987.1 Engine Failure: Any Advice?

After 5.5+ years of mechanically uneventful (but highly enjoyable) ownership, my '06 987.1 Cayman S started making a knocking noise that quickly turned into some nasty metal-on-metal clanking sounds coming from the engine compartment. I had it flat-bedded to a highly-respected local indie shop that's done a lot of in-depth work with Caymans . They discovered small shiny shavings in the oil, and the mechanics say the noise sounds like serious rod knock...but I'd have to pay them to drop the engine and have them pull it apart in order to find out what's failed (at a cost of several thousand dollars). The good news, if there is any, is that the block is intact and there's no sign at all of coolant having mixed with the oil. If I pay to drop the motor, it could "just" be replacement of some engine internals and reassembly, or the project could require a full-on engine rebuild. The final cost estimate to get the job done is somewhere between $10k - $25k depending on what level of internal repair to the engine is actually needed. There are ~55k miles on the clock. As far as rough driving goes while I've owned it, it was used for around 5 HPDEs, and a bunch of autocross events. All on street tires . The most recent HPDE was about a month ago. The car's been well-maintained, but not driven daily. It would sometimes sit two weeks between drives. (Most of the miles were put on before I owned it). It's sad, but at this point I'm thinking it's not worth it to go any further -- that I should just sell it as a donor car for someone else's project and start looking for another "weekend" car. Has anyone gone through this recently that has any advice? Does anyone have a guess as to what an '06 987.1 with serious internal engine problems might be worth on the open market as a project chassis?

That is a real bummer, sorry to hear this! I recently saw a engine on Panjo, what about this route? https://www.panjo.com/buy/m97-3-4l-...ne-removed-in-perfect-running-condition-35k-miles-no-core-charge-282685?index=1 An engine swap should be a lot faster and cheaper... If a running '06 is around $25k, with no engine, maybe 1/2 that? Tough decisions all around!

$12000 is optimistic. If the cars are selling for $25000, then a car with a blown engine would be worth $25000 minus the cost of the new/used engine. As far as buying another unmodified engine, why risk another engine failure? The engine in the Panjo ad does not offer any warranty and does not allow for any type of test drive or inspection. You could be buying a damaged engine or a time bomb. Your best choice is to buy a remanufatured engine from a reputable supplier that gives a warranty. Letting your local shop rebuild the engine is a huge mistake. These aren't Chevy V-8's, these are much more complicated and require a very knowledgable and EXPERIENCED person doing the actual re-assembly.

If that happens to me I'll just sell the car for whatever I can get for it and move on. An '06 is barely worth 25k in good condition so why spend up to that amount only to have a car that could be worth less in the very near future. Perhaps if I could get it running for the $10k number I would but never for the $25k number. Tough call but I would still cut my loses and move on, most likely to a completely different brand. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Hey Buffalosoldier, Sorry to hear about your car. I actually have a 987.2 3.4L DFI motor am looking for a donor car for but 987.2 donors are hard to come by, BGB can make it work with 987.1s but the list of additional parts needed is quite extensive, per their website: Upgrading from the 987.1 spec to 987.2 spec requires the following additional parts be purchased new from Porsche: (6-spd Transmission, 6-spd 987.2 Axles, New 3.8L Clutch Pressure Plate / Disc / Flywheel, New 987.2 3.4L Siemens ECU, New 987.2 3.4L Siemens ECU Wiring Harness, BGB 987.1 - 987.2 "Jumper Harness," Tranmission Mounts, Engine Mounts, Coolant Pipes, Power Steering Lines, Heat Exchanger and Additional Misc. Parts). The listed parts retail for an extra total of $5,550 and the smaller misc parts mentioned retail for $4,500 on top of the engine cost If I were in your shoes, loved the car and had the funds I would go bigger and badder and more reliable, 3.8 or 4.0 build by Flat6 You could try posting it on auction on BAT see if they accept it or on Ebay as well with a reserve

Totally bummer. I'm very sorry. At $25k, you have to be approaching a total loss in terms of cost to repair vs value when repaired. I'd look for someone looking for a donor for a major engine upgrade if possible. Where are you located? If you are interested in buying another Cayman S , I'm selling my low mileage yellow 2010 CS (6-speed).

Thanks, everyone!! Definitely some no-nonsense words of wisdom -- I like it. That's a good point, but a used engine without a warranty is just plain scary. I totally agree. The local shop I'm working with suggested shipping it to Flat6, which they've done in the past. I wish!! It's obviously expensive, and I've heard the waitlist is pretty long. I may call Flat6 tomorrow though to see what they say. I did email BGB about my options...the DFI replacement would be a dream. At that point though, it would be more cost effective to just buy a lightly used 987.2. Sadly...since I don't really have the resources to throw a ton of money into the car...this is probably the most likely outcome.

I'm in Denver -- I'd definitely be interested in a 987.2 w/ a 6 speed. Is your car listed on any sites you can link me to? (Please PM me if necessary).

Does no one think that Porsche should be held accountable for the massive number of engine failures in 987's? How many of these engines have reached 100,000 miles? 1? 2 maybe? As time goes by more and more are grenading and that shouldn't happen. Sad times for 987 owners.

50K is indeed short-lived in today's modern cars especially from famous german car Porsche . Was the 9A1 engine ever made it to the model 987? Try looking in salvage yards from totalled cars or just switch to the 981 being newer, looks better, faster, & lighter. The 9A1 in the model 981 seems to be durable and very reliable compared to the M96 / M97 engine . Good luck in your decision.

