986 (1997 - 1999) but has not appeared in the later models until now! Porsche NA and the Dealership have offered 10% each on the parts and the Dealership added and additional 10% on labor. From what I see this appears to be a manuafacturing defect.

Anyone have any additional comments.

Regards,

Mike

Porous aluminum block and head castings are INCREDIBLY rare in pretty much every vehicle made since forever. And by incredibly rare, I mean so rare that a tech will not spot it unless they are looking for it after taking everything apart and using ultrasound and/or magnetic or flourescent testing.

If you had a porous casting, this problem would have been spotted a very long time ago. My guess is anything but a porous casting.

[Liamray]

Originally Posted by FauxDiablo

Porous aluminum block and head castings are INCREDIBLY rare in pretty much every vehicle made since forever. And by incredibly rare, I mean so rare that a tech will not spot it unless they are looking for it after taking everything apart and using ultrasound and/or magnetic or flourescent testing.

If you had a porous casting, this problem would have been spotted a very long time ago. My guess is anything but a porous casting.

I agree, I’d be getting a 2nd opinion on your problem!