New motor? Fix the current one?

I wasn't sure I'd get eyes on my old thread so started a new one. But here was the thread where I was trying to diagnose misfires: Old Thread Report today is that I've had contact between valve and piston head on cylinder #4. Compression is 0. Compression on piston 5 is at 85%. Recommended options include: Replace motor with new, replace motor with used, go in and try to fix what's there. I don't have numbers yet. But I saw somewhere else that this can go north of $30K and the car is barely worth that. I love it, but it's not a concours car. And it's my only car - I don't drive daily but when I needed a car that was it. Anyway, I'm just sharing here - but open to your thoughts. I could take the porsche home, go lease a civic and buy a lift, put the porsche on it and replace the engine myself. Honestly so much going on, this would take a couple years. Thinking I'll let it go, get myself a civic, and find something else fun to drive in a few years. Boo.

I feel for you! Someone told me you can get a short block from a Porsche Dealer for about $6K. You'd still need to get your heads fixed and transfer parts to the new engine, but that's one avenue worth researching. Another is swapping in another engine. 996s have enough problems that swaps are becoming big business- witness the LS engines, Audi 2.7s and Hondas all getting adapters so they can go into your car. People say you can get more HP than you have (had) now with more reliability for less than $20 K out the door. My car has some bore scoring, so your situation is top of my mind. Maybe others who have been in your situation will weigh in. Meanwhile, you might get an E46 BMW cheap to use as a daily driver! or a Civic! Good luck!

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It's not 6K$, more like $8K$ and you still need a bunch of things plus labor. It will be $15K if your labor is free. $25K+ if you have to pay someone. A Porsche (996) should never be your only car. Sell it, move on.

Sorry for your trouble. This is a good read if you decide to replace your engine. The short block is around $10k depending on your model year, plus a $4700 core charge: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...t-block-2.html

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I have to agree. It�s a slippery slope and there are a LOT of �nice to haves� along the way� take the money and buy a reliable daily driver and turn it into a project car or outright sell it and start to save up for another car. JMO. Good luck!

Oof sorry to hear about your situation. I think the choice depends on your attachment to the 911 and your financial situation. The 911 was my childhood dream and I'm still very much excited to be living out that dream. I bought my 911 with the intention of it being a forever car, so if I were in your situation, I'd put it on the lift and take my time saving up until I could rebuild it. However if you don't have much of an attachment to your specific 911 and finances are tight, the practical choice is to let it go and buy a fun car when budget and life allow. I've been preparing for the day my engine needs a rebuild and from everything I've read, it can't be done well for much less than $15k in parts alone. The ideal would be to have 30-40k for an expert to rebuild and upgrade it for longevity and performance.

Whatever you do, do not put in a used engine. Too many unknowns. I got a junk yard engine in my car when I bought it and it had multiple problems. I did the dealer short block a few years ago. you can find my story here. I went that route because it solves lots of problems and is less expensive than the upgraded LN route. Less upgrades, but then it costs less too. I've got $25k in my rebuild using a factory short block. You could use the engine you have now. You should take it out and fully inspect it. While you are there replace al the plastic parts that are inside and outside the engine. I wish you the very best,

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Don't 100% count out your engine just yet. Could be only a head related problem like a dropped valve seat, or a broken valve spring, etc... Could have had a bent valve from a past over-rev/valve float episode causing all your mis-fires you've been chasing. Now the valve is burnt/not sealing at all making 0 compression. just a possibility/wild guess, as no one knows till its torn down. Have you checked DME for over revs..? Engine has to come out no matter what, unless you just want to cut your losses and dump the car now as a roller for $5-10K. I'm a DIY'r so would pull engine and remove head to see whats up. Decent possibility the piston/lower end wasn't damaged much or at all. And a head repair/replacement would get it back up and running. Would be a gamble to pay a shop thousand$ to do this, only to find engine needs total replacement. Thats your call. But no one can tell you whats wrong accurately till engine is torn down. At the least the heads must come off... How did engine sound, any knocking bad ticking noise. Did it use oil..? Were the tail pipes oily/sooty..? How many miles on your engine would be a big factor, might help make your decision...? jmo

Thanks y'all - super helpful and I appreciate the candor. I can/will report back on the numbers when they come in.

