Lost my engine- another one gone. - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

jhandy · 11-07-2011, 07:56 AM

About 86k miles- 2002 S
Let me say first that I was the poster child for preventative maintenance. I have replaced everything in that car that could break, aside from the motor itself.
I changed the oil every 5K. Drove it spirited but no redline.
I just got finished with a new stereo/window regulators/brake disks/pads/steel lines/refinshed wheels/AOS.
I even had a new water pump in the trunk waiting for install.

Well the post mortem has not arrived, but while driving home the motor lost power and started with a small knocking sound. Before I could get it stopped, the knocking got really loud.
The motor still turns over, but the loud rob knock leads me to believe the car spun a rod bearing.

After looking up the cost of a new motor, I decided that the car was a total loss. The car running is only worth 14K. The mods and upgrades that you put on the car mean nothing.

I looked all over for a new Porsche. The motor is pretty much the same up until 2009 and I absolutely did not want the same motor. I could not bring myself to buying another Porsche with the possibility of a 17K repair bill in the near future. I really love Porsche, however I feel that they are just too unreliable. That car cost so much to maintain and repair. It is a shame that Porsche can not understand that people are expecting much more from a car when the cost is over 50K.

I went with a 2010 BMW 335IS with 14K miles. I will miss the box and the top down fun.

I have ALL SORTS of parts and tools now for sale. I will photograph them and put them online ASAP.

Ghostrider 310 · 11-07-2011, 08:04 AM

Sorry to hear it and my sympathies for sure, glad you found what you like in another vehicle. I'm going to attempt to fix mine but if the bill begins to eclipse the value I'll be right behind you. You might consider putting an ad in Excellence online, it's free and who knows, maybe some kid will buy it and stuff a new motor in it, good luck. So much for the magic IMS, I am looking 09 and forward but the data on the new engine is still unknown.

PS Mine had an underpulley on it too but I think there is no linkage to failure

maj75 · 11-07-2011, 08:13 AM

Sorry to hear about your problems...

PM me if you decide to part out. Your sig has several items I might be interested in.

fivepointnine · 11-07-2011, 08:19 AM

guess we can rule out a IMS failure since you have the upgrade.............PM me too if you are parting, I am interested in some of the things in your sig and probably some stock parts too

jdiba · 11-07-2011, 08:32 AM

Opinions sought here...Sorry to hear about this JHandy. It SUCKS. I feel bad for you. I have the
IMS upgrade myself. Now this is the exact type of scenario I'm wondering about. Would an extended
service contract take care of this type of failure ? I have one, and am considering canceling it. Every-time I do, I end up reading about some poor bastard having this type of thing happen.

jhandy · 11-07-2011, 08:46 AM

This was a classic case of a thrown rod. Ironically, I was just thinking that morning how well she was driving, the air was crisp and the motor was pulling like a champ.
The car was great when I had it. Owning my boxster was like dating a model. High maintenance, higher cost, but a fun ride while you have her.

The BMW fits me better where I am in my life now. I don’t have time to wrench the car anymore, I have four kids and a wife. Now I can get to T-Ball practice and still have a go fast car.

ddb · 11-07-2011, 08:58 AM

It is always disappointing to read these stories. Sorry it happened to you, jhandy.

Was your car a daily-driver? Any auto-x or track days? Did you use any particular brand and weight of oil?

Thanks and best of luck with the Bimmer.

ddb

onaFLYer · 11-07-2011, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddb

It is always disappointing to read these stories. Sorry it happened to you, jhandy.

Was your car a daily-driver? Any auto-x or track days? Did you use any particular brand and weight of oil?

Thanks and best of luck with the Bimmer.

ddb

Same thing happened to me, at a track day. I decided to rebuild mine, in-progress now. I got the car cheap, and have a fair amount of free time to devote to this. I'd be interested in some of the exhaust parts if you decide to part it out.

thstone · 11-07-2011, 09:41 AM

Sorry to hear about the Boxster.

On the other hand, want to hear about all of the expensive repairs required for my nearly 10 yr-old pair of BMW's? If you want high reliability and cheap repairs, don't buy any luxury, high performance German car.

Perfectlap · 11-07-2011, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thstone

Sorry to hear about the Boxster.

On the other hand, want to hear about all of the expensive repairs required for my nearly 10 yr-old pair of BMW's? If you want high reliability and cheap repairs, don't buy any luxury, high performance German car.

There are forums full of Honda S2000 and Mitsubishi Evo owners who would probably tell you to add Japanese high performance car to that as well.

I've given great thought to buying a Corvette some day. I think if I had it wrapped in matte black I could actually picture myself in one.

Ghostrider 310 · 11-07-2011, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thstone

Sorry to hear about the Boxster.

On the other hand, want to hear about all of the expensive repairs required for my nearly 10 yr-old pair of BMW's? If you want high reliability and cheap repairs, don't buy any luxury, high performance German car.

