My engine died... not from an IMS failure
 

Last Wednesday my wife and I decided to take the Boxster to go out for lunch. After about 5-10 minutes of driving I hit the gas to pass a car when suddenly something felt very wrong with the engine, like if it was running on 3 or 4 cylinders all of a sudden. I pulled over immediately and got the car to a safe place. I called a tow service and took the car to my independent Porsche specialist (he only works on Porsche and has over 30 years of experience).

This morning he calls me and tell me that after performing a compression testing it turns out that cylinder#4 has no pressure at all which is probably due to some damage to one or more valves and maybe to the cylinder itself but he won't know for sure what's the extent of the damage until he takes the whole engine apart. He tells me that taking the engine apart and rebuilding it would cost me $8,000 and it would probably be cheaper to swap the whole engine anyway. I purchased the car about a year ago for $10k so spending another $8k is out of the question. On top of that, he tells me that he won't be able to do anything about it because he's retiring due to health issues so he referred me to another independent Porsche specialist in my area.

This is my first Porsche and I always wanted a Porsche since I was a kid. I bought the car about a year ago but I really enjoyed it during that short time. I feel really sad especially because the car looks very good cosmetically and in excellent condition other than now being a roller. Should I look into replacing the engine? Should I try to sell it as-is? Should I dismantle it and sell the parts (is it even legal)?

I'm not sure what you would do in my place... I can definitely use some advice.

Here's some info on the car:
Black 2001 Boxster S, 86,000 mi

Thanks,
fabrice

Sorry this happened to you. The short answer is sell it as-is for $4K-$5K or find a VERIFY-ABLY good engine & have it installed for about $7K.

Search this & other forums for previous threads on this subject for more info.

If you have the space and time, parting it out will net you more money.

Parting out is very time consuming and just check out the forums....there is a lot of stuff that has been for sale for some time. It's easier said than done so you better have lots of room for all those parts to sit around.

I would sell as a roller and go for another. Cross your fingers, get a good PPI and I'll bet you have better luck next time.

well if you do get $5K as-is consider it a win that you managed a year of use on the car and "only" lost $5k. If its any consolation in the last two years I've spent almost as much on maintenance and repairs as you did to buy the car and we have similar mileage. Although I have a fully overhauled: suspension, exhaust, clutch/ims, cooling and God knows what else. Runs like new, well it better. still gets compliments on every drive. But the smart thing in general imho when it comes to Porsches that you do not intend to wrench on yourself is to be in after 30K miles and out by 60K miles. let the first owner eat the drastic depreciation and let the next owner pay for the "major maintenance'.

The thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as a $10k Porsche. You bought an engine and they threw in four wheels, two seats and a steering wheel.The question now is will you be able to find a better car for $13k+? I think the answer is definitely yes. I wish there was this kind of supply in the market when it was decision time for me to sell or switch to a newer/lower mileage car. Best bet is CPO Porsche with the extended factory warranty. It would suck if you got burned twice.

Jake Raby would by his engine and the trans sale would put him over $4k, then he has the rest of the car to sell. Good parts don't sit long on here or eBay.

FYI: Giller likes to buy rollers and salvaged title cars and fix them and make a profit.

Me being me, I'd fix it myself. If you don't have the money, time, or experience to do that sell it as a roller and be done. Parting it out leaves you with a picked clean carcass, and what will you do with that?

There are metal recyclers that will come pick it up and pay you money for that carcass.

You might want to check ebay again. There are a ton of parts online that people can't sell. Then you have to pack them and ship them. And just look at our forums....tons of parts still for sale and have been. There are fewer and fewer of these cars on the road....therefore, there are fewer and fewer customers to buy these parts. The supply/demand just isn't there. And when you factor in the time it takes....unless you just want a fun hobby that might return SOME money, cut and run.
And all good for you to say Jake would buy his engine, sorry, by his engine?? Ever tried shipping an engine?
Me thinks you don't have a clue.

BS, I had a complete hood latch for sale on eBay and a person from Japan bought it and paid just about as much in shipping as the cost of the part. Sold my amber side markers in less then a week.

Parts are getting harder to find for these cars. This forum is filled with cheap folks. That's why parts sit here or the person is asking too much for it or they think it's "rare".

Perfect example http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-parts-sale-wanted/55565-fs-silver-interior-dash-switch-surround-trim-rare-deal.html

Who in there right mind is going to pay $125 for that piece? It's not even complete.

You try telling Quality Porsche Parts on eBay that Boxster parts don't sell while they are laughing all the way to the bank.

Also if I remember correctly Jake sets up the shipping part on a motor. He knows how to do it best.

This guy does it the best way on here. People come to him for parts.