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Yeah get a civic!

Quote was $30K to replace the engine (and several other bits along the way). They told me they could only swap in a used engine as porsche is no longer making the new blocks available. I still see new short blocks available online so I'm skeptical as to their assertion on that. No matter, I'm not paying $30K regardless, so the car is coming back to me. I'm in the DFW area if you or someone you know is interested in making an offer. Feel free to send me a DM.

I bought my short block from the Porsche dealer. That was in 2022. check with them. I would be very cautious of putting a used engine in. That is generally lots of issues with them and not just in Porsche products. LN Engineering is the place to source engine pieces and parts. Look into what they can do. The $30K doesn't seem out of line. I have that in my engine and did the work myself. Everything got replaced. Jake Raby says that there are like 34 major points of failure on the 996 engines. I wish you the very best,

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Me too in 2022, 11/22 I purchased my short block. I don't think they are ending the short block program, first hit on Google from Sunset when you search the part number. A little bit more expensive now tho.

Unfortunately, I am in the same boat. My issue is cylinder #5 has 0 PSI due to contact between a valve and piston, and potential scoring in cylinder #2. I am in Florida and have already been to two shops. The first shop ended up being unqualified despite their marketing, so I took the car to the second shop and despite a good start on the diagnosis, they are now only offering an engine swap as a solution. They do not have an engine and are telling me they will let me know when and if one comes up that meets their standards. I like the short block idea, but have not found anyone to give me a serious estimate on cost for labor/parts outside of the block itself. Does anybody have any recommendations for a shop in Florida/South Georgia that understands these cars?

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I go to Seth at Technical Dimensions in Jacksonville. Great guy super knowledgeable but nothing is cheap. That being said you don�t really want cheap either. I was in the same boat about a year ago and idk that you�ll find really anyone that wants to do a rebuild. For most of them it just doesn�t pay. When I did the math whether it was gonna be a short block installed by a mechanic plus everything along the way it was gonna cost the same as sending it to either LN or Slakker. I ended up sending my car to Slakker and I�ve been very happy w the process so far and would highly recommend. Should have the car back soon and looking fwd to it.

Thanks for the recommendations on Technical Dimensions and Slakker. If you don't mind me asking, I am presuming you will be into around $35k with Slakker if there are no performance mods?