Not a mechanic or engine repair expert at all, but as an owner who has dealt with mechanically unsound sports cars before, there are fewer more disheartening feelings than having a headache-inducing car. Worse is when you trust people to take care of it for you and it drains a lot of cash, a lot of time, and a lot of crushed dreams. I would personally sell it for whatever I could and move on. Not because it can't be fixed or it's the most financially astute route, but because I don't need another headache in my life for something that's supposed to be a joy.

Sorry to hear about your Cayman . My est on the value of your car is $7-9K. An 06 CS recently sold on ebay for $13K but it had a TPC turbo. I figured that added $6K to the price. It was a tip, which is why I've added a few grand to my est of your CS. You may not want to rebuild the existing engine if the metal shrapnel has circulated throughout the engine. That complicates how thorough the tear-down must be (and adds $$$ to the bill). Rods seem to be a weak pt of the 987.1 engine. How many revs would you pull before shifting during your DEs?

Couldn't agree more!! Is there a Porsche website or customer service phone number where I should submit information about this failure? I saw a post from awhile back from you suggesting that we report these kinds of failures to the NHTSA, but I don't know if that makes sense on a 10 year-old car. What do you think?

Thanks for the detailed estimate, that helps a lot. I was shifting probably 500 rpm before the redline, which I (now) know is probably too aggressive for that motor -- but I wasn't riding the rev limiter or anything. Over the course of 5 DEs -- which occurred over 3 years -- I could have just slowly wore away the rod bearing without any warning signs. From reading around on this forum, there are a lot of modes of failure for these engines. I feel like if you're doing anything except highway driving with a 1st gen car, there's a large chance there's going to be a major problem sooner or later.

If the knocking was loud and like an aluminum ball bat rattling around, it is probably IMSB fail. I have posted my experiences under Sapientoni on most forums and have rebuilt 1 failed IMSB engine at 148,000. It announced it's failure on start up and was horrific in nature. I acquire MY first 987.1 with a rod brg. fail from California about 2 years ago. I paid almost double what the posts on this forum tell you it's worth. The car was in superb condition and had 62,500 miles on it (rod brg fail) I rebuilt it myself, as I had done boilerinspector's 987.1 . All the IMSB failed engine internals looked great, maybe a little wear on the piston side rod bearings, but everything else looked great, even the valves. His engine now has over 170,000 on it. No issues. Mine with the rod bearing has over 104,000 (42,000 on the rebuild)and I have it for sale, as I buy them, fix them, then move to the next project. Today I received a 2006 CS tiptronic with some mechanical issue I bought from FLa. It's in great condition overall, but I haven't had a minute to determine the problem yet. I can replace the IMSB insitu, if it is the failure. No engine removal. Check for my posts and then PM me if you are interested.

Re: 987.1 Engine Failure: rebuilt engine? You might be married to it. RE: A Flat Six upgrade. I have been in their shop and they do super work. As to a resale after getting anybody to rebuild your engine, you might be married to the car for a while. I haven't seen anybody telling how quickly their car sold after getting engine repair/replacement.

Is this the turbo tip from ebay? If it would have been a manual, I would have considered throwing a few bids in.

I called them earlier this week and spoke with Jud. He walked me through everything -- sounds like an amazing shop. The price for what they do...all things considered...is actually somewhat reasonable. The real downside is that they currently have a 12-month waitlist that'll likely grow to 16-months as fall approaches. I've seen your posts elsewhere, sounds like a pretty impressive fix that you've invented! Is there any way to know for sure it's the IMSB? I'm guessing an in-situ replacement would save my car at a reasonable price if that's that problem. Here's exactly what happened. (This was over about fifteen minutes total on a short drive on local roads). It started as a pronounced ticking/rattling at revs over 1,200rpm. It was strange, so I pulled over to inspect. Almost sounded like a loose exhaust component or a heat shield from inside the car. After a quick listen from the ouside, it sounded like it could be a water pump, so I decided to head straight home. Shortly after I starting driving again it turned into a louder knocking/rattling -- and when I decided to completely shut the car off for good it had started to sound totally horrific. In its last stages, it turned into a really loud metallic knocking and rattling that sounded exactly like I was dragging a bunch of aluminum cans behind/under the car...or dragging the entire exhaust system, etc. After I heard that particular noise, I shut it off immediately and didn't try to start it again. I checked underneath for fluids or anything that might be dragging. There wasn't anything there. After that it was flat-bedded to the best local indie shop for serious Porsche repairs that I know of (they've worked with Flat6 before). When it arrived, the mechanics started it again (without me there) and diagnosed the noise as "sounds like rod knock". The suggested repair path is currently "let's tear it down and see". That's all I have to go on...

The 987 one with the rebuild for a bad IMSB had 148,000. Only the rod bearings were replaced and they only had an even thrust side wear. I've posted blow by/ leak by pics showing the almost undetectable %. If the crank thrust had been any tighter we'd have had to give it some clearance. 987.2 don't have the IMSB so you have the benefit of evolution giving you only seal replacements if it's well cared for.

When my 986S started leaking oil into the coolant, I dropped by the dealers to look at a used newer 986 . Ended up with a special order 981 ! My advice: don't look at the 981 cause you might get hooked. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Another example of why I went 987.2 instead of 987.1 I can afford another 10k for a 987.2 but I can't afford a 15-25k failure like that. Playing with fire.

It sounds fairly similar to the failure I had... when we pulled the oil filter it sparkled like a disco ball, and found a nice hole in the case. My personal choice was to go with a LS3 swap. A 3.8L swap was tempting... but ultimately I went against it. (Project is just about to get started) Good luck - it's not an easy decision!