Engine Carnage - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

cheetah · 10-07-2009, 06:58 AM

On another topic, my engine was briefly discussed. So I am putting all of this in one area to help people understand some of the problems that we face. I am re-posting the letter that I had in contact with Jack Raby, and my updates with photos.

FWIW-

Below is an email I received from a customer earlier this week.. Look what he
says about his lifters:

Quote:

"After talking with you on the phone over the weekend, I took the
other cam cover, assemblies, etc. out to send you all the lifters. On my 70K
motor, 21 out of 24 lifters were completely locked up. But it only gets worse.
If you remember, on the drivers side, the intake cam was off one tooth. That is
the side that the Durametric said had the cam angle off.

But looking at the passenger side, the exhaust cam was off two teeth!

Now I bought this car two years ago (used), and when I took this passenger side
cam cover off, I noticed that the plugs, etc. had clear "goop" used as
a sealing mechanism. So for some reason or another this cover had been off
before.

The solenoid pads were just as worn as the other side, I don't know yet if that
solenoid works properly.

But it continues to get worse...

Since I took the headers off (the Delubozparts headers - hopefully your testing
finds they are worth it) to get the covers off without dropping the motor, I
looked up from under the car into the exhaust ports of the head. Shrapnel is
stuck in one of the valve openings. $&%@!&

Time to take off the head (which is surprisingly easy without lowering the
motor). Head looks to be in ok shape, nothing that can't be machined.

Finally, take the head off and see a bent intake valve, and a cylinder full of
debris. The piston is in tiny pieces, the connecting rod is in pieces and looks
like it was hit with torch (discolored), and the cylinder sleeve is very scored
(but surprisingly not chipped viably)"

After talking with you on the phone over the weekend, I took the other cam
cover, assemblies, etc. out to send you all the lifters. On my 70K motor, 21 out
of 24 lifters were completely locked up. But it only gets worse. If you
remember, on the drivers side, the intake cam was off one tooth. That is the
side that the Durametric said had the cam angle off.

But looking at the passenger side, the exhaust cam was off two teeth!

Now I bought this car two years ago (used), and when I took this passenger side
cam cover off, I noticed that the plugs, etc. had clear "goop" used as
a sealing mechanism. So for some reason or another this cover had been off
before.

The solenoid pads were just as worn as the other side, I don't know yet if that
solenoid works properly.

But it continues to get worse...

Since I took the headers off (the Delubozparts headers - hopefully your testing
finds they are worth it) to get the covers off without dropping the motor, I
looked up from under the car into the exhaust ports of the head. Shrapnel is
stuck in one of the valve openings. $&%@!&

Time to take off the head (which is surprisingly easy without lowering the
motor). Head looks to be in ok shape, nothing that can't be machined.

Finally, take the head off and see a bent intake valve, and a cylinder full of
debris. The piston is in tiny pieces, the connecting rod is in pieces and looks
like it was hit with torch (discolored), and the cylinder sleeve is very scored
(but surprisingly not chipped viably)

Here is a pic of his connecting rod...

All he thought he had was a bad vario cam chain tensioner wear pad...

This is a 70K mile engine.

This customer unfortunately was me. I have torn the engine completely down,
and have found many things. The day that it died, it felt exactly the same as it
did when the fuel pump suddenly stopped working (4 months prior). Both times, it
lost power and suddenly shut off. I coasted off onto a side road and attempted
to start it. It would crank, but not turn over. There were not any strange
sounds on the road or when I tried to start it. I later ran the codes and
assumed it was just that a cam had skipped a tooth. The photo below shows how
the cams have two different color links that are lined up with punch marks on
each cam. This ensures that the cams are correct between each other. The cam to
crank positioning is controlled separately. The photo is after disassembly, so
pay no attention to how far it is off now.

My engine had only 70K, and has 22 of 24 lifter completely frozen
(effectively robbing a lot of lift which must have been killing power output),
and the pads on the cam actuators were in really bad shape.

Once apart, the damage found is shown below:

The piston is gone except for the two pieces shown. The rod has heat damage,
as well as stretching. The bolt may have broken, causing the rod to bend and
heat up from contact with the crank journal.

Of course, this damaged the weak, factory sleeves on both halves of the
engine:

and shrapnel gouged the crank carrier (bearing housing):

The head remained in decent shape, except for a bent valve:

The IMS bearing upgrade was still in good shape. That was replaced the
previous year. My original bearing luckily did not show any problems either (was
discussed in a previous thread.

