Blown Engine 550 Spyder AE

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by previously_boxsterz

Jake, what's your warranty on your motors?

Totally dependent on the engine and it's intended usage. My warranty is very specific, but not written in fine print and there are several responsibilities that the customer has during the warranty period.

Typically we rival the factory warranty on engines that are stock, and that are installed on premises by our team. Engines that are designed for performance are only covered by a warranty while under our care and control, during the lab testing. Risk comes with mechanical manipulation and higher performance and thats just part of playing the power game. Always has and always will be.

I am working on an "extended warranty" program for the stock and performance engines, but the one mandate is that we must install the engine and give it the seal of approval (as well as the sub-systems supporting the engine) for any engine to be eligible.

One good thing about my program is no break in period. All engines are dyno tested in my lab and ran for a minimum of 12 hours, so you install it and drive it as hard as you want immediately after ensuring the installation job is correctly completed.

[jwade]

Jack, I have an '01 S model that just turned 15,000 miles last weekend...Yes, she is my baby and as garage kept as possible.

I am the second Owner and purchased the car last Feb. with 13,000 on the odo. Car has complete mainatenance history attached and was adult owned / maintained to the hilt.

The original owner was from Sacremento, CA and the car lived out there for almost 6 years, prior to coming east.

Whan I purchased, I had Jim Ellis in Atlanta do the PPI and everything came back clean. In fact, they asked if the car had ever seen rain and I said the original Owner may have been caught a couple times in, but not any serious driving at all.

I am a little concerned about what i have been hearing with regard to the IMS failures. If it blows, it blows, but I would like to know what protective measures I can do now to prevent such a chaotic experience. Is there something you can do to the existing engine that will bulletproof it, or should i just wait for a possible explosion to occur...

Just don't have 20 - 25k laying around for a new conversion if this happened tomorrow, but have some cash available for preventive measures.

The warranty is obviously gone, and I don't think these aftermarket company's are really going to cover this kind of loss...as they know the game.

Thanks for any responses you have. Jon Clark.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by previously_boxsterz

Thanks for the reply.

The stipulation of the engine being installed by your team is awkward. One can understand the desire for assuring everything is in order personally, but you have no control of the car after it leaves your shop. It would seem only right that you trust the owner after the sale. There's nothing special or magical with removing and installing these motors. Any competent shop can do it.


Please consider putting a warranty out in writing. If not, an owner may as well take their chances with a factory crate motor (with design flaw) and not have to deal with your restrictions. After all it remains to be seen how well your fix holds up as time is the only true test.

The stipulation isn't awkward at all. Most of what we are building are performance engines that are not a simple "remove and replace". There are subsystems that must be up to the task and we must ensure that all aspects of the car are worthy of our engine.

I have been an engine supplier for the majority of my life, having sold my first engine to a paying customer at age 13. I know the reality that lies behind stamping my name on an engine, giving it a warranty and then putting the life of that engine into someone else's hands with no control over it's destiny.

As for trusting the purchaser: Well, I trust my neighbor also, but there is still a fence between my property and his.. I have learned that the sale of a engine, especially a performance engine is a critical thing, having sold thousands of engines all over the world (I have had an engine on every Continent for over a decade) I have learned that all things must be in order and removal of red tape and complexities is a must. This is mostly because I don't believe in fine print and do not use it, anything that needs to be said is done so up front and boldly.

I take the work that is done here very seriously and the lab work that is done for each engine prior to getting my personal stamp of approval is a lengthy process. We put EVERY engine through a rigorous, yet controlled dyno test for 12 hours before it is released to be installed into a vehicle. This testing includes rigors that you cannot parallel in the car and all is completed under the watchful eye of 28 sensors with feeds being downloaded by my data logging equipment. What this allows is a full understanding of exactly how the engine is functioning, what temperatures it is running and how it is performing. You can rest assured that IF there are any issues with any engine they will be noted and remedied and then re-tested prior to leaving our facility, whether the engine will be installed by us, or not. This also allows ZERO break in time for the engine, meaning we have done this for you and the engine can be driven at it's potential from the very beginning.

This is not something that is done by Porsche, or certainly by any other shop. Our ability to design, develop, test engines in the same facility where we assemble them, prove them and install them as well as test them again in the car on the chassis dyno is an edge that you won't find anywhere else.

In times past I have noted that the people that buy something because it has the best warranty overlook true value in design and practical application. I never put stock in a warranty- when I buy something and the clerk asks me if I want the extended service plan I politely tell them that I prefer to keep my money and take my risks as the red tape thats generally attached to the service plan render it virtually worthless should something actually occur. These issues are very clear when one looks into the situations that Porsche's warranty on engines and cars has created for many purchasers, sometimes requiring legal action to get something repaired under warranty- I am a developer and have no time for Court proceedings.

A performance engine and car is filled with risks, anyone that does not want to face these risks are much better keeping their vehicle bone stock. This statement applies to those who have a Chevy or a Porsche or a Ferrari... A single bad tank of fuel or a missed gear shift can cause issues that may lead to finger pointing and a contest in a Court room, neither of which I desire.

I have put together a well developed program for the M96 engine and offer to the public. This program couples individual assembly, lab testing, installation and then in- car testing of the engine and subsystems to ensure no problems exist, we'll then road-test the car for a couple hundred miles before it is picked up or shipped from our facility. I have worked to reduce the cost of shipping to allow more people to take advantage of this program.

My program isn't for everyone and thats evident. Rest assured that anyone who takes advantage of the program is getting way more than something that can be put in writing on a piece of paper.... Do a google search under my name and read the hundreds of references to my work from people all over the world and when you do this realize that I haven't given a performance air-cooled engine under warranty for the past 9 years but that hasn't stopped more than 5 purchasers from taking advantage of my intensity, dedication and development. In that 9 year period I have had three engine failures, each of them I took care of fairly even though there was nothing in writing that said I had to.

Time will prove to others what we already know about our program and that is the fact that it makes the Boxster and 996 the cars they should have been from the factory, regardless of what a piece of paper may state.

[mikefocke]

are two totally different things. I don't buy extended warranties either. But I do expect a warranty against product failure for a reasonable term after I buy a new product.

The last remanufactured engine I bought had to be replaced at ~1600 miles because it smoked worse than the one it replaced. It was replaced at no charge because the company that remanufactured the long block provided a written warranty. The warranty covered the engine swap labor charges. So I had assurance that I'd only pay parts and labor once and be good for a year.

I have no problem with the installation requirement, though your geograpic location is not favorable to the largest concentration of P-car owners.

(Will you do clutch replacements as part of the installation since that often makes sense to do while the engine is dropped?)

With no written and contractually enforceable warranty, the engine could fail 2 weeks after installation, after normal road driving, and the buyer would have no legal recourse.

Now if someone had been producing essentially the same engine for several years, had a track record of many on the road for many miles with testimonials from many people who had been "treated right" and a legally enforceable warranty of the same length, I'd feel differently about the value proposition between a Porsche crate engine and a same-priced improved alternative.