catastrophic failure - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

csu15919 · 03-11-2008, 12:09 AM

my worst fear has finally arrived. after my issues in my previous post, i went ahead and replaced my exhaust with the fabspeed setup. after spending the better part of the day trying to get the stupid thing installed (it came with NO BOLTS and NO INSTRUCTIONS), my car was finally ready to fire up. i cleaned the maf (it was throwing codes), turned the key, and the car started but will some sputtering involved. i shut her down, tried to figure out what was still going on and still kept pulling air/fuel metering codes. at that point, i figured i'd just order a new maf and 4 o2 sensors and try to solve the problem. in the meantime, i could hear an exhaust leak, and needed the car to idle so that i could find the leak, and atleast have that part all situated. well now, the car didn't want to hold idle...well, at that point i was highly frustrated and should've just not messed with it until i got my new sensors, but i was determined to atleast get it to idle. after roughly 3-4 times of getting it to start up and die, the car finally decided it wasn't going to take it. i turned the key again...then i hear "CLICK" and no motor spin....OH BOY! i pull the starter off, it spins freely. i pull the plugs out figuring maybe i was starting to flood the cylinders and got a little hydra-lock, and to my surprise...one plug was severely crushed on the end, further aknowledging my suspicions of hydra-lock. so, now with the plugs pulled, i try to atleast turn the motor again, and i still only get a loud "CLICK."

at this point, i remove the access panel behind the seats, and attempt to rotate the crank by hand...well, the crank wouldn't move in the clockwise position...so i try to rotate it couterclockwise, and it moved freely, then gets to a point where it gets stuck....i go back clockwise, it moves but finally hangs up again. long story short, there's something definitely wrong inside of my motor. i'm thinking that i squashed a piston, and it's binding when it gets to TDC, or maybe broke a ring or the lip of the piston, and it starts to bind against the cyylinder wall, or lastly...i jumped timing during my repeated start cycles and i have a valve hitting the top of a piston. either way it goes, i'll be removing the motor and having a peak inside. what an expensive lesson learned...

blue2000s · 03-11-2008, 12:47 AM

This isn't hydro-lock. Nothing you've described could have caused hydro-lock. The car will run without a MAF attached at all, so I don't think that was the cause of your problem. Cam timing on these engines is by chain, the chance of the timing running off and the piston smashing a valve is really slim.

From your description, it sounds like either something internal broke off and was loose or the engine ingested something solid.

csu15919 · 03-11-2008, 01:18 AM

actually, i was thinking the hydra-lock came from when this whole deal started. i was actually having an issue with oil coming through my intake and through the exhaust. i do know the car will run without the MAF, but it doesn't change the fact that i was having MAF issues (the initial breakdown story is in one of my previous post). when i first started having issues, the car would only run with the MAF unplugged. i know the timing is chain driven, and know how rare it is for a chain to jump time unless you have a tensioner or guide fail, but i do have another car with chain driven timing, and i had the chain jump on me and had these same exact symtoms (an intake valve was hitting the piston, and wouldn't let the motor complete a revolution...happened in my nissan 240sx). i really want to drop the pan today, and try to see what i can see. it kinda sucks because i just changed the oil after i installed everything yesterday...and we all know...mobil 1 isn't cheap!

Topless · 03-11-2008, 06:19 AM

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."

Brucelee · 03-11-2008, 08:25 AM

Quote:

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 · 03-11-2008, 07:19 PM

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."

Frank M · 03-13-2008, 10:42 AM

Somehow your engine ingested a small solid object. Probably when you had the air intake exposed.
After ingestion, the object sat at the bottom of the cylinder during a shutdown and restart. When it got wedged between the head and piston is when it broke the liner.
This object also damaged the plug at one point.

Hydroloc bends connecting rods and the symptom will be low compression after the bending takes place.

csu15919 · 03-14-2008, 02:12 AM

man, that porsche tech didn't tell me anything that i didn't already know, or anything that you guys haven't already mentioned. i kinda think it frustrated him a little bit, because he was finally like "man, we need to just take this thing out of here." the rods all looked good, so we eliminated the bottom end from the equation. lol, i've been going through my tools expecting to find a socket missing or SOMETHING! it's driving me nuts. the tech was like "this is so weird, everything sounds so smooth, even when the motor jams, it's almost like it should just work!" he didn't really have much time to stick around, but he said he'll come back by this either this evening or saturday.

he made somewhat of a valid point also, in reference to a lot of our local shops. it's hard to find a shop around that'll actually take the time to figure it out and most will just say "time for a new motor! porsche didn't design these things to be fixed!" i may pick at it a little more today depending on the weather. i've only ridden my motorcycle once this year, so i may just try to enjoy myself!

mn box s · 03-21-2008, 09:23 AM

One thing that has not been mentioned... Journal bearings if you spin a bearing (2 "C" shaped metal pieces that float between the rod and crank). These damn things are known to slide under each other which will cause the throw to be longer in both directions. Your rod may look fine or even be fine so just double check to see if this has happened. Common fix for this as follows: new custom bearings to be machined, crank machining, new rod, head to be decked and new piston. I read the bottom was fine, I'm just saying take another look for this if it has not been done. You described this problem.

blue2000s · 05-06-2008, 10:11 AM

So what ever happened here?