My engine bay currently:

Now, the reason that I believe that I may have been doomed for failure. I
bought this car two years ago used. When I was taking the engine apart, I saw
that the passenger cam cover had been off. This with the fact that the timing
was off on BOTH heads, and each by a different amount, smells funny. The sudden
failure probably would not have caused this strange timing setup. With reading
Jake's problems with the Ebay engine, I wonder if someone who didn't understand
the proper timing procedure worked on my engine.

Of course, it doesn't really matter either way. It is my problem now, and I
intend to do what I always do when I have a failure with a vehicle: replace it
with something better! Probably a Raby 3.6L, but I have some things that I am
looking into first. Also, I am going to replace the entire suspension since it
is so easy to work on things now.

I thought the everyone would like to see that our engines can look like with
no warning at all. Also, at only 70K the worn pads and stuck lifters are not
acceptable. But that is probably what many of our engines look like inside.

Jake Raby · 10-07-2009, 07:25 AM

I wondered what happened to you!!!
These are extreme photos to say the least.

If you want to put it all back together I have plenty of used parts that are in great condition that would help you out...

I'd love to have those pieces that are broken pieces for my trophy shelf, they rival some of the best I have seen personally!

I'll help however possible.

cheetah · 10-07-2009, 08:56 AM

I have had some family things keeping me from really working on this properly.

I will get together with you soon about figuring out what my plan of attack will be. I will send you whatever broken parts that are left over. I really don't know how I blew it up so spectacularly though! And I thought it was the fuel pump gone bad again.

Brucelee · 10-07-2009, 09:36 AM

Man that looks BAD!

Thanks for posting the pix and sharing your pain.

Sputter · 10-07-2009, 10:57 AM

Thanks for posting.

Jake Raby · 10-07-2009, 11:25 AM

Can I use these pics on my site??
I have been working on the extreme failures page and would love to post these fine examples!

cheetah · 10-07-2009, 01:40 PM

Of course. I can send you thew high-res copies if you want. I have many more.

Jake Raby · 10-07-2009, 01:42 PM

Sweet! Send them on over!! I am trying to assemble the biggest library of scattered parts pics on the planet!

I also need them for my engine seminar in February

cheetah · 10-07-2009, 01:47 PM

Ok. I "might" try to come to that class. Too far in advance to know yet.

Jake Raby · 10-07-2009, 02:18 PM

That class filled in just a few days..

The May class is being filled now.

10-07-2009, 02:29 PM

And I thought the engine we tore down today was in bad shape! We've only seen one that rivals those pics.

We tore down a motor today (early variocam 2.7) that had a water pump fail and the owner kept driving. Two cylinders are badly scored, one actually failed, and pretty much all of the pistons have their rings welded to them. We'll have pics posted tomorrow on a separate thread.

texomawaves · 10-08-2009, 01:46 PM

Nice carnage pics!

Reminds me of last year... when I was pulling a boat up the boat ramp when my truck engine suddenly threw a rod through the oil pan (and block). Oil and water everywhere... worst noise imaginable

Topless · 10-09-2009, 08:27 AM

Sorry about your car Cheetah. Nice pics though. I guess it's a "guy thing" but I always enjoy pics of total destruction. Sorta like car porn I guess.

cheetah · 10-09-2009, 01:18 PM

Thanks everyone. I think that when these engines go, they do it in grand fashion.

I am glad there are people like Jake and Charles who can make it where good comes out of bad. It is money that I would have rather not spent for another year or so, but I always knew that I wanted more power to match the great balance and handling that these cars have.

I really enjoy driving the car, and I think that the straight line performance was my only gripe. That will soon be taken care of.

10-09-2009, 02:34 PM

What are your plans now that it's blown up?

cheetah · 10-09-2009, 03:47 PM

Since I live in the midwest, it will be down until spring either way. So I am doing coil-overs, sway bars w links, and toe arms (already have the track arms). I am looking into getting the suspension setup since at 70K, the suspension is feeling a little worn.

Regarding the engine, I am going to be looking into my options with Jake and Charles. Obviously, I need new sleeves, might as well get the Nickies set. Charles is only 45 minutes from me. I want to probably get head work done since they need looked at. I know that I need some other items, and will see what upgrades, etc. can be done.

I will be looking to going with a lower CR to allow a turbo setup maybe the following winter.

It should be an interesting winter.