At north of 60k for a new one this is a tough axiom to embrace, it's not like it's their first go at a flat six. If I am able to fix mine the bad part will be mailed to Germany with the mileage attached.

jdiba · 11-07-2011, 09:55 AM

Would really appreciate opinions:

Would an extended service contract take care of this type of failure ? I have one, and am considering canceling it. Every time I do, I end up reading about some poor bastard having this type of thing happen. Got it thru dealer when CPO expired. (Fidelity Warranty Services).

2001 Boxster S 6spd Artic Silver,black 69k miles
LN IMS
RMS

Ghostrider 310 · 11-07-2011, 10:08 AM

I think the only way to know is to arbitrate that with the company before you renew or parse out the details now while you don't need it. If you got it through the dealer and it's a Porsche policy, it should!!

fivepointnine · 11-07-2011, 10:08 AM

gotta watch those new BMW's and the fuel pump failures!!!!
BTW I spend MUCH more time wrenching on my BMW X3 with 68k miles on it than I do my Boxster with 65k.....and ironically spend almost 0 time wrenching on the Saab 9-3 with 112k on it

BYprodriver · 11-07-2011, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdiba

Would really appreciate opinions:

Would an extended service contract take care of this type of failure ? I have one, and am considering canceling it. Every time I do, I end up reading about some poor bastard having this type of thing happen. Got it thru dealer when CPO expired. (Fidelity Warranty Services).

2001 Boxster S 6spd Artic Silver,black 69k miles
LN IMS
RMS

Proper way to do that is to 1ST SEARCH for the info you seek, THEN if you need additional info insted of hijacking this member in real need thread, Start a new thread on the subject you want to discuss. Everyone: Would really appreciate that.[/B]

DenverSteve · 11-07-2011, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdiba

Would really appreciate opinions: Would an extended service contract take care of this type of failure ? I have one, and am considering canceling it. Every time I do, I end up reading about some poor bastard having this type of thing happen. Got it thru dealer when CPO expired. (Fidelity Warranty Services). 2001 Boxster S 6spd Artic Silver,black 69k miles LN IMS RMS

Possibly. Repairing a spun bearing is likely less expensive than buying a BMW. I also don't know where you are but 2002's here, clean with low mileage, are running closer to 25,000.

Jake Raby · 11-07-2011, 05:49 PM

I will post tear down pics of the engine tomorrow.
It's a complete loss.. To include the crankshaft and carrier... But the LN IMSR bearing looks perfect and has gone to the lab for analysis.

Looked like oil starvation...

Perfectlap · 11-08-2011, 06:51 AM

JHandy,
you upgraded the IMS? You didn't make mention of that in your initial post.

Anyone know the cost of swapping in a different engine like a Subaru?
I'd love to see someone send Porsche NA a picure of that finished product along with a note regarding the decision making rationale.
A proud group of engineers won't take that lightly.

By the way, if you think the there are too many IMS related threads on this forum you should see how sensitive the Carrera folks have become on other forums after umpteenth prospective buyers and current owners chime in to stress over possible engine issues. I think its starting to sink in that first time Porsche buyers are becoming very gun shy about the pitfalls of these engines. Which leads me to believe that you'll be able to pick up a modestly used 996 on the ultra cheap before long-- it's not just Boxsters. This market is too soft and this 996/986 market community is too small to have these sorts of stories flying around. Perception is trumping reality and there's nothing sellers can do about that.

jhandy · 11-08-2011, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

I will post tear down pics of the engine tomorrow.
It's a complete loss.. To include the crankshaft and carrier... But the LN IMSR bearing looks perfect and has gone to the lab for analysis.

Looked like oil starvation...

Oil starvation sounds right. It died on a sharp turn. The oil was about half full that morning and I should have filled it to the top like I usually do.
It is hard to mistake the sound of rod knock. Before it stopped, the motor had super loss of power, oil light turned on and then stalled out. I was warned that putting wider tires, lowering with stiff springs, and driving hard could result in higher G-forces. It had been burning oil recently with the 0-40 so I went with the 10-40 and this slowed the loss.

Jake Raby · 11-08-2011, 12:24 PM

The IMSR bearing looks fine and feels fine.. It faired better than I would have ever imagined seeing how much foreign object debris was in the oil. The IMSR bearing has a very low tolerance for contaminated oil with ferrous material as it is an open bearing with close tolerances.

This IMS bearing will add to our data base due to the mileage and the severe shock that it experienced, endured and lived through. It can't get any worse.

Here are some pics of the teardown post-mortem.

From SH100

Now here is what was lurking as a totally unrelated issue just waiting to fail... When we pulled the engine from the car it had some coolant in the oil and vice versa but it was yet to mix.. Upon teardown this is what a trained eye found.. A classic

From SH100

This is a magnetic drain plug.. Whats attached to it is the rod and main bearings. The IMS Guardian would have saved the life of this engine undoubtedly.

From SH100

The entire engine is grenaded. The crank is trash, carrier is trash, all the rods, the oil pump, one cylinder head and the scavenge pumps. The IMS tube and IMS bearing are all thats really left, even the case was damaged.