Hi Guys,
Been reading through a lot of the forums for a fair while and I apologise for raising a topic that's probably been done to death more than once.
I nearly pulled the trigger on am 07 Gen 1 3.4s but got a bit spooked when reading up about potential engine issues and the astronomical rebuild costs.
However all my searches seem to come back to older threads about engines suffering scoring and needing rebuilding. I've not really seen may recent posts about it.
Is this one of those things where the cars that were going to go wrong have now gone wrong and the remaining cars still out there are probably the ones where this fault wasn't going to happen?
Id just assume that in 11/12yrs ow use if they were going to break then they probably would have by now.
Id welcome any input or feedback. I really would love to get the
Cayman s
. But to have the engine rebuilt would be almost the same cost as the car!
Ive also read some things about putting in a bigger sump. Could this help with preventing the possible problem?
For those year cars with the
M97 engine
,
IMS
and bore scoring are pretty rare occurrences, though they do happen. A leak down test should resolve that issue. If the car has not been tracked, usually there are not many issues. Tracked cars could run into oiling issues which could include bore scoring or rod bearings.
My car needed a head rebuild after 145k miles due to wearing valve guides. I ended up getting a replacement for about the same cost.
A good PPI that includes compression check, leakdown test, and maybe bore scoping can identify these issues pretty quickly.
I developed a oil consumption problem that was confirmed to be scoring at 190,000 miles. Car was never tracked. Oil changed ever 10,000 miles with
Mobil One
0-40. I had the engine rebuilt and ready to go another 200 K plus it is now a 3.8.
There is a "sticky thread" on ******** 997 forum about bore scoring, worth a look. It has a poll, too. I went through it because I was about to pull the trigger on a
997.1
Carrera
S but the data scared me away--for that model. If you go through the long thread, the general theme is that it is mostly a problem with the 3.8L, not so much the 3.4L, and mostly in cold climates (lots of cold starts, short drives). That suggest to me that the
987.1
3.4L is relatively safe from bore scoring, and
IMS
issue in those engines is a very small risk. I'm now looking for a
987.1
Boxster S
as a winter "beater", not an older C4.
