Am I gonna need a new engine?

Noise sounds like bottom end noise, when I rev the engine the noise does not increase… car was in neutral when this video was taken. The car is a base manual 2007 987.1 with 48k miles

I don't hear a fatal engine noise (it might seem different in person.) The bore scoring exhibits as a knock, it's pretty distinctive. The IMS bearing noise - well - dunno if I've ever heard it, but I wouldn't expect a tapping noise.. could it be a beating on the crankshaft - maybe. I forget which years had issues. If the car has been tracked or over-rev'd I think that's much more of a possibility. So - from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe (Douglas Adams) "Don't Panic!" If it was me - these are the steps I would take to try to determine where the noise is from: 1. I'd remove both engine covers, then take my mechanic's stethoscope and poke around the engine seeing if I can zero in on where the noise is coming from. The usual cylinder of concern is #6 for bore scoring, but not always. 2. If that didn't narrow it down - I'd remove the serpentine belt from the crankshaft pulley and run the engine for less than 1 minute. If the noise is gone - it's something involving the auxiliary drive system (serpentine belt and idlers.) 3. If #2 doesn't bring joy - get out the stethoscope again, and work your way down the center joint on the engine casings. Is it particularly loud at any point? That might indicate a rod bearing, or crank main bearing. 4. Something in the head? Use the stethoscope to work your way up and back on each cylinder head. Probably a good place is along the head-gasket and then along the valve cover joint to the head. Anything odd show up? Could indicate a bad tappet (although from all I've seen bad tappets are never the cause of these noises in the flat-6.. people just hope they are.) 5. Have you done the oil-filter test? Dropping the filter and dissecting it to look for anything that doesn't belong there (like bright shiny flakes of metal)? If not - after 1, 2, 3, and 4 - I'd do this, and probably capture an oil sample that if looking at the filter isn't conclusive, I'd send for oil analysis. If there is a bad bearing it will show up on the analysis, ditto on bore scoring. 6. If still no definitive answer to the noise - I might consider taking it to have the cylinders scoped. While doing it from the top will catch the really advanced cases, doing it from the bottom end (removing the oil pan, and going in from under with a proctoscope..) Or you can turn the radio up and figure on replacing the engine when it grenades.. GOOD LUCK - and Don't Panic!! Mechanic's Stethescope - $4.99 (often goes on sale..)

Thanks for all the advice!! I’ll try everything listed. I haven’t even purchased the car yet I think I’m just being paranoid. Did the engine sound healthy to you? My old 987.1 sounded pretty much identical. I have 0 smoke on cold start up (even in under 40 degrees!!) and no oil consumption so I doubt it’s bore scoring. I just did an oil change with no metal flakes and will be sending a sample to Blackstone labs .

BTW - I've panicked over just this sort of noise. 1st year of marriage, 51 years ago, late at night, coming home from the inlaws, there was a section of orphan highway (the connections to it weren't finished and NEVER a cop or even other drivers, and perfect pavement) about 10 miles long on the route home. SWMBO was in the passenger's seat, and the top was down on the XKE. I wanted to see how fast it would go. It went 140MPH indicated and was still pulling a tiny bit. Zowie. Wife said "Aren't we going a bit fast?.." I had to slow down then, and as I did, I started hearing a horrible thump/knock from under the 6' long hood. Directly related to engine speed. I figured I'd blown up the engine, took out a bearing or something. Got home - we lived in an apartment and the only parking was on the street. Wife went upstairs - I opened the hood (it's now past midnight) and started looking around with a flashlight hoping to isolate the noise (engine running..) Finally I spotted it. The fanbelt was doing a little jump at a regular interval (probably about every 6-8 revolutions of the engine.) I shut it down and look even more closely. The Jag water belt/ alternator drive belt was pretty advanced for it's time. It was a double-V-belt about 1" wide. The system used a spring loaded idler to keep tension on it (first time I'd ever seen that on a car, and probably one of the first applications of this on a street car..) A 6" chunk of the rubber double-V was missing. The belt stayed on due to the idler, and the noise was the bare spot passing the idler wheel. Went up to bed. The next morning before 10 AM, the car had 2 new belts in it. One on the engine and one in the spare-tire compartment as a spare belt. Lesson learned: Don't Panic!

Skittlenips, A better question you might ask yourself instead of whether this vehicle is going to need expensive work is "should I be patient and look at other vehicles" and only you can answer that one.

Yo The whole situation with this car has been weird AF. I’ve had the car in my possession for 3 weeks now, I still haven’t paid for it. And the owner is taking his time to meet up so I can buy it from him. I found a thread and the guy had the SAME exact noise, turns out the cars trans was bad, what’s weird is I notice no grinding, the car shifts smooth, an drives perfectly fine. Also, the car doesn’t make this noise all the time. I turned off the car and 5 minutes later started it in neutral and no noise was present. Rod knock? w/video I have a knocking sound which shows up after the engine is fully warmed up (see video). My fear is that it's a rod knock. I just picked the car up from Carmax and because I have the worst luck, I didn't hear the knock on my test drive. But I'm still in the 5 day return window, so I can take it... www.planet-9.com

I wouldn't do that with a Hyundai, who does that with a Porsche? It's still on his insurance and registration for the last three weeks? Yeah like you said that seems strange. I'd be concerned it could break, be hit or otherwise damaged while you have it as well.

As far as I know it’s still on his insurance, his registration expired last month. I put it on my insurance since I’ve been driving it around. Yeah I’ve purchased 13+ cars and this is the oddest purchase yet LOL

Odd situation with the sale... I'm about as far from a Porsche expert as possible... But that engine sounds perfectly fine to me. Isn't that just how direct injection engines sound?

This sounds like my 987.1 has always sounded. Either we both have a problem or neither of us do. I will admit that I do not have the gift of audio diagnosing an engine though.

I was going to say the same. Nothing sounds strange to me at all. My 987 sounds more or less identical.

Could it be the vacuum pump? I recently encountered what started as a tick on my 3.4L 9A1. It sounded like a lifter tick and would subside with a little rpm and warmer engine temperature. Out for a drive and the tick became a very loud banging sound. My first though was a piston problem. Trailered it home, lifted it and found that the vacuum pump, which is on the front of the left head, had disintegrated. The pump is a $110 bolt on part which is driven off of the cam gear bolt. I do not know which engines use the external vacuum pump but might be worth checking.