catastrophic failure

[Brucelee]

Originally Posted by Topless

It sounds like you are over your head on this one. Time to get a second opinion from a Porsche mechanic in your area who can actually get his hands on your car. She has had a rough month and needs an experienced tech to get her healthy again. Search your area for a good indy and flatbed her there to sort all this out. Maybe it's not too late.

Clint Eastwood said it best... " A man's gotta know his limitations."

that is a great quote. Of course, how do you know you are not just being lazy?

[csu15919]

yeah i hear you. i already had her taken to this guy's shop just to get another opinion. this guy is pretty good. he's from germany, and owns a european transmission company (he actually gave me a lot of help with rebuilding a mercedes tranny for my mom's car), but he also builds porsches as a hobby (probably should've went to him in the begining...but i guess i didn't know when to quit). it's funny, that eastwood quote kinda stuck to me. when i first read it, i was thinking to myself..."dude, i hold an aviation maintenance degree, hold an A&P license, and have helped keep many of airplanes from making a smoking hole in someone's backyard...therefore...the sky is my limit." but you know, i guess it's not a bad idea to put things in someone else's hands, especially if it's to benefit you.

this whole situation kinda sucks because when i think back to when i first bought the car (jan. of 07), about a month later i remember coming home and oil was literally raining from under the car. due to the fact that the car came from an independent dealer, i wanted it checked out by the porsche dealer. long story short, the indy dealer apparently noticed oil on the motor, and had the valve cover gaskets replaced but did an idiotic thing by having the cam plug RTV'ed in. he refused to re-inburse me to pay porsche to have the gaskets redone (cost me $1800). Secondly, he tried to stiff me on the money i paid for the extended warranty by not turning in the warranty info (which only covered internally lubricated parts anyway, and wouldn't have helped with the first issue), and i had to literally threaten him to refund my money (another $1800 paid up front). and now that i sit back, i wonder if that first oil problem i had, has something to do with how the motor got to the point it's at now, AND if he would've just done his job with the warranty stuff, i probably would be covered under this little problem i'm having now. it's just all really stressing right now, and like i said before...i'm learning an EXPENSIVE lesson.

the best thing i did do when i purchased the vehicle, was have myself a "porsche slush fund."

[blue2000s]

Keep us posted. I'm interested to hear what happened.

[blinkwatt]

Could you post pics of the crushed spark plug?

[Lil bastard]

I really feel for you and hope it all works out OK.

We see alot of guys, pining to have a Stuttgart label on the front, and trying to do it on the cheap.

Problem is, with a Porsche, cheap is never CHEAP!

There's lots of guys out there willing to take advantage of you because they reason that if you have a Porsche, you can probably afford it (and some who think you deserve it).

Best advice is to have it professionally evaluated and put it right, even if it means engine replacement (think Upgrade). The upside is that once complete, you'll most likely agree it's worth it.

If that's too steep for you right now, sell it off, take the loss, lick your wounds, and come back when you're better prepared.

There is never a shortage of good Boxsters on the Market, and getting the right one is sweet indeed.

Best of Luck!!!!!!

[csu15919]

here's pics of the bent spark plug

[JP-s-in st. louis]

My guess is that you did not have the wires attached completely to that coil pack. This would not allow that plug to fire and then have the plug crushed by the piston. But that is just my .02...Maybe not even that much.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by csu15919

here's pics of the bent spark plug

I hate it when plugs look like that! I have not been inside a 986 motor but normally a rogue piston will slam into the head before ever making contact with the plug so something else is banging around in there... chunks o sleeve, chunks o valve, chunks o rings etc.

The video scope is a good idea. Sometimes you can rent one and run it in the spark plug hole before dropping the motor. At least then you will know what you are up against. I had a broken valve spring in a 6cyl Volvo marine engine once with similar symptoms. I heard the racket and shut her down right away. I pulled the head, replaced the thrashed valve, spring and guides, cleaned up the divots in the piston and logged another 700 hrs on that motor. I was very lucky. Lets hope you have such an easy fix.