If you're not a DIY'r type, & make the decision to stay with your 996 needing a good engine replacement, that you want to last, be quite, great OP, leak free, and powerful,, at least as good as oem, then expect to pay at least 25K all said and done to drive out of the shop complete. And thats probably a low estimate. $30-40k is more likely for a aluminum sleeved nik'd big bore with all the add ons. The non diy'r has few options, there are no short cuts/bargains for him... And in reality no bargains for anyone needing a good m96. All will be way underwater in the end. Unless you're a DIY'r, and can go to the bone yard and find 1 still in the car, verify mileage & maybe start it, then a used engine is the very worst option. And very possibly cost you the most in the end. 996 engines are not like Chevy LS engines or other common USA bone yard engines. LS bone yard engines are cheap & all over the place, many in very good shape still installed in a totaled car that can verify mileage and many even let you start them up. m96 engines all eventually wear out & go bad, many very bad, many much sooner than later compared to the average common LS engine. Many m96 end up in salvage yards, either because of the engine or a crash. Many if not most m96 boneyard engine buyers are going to get a Frankenstein mis-match of a parts combinations from salvageable parts out of bad engines. Parts out of the boneyards blown engines, salvaged recently and combined together to make one 'running engine' (say running with a very low expectation of how long, how leak free, or how well running). As these are Put together by 'skilled salvage yard parts pullers', as far as you can get from Porsche engine Gurus. More than likely without even 1 new part or gasket/bearing/piston/cylinder sleeve/etc, no reconditioned precision valve job'd heads will be on the bone yard patch work engine. And these 'used' engines go for somewhere around $8-15K (depending on perceived condition/mileage ? ). Then add in engine removal and engine install labor and all needed add ons while you're in there $$$$$, With a very small if any warranty that usually does not included any labor allowance or shipping ($$$$) and might be hard to even get your purchased used engine warrantied. Do your due diligence carefully... A DIY'r can check out the installed now running used engine for no leaks, good compression, good oil pressure, no bearing noise/knock, etc, and change it out if it fails inspections, maybe multiple times/engines from the salvage yard till you find an acceptable 1 all under their warranty time period, then you might be ok temporarily at least for a quick car sale... IMHO, Slakker/Hartech offers the best deal going for the non DIY'r. IIRR for $25k you can drop off your car there and pick up a completed quality nik-sil cylinder big bore dependable engine. Now thats the bare bones price not including all the maybe needed extras (upgrades ?) while you're there/ bolt ons, and car shipping. Still by far the best way to go for the distraught engine-less non diy'r 996 owner... Slakker is a m96 expert builder with dyno room that breaks in all their engines in house. Thats important for the non diy'r owner... From feedback on here, they seem to be very receptive to any problems they need to take care of. And there will be/could be problems with anything mechanical. An engine is only as good as the guy that built it and stands behind it... FSI/LN might be doing a similar service as Slakker, not sure, best to check with them. They are quality m96 builder no doubt, some say maybe the best... Audi 475HP 2.7 swap by Renn27, drop it off and drive away cost $25k before any extras that might be needed. Keep in mind I have no idea how Renn27 operates or how they handle the swap, just seen their ad and read about them here as another maybe viable option. Honda/LS swaps for aprox the same cost are also available, do a forum search We do have many here that have used Slakker/Hartech very successfully... JMHO

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so there are a lot of options along the way w a build. BLUF yes I�d plan for 30k i went w a 3.9L, 3rd Radiator, UAOS, Hartech deep sump, clutch flywheel, some head work, ended up doing shocks, some shock mounts, they helped me w my heater, window regulators�.. anyway you get the point. Certainly could have cut down the total bill by not doing that stuff but after this and the $$ I didn�t wanna be back in the shop for a long time. In the end it dyno�d 364hp 312tq. Looking fwd to getting it back and should be soon. anyway all that to say yes, 30k, but def w performance mods.

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Was that rear wheel horsepower? That’s an impressive number. that car must haul ***. $30 K sounds really cheap for that build, unless it was in pounds sterling!

allcool, thanks for the thoughtful response, that is a lot of good information to consider. I poked around on the Renn27 option and it's an attractive set up, but their turn key option is $26k which puts you close to a complete rebuild. While being powered by Audi sits better with me than Chevy, Honda or Subaru, I not sure I'm ready to go that route with this particular car. I would be okay with a used engine if the shop that currently has the car could source one in a reasonable time period since they offer a 2yr/24k mile warranty on parts and labor. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have even a moderate sense of urgency and I'm already 3 months into this dilemma.

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engine dyno. I�m sure I�m off a little on the numbers because, like I said, I�ve done a complete mix of performance and other repairs along the way but, 30k is still a good estimate. You Tube

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Slakker does a 2yr warranty and it includes track use. It�s the reason I went with them. Almost no one does that and proves they stand behind the product. The power is great but the real world endurance-racing-reliability was the real pull for me.

Did the valves actually damage the piston. If it was a very light kiss you might be able to get away with rebuilding the one cylinder head with some new valves reinstall it with new gaskets and bolts and send it. That's if the rest of the engine is healthy of course.