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-parts-sale-wanted/52469-parting-out-whole-lot-boxsters.html

All you have to do here is say I'm parting out a Boxster and you will get flooded with people wanting parts.


.

If you're not going to fix it then best bet is to sell it as-is. There are a lot of folks out there looking to do LS conversions who would be interested in it. You could probably get $5-$6K as it sits...

If you try to start parting things out it is a slippery slope and will take a long time. If you are not set up to pull the motor out then it will cost you more then you will sell the motor for to have it pulled by a shop that knows what they are doing. FYI Jake Raby offered me $750 for my core motor so don't think you'll get more then that and he was going to come pick it up.

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-parts-sale-wanted/56314-2-7l-engine-sale.html

There is a 2.7 engine for sale in this forum.

I'll have to admit I was very far off on what I thought Jake would give for a motor. http://forums.evga.com/upfiles/smiley/blink.gif

Swap in a replacement donor engine. I got mine from a salvage yard for $1800 with 90K miles.

Buy the 2.7 with the link from above (+$200 shipping). Then pay $2K to have it installed ($1200 to r/r the engine + $800 for a major service and miscellaneous) and you're back on the road for $4200.

Half the price of a rebuild.

That's about the quote I got from my Porsche shop to replace an engine with a lower-mileage used one should I ever need to, so I know it can be done.

Yeah, so maybe you want to do a little research before you start spouting off about BS.

Stripping and parting looks like the biggest pain in the butt with little to no return, unless you want to do it as a learning experience or find that fun. You need the right tools, you need lots of space, you will be running around shipping things, it will eat up a lot of your time and the risk is, when all said and done, you will be sitting around with a lot of left over parts.

Research.... Research....Research....
 

THere was a guy on here who bought a Boxster for a song and he named the tune about a year ago because it was touted as having a bad engine. He dove into it not knowing much about Boxster engines and found out it had a broken valve spring and no compression......he got it running for not a lot of money as I recall. If at all possible do not rush into anything too quickly when it involved engines and getting rid of your car.....find out all you can. You could at least drop the oil and check for metal.

Dwight

Nah, the BS was on you saying parts don't sell. I'd still part it out over selling it as a roller. These cars are worth a fortune in parts.

Maybe have a shop scope the offending cylinder and see what's up. If it's just a valve spring it's a pretty easy fix. If a grenade went off in there then swap the motor and keep on driving. Lots of decent motors sitting at dismantlers still for not to much money. I'm not ready to dump the car yet.

Find a local indy shop with lots of 986 experience through your local PCA.

Car has 81,000 miles on it - most parts are *probably* original and therefore on the verge of needing replaced. Wear and tear will have taken it's toll so many of these parts will be, what's the term, 'well used'? That will diminish the value quite a bit.

Everyone is different and everyone regards their time differently as well. Personally, could not be bother spending the time and energy parting out a car when I'd rather sell it as-is and get another one. Rather be out cruising than tearing it down.

Hey Woody - are these cars "worth a fortune in parts"? Woody would know best.

Drain the oil, remove the filter and cut it so you can roll it out and look at it....this will give you a place to start and costs nothing.

This^^^^^Take a deep breath and sort out the options. It really depends on the current condition of the rest of your car and how much you like the color/options combination and what you have to spend.

For $25.00 9 pretty cheap for piece of mind), you could also send an oil sample to Blackstone, to see whats what.

I'm pretty sure Woody buys all these Boxsters and parts them out to lose money. http://forums.evga.com/upfiles/smiley/001_rolleyes.gif

You just don't see the big picture. He has a complete car to part out, motor, trans, air conditioning unit, alternator, lights, fenders, doors, wheels, top, probably everything in the interior is worth selling, hood, trunk, tires, spare tire, tool kit, bumpers, under body panels, the list goes on and on.

Let me ask you this. If you just started out with just the carcass, what would it cost you to replace all the parts to put the car back on the road? Not counting the motor, probably $10,000 or more using used parts.

Time

Time is money, What is your time worth?

For me if I had the space, and the time, it may be totally worth it. But everyone's time is worth money.

You do not see me cutting the lawn, as the time required for me to do it is not worth the money I pay to have someone else do it. However for my neighbor. it is totally worth it as he has plenty of time and enjoys it.

I get the big picture. First, Woody - yes, he makes money or else why do it? But does he also have a lot of parts sitting around he can't sell? Most likely. He also has all the shipping figured out and as it's his business, it's worth his time. For someone who has never done this and probably doesn't have all the tools, it's a big undertaking. You will have the carcass there for a long time. Wonder how patient his wife is? Does he have a lift? Can he himself even get the motor out? How do you ship a motor?
You can't compare someone who does it for a living and is an expert (Woody) with someone who has never done this.

You are making a big assumption that just because he is parting it out, people will line up for everything he has. He could have the hood sit and collect dust for months and months or longer. Or the trunk. Or a door panel. Or all of the above. You yourself have never done it, so you really don't know.

Again, this forum has it's fair share of people who are parting out cars and they all still have parts hanging around - some of which are big items that take up a lot of space. I'd love to hear them chime in and say whether they would do it again or whether or not they would choose to sell it as-is.

To me, to part a single car takes a lot of time and energy and tools and space. Some people have that to spare, so good for them. Great way to learn about the car. All the power to them. But to assume everyone who has a dead car should part it out is silly.

Thank you all for the good advice. Here's some update.

I went back to the shop this morning. The shop owner didn't take the engine apart because it would take another 25hrs worth of labor just to find out what the extent of the damage is. He told me that the problem was probably caused by a failing VarioCam tensioner which caused cylinder 4, 5, and 6 to get out of timing and most likely bent some valves... or more. Total cost estimate for repair the engine (assuming only the valves were damaged) is around $8,000 (parts and labor).

I then went to the 2nd Porsche independent shop to get a rough estimate for an engine swap. Obviously, he couldn't give me an exact number until he finds an engine but he said it'll probably cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

I called a local Porsche dismantler, he told me that he won't pay more than $2,000 for the car as is. If I decide to buy a 3.2L engine from him it'll cost me around $6,000 which is in line with what the 2nd shop owner told me earlier.

I think the best course of action for me at this point is to tow the car back to my house and take some time to think about it. One thing for sure is no matter which way I go I'm gonna be losing a lot of money. I seriously doubt anyone would be interested in buying a 2001 Boxster S roller for more than $3k-$4k even if the car looks amazingly good cosmetically.

Fab986
There isn't really anything anyone can say that will make this situation any better
Other than 'You won the Power Ball' - then who gives a Crap what happened
If this happened to me right now (And it could to any of us) I'd be sitting on a car that I would still have to pay the bank for another year.

Best of luck

fab986 - This is posted on the classified section Currently for sale - ************ ************ ************ ************ ************ ************ ************MB MOTORSPORTS

"2000-2002 Porsche Boxster S newly rebuilt 3.2L engine $5,500"

Assuming that you can get it shipped and installed for $8K, you have a zero mile engine Boxster S for $18K. That is not too bad.

Exactly my advice- wait, research and then plan an attack! You owe it to yourself to move cautiously. Also, as others have said it can be scoped for little$$$$ before any disassembly. Another way of looking at things as they stand is that your prized Porsche is a bit of a project now and will eventually be driven by you when it's finished (committed).

That is what I would do as well.....or try and get that 3.4 :)

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Actually thought about it. Since the engine's dead and needs to be replaced why not through in there a better engine? I asked how much more would be to put a 3.4 or 3.6 engine instead but the guy said it'll cost twice as much because those engines are much more expensive and you have to redo the whole harness and reprogram (or replace) the ECU.

That's a great idea if you have the money to do it. No core exchange either, so you might find a shop that will swap the motors and keep yours for the labor cost.

$2,000 is what I thought Jake would give for a core, just like those guys, especially one that didn't actually blow.

Hey Fab986,

Why don't yo remove the valve cover to see if you have a broken spring...?
who knows, you may get lucky..

.

The OP asked

My answer was based on his question. I'm not telling everyone to part out their cars. Like you said some don't have the time or tools to do this. With the OP asking that question, I gave my answer which way to get the most money back vs selling it as a roller.

What brand is that IMS they have listed?

http://www.mbmotorsportsrepair.com/uploads/3/3/7/7/3377303/9402868_orig.jpg

The shop quoted me $3,900 (27 hrs x $145/hr) for taking the engine apart to see what the problem is. He also said that it's not that simple because you need a special tool that cost $15,000 which is why not all shops can do it.
He also said that based on his experience when something like this happens the valves are most likely bent which is another $2,000 in parts to fix the engine.

I haven't really had the time yet to check around and see if I can get a better quote somewhere else. Is there any experienced Porsche mechanics out there on the forum who could tell me if the estimate he gave me sounds reasonable?

27 hrs seems like a whole bunch to me to me just to take it apart. I would get some more opinions from the forum and hopefully from some others in the Bay area. My sympathies to you. I have a 2000 base and while I love the car the vision of sudden disintegration is not far from my mind when I'm out cavorting.

Rick

Pull the spark plug from from cylinder 4, since that's the cylinder the had no compression in your first post and see if it looks something like this.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1426464842.jpg

http://rennlist.com/forums/attachmen...ring_order.gif