Who has had engine replaced, and why?

I know that this is an unpopular topic. Not intending to flame anybody or anything. I know that there have been engine replacements. Please, pretty please, no ranting or arguing about quality, poor service or reliability. This is a simple request to list reasons for engine replacements, either on or off warranty. If it was for RMS, was it because the block itself was off spec or was it simply due to the multple leaks/replacements. Thanks!!

I might be one of the few that actually had an engine replacement due to none-other-than RMS. The RMS did occur at 5K miles, but it was the coolant-oil contamination which led to an engine replacement around 10K miles. All work done under warranty, of course. No issues with the replacement engine since.

Have you serached Bob's posts? In all seriousness, there was a thread several months ago just like this that had a poll breakdown in it as well. Maybe that will help guide this one a bit?

My car had engine replaced by PO. It was catastrophic engine failure, I think the cylinder cracked. It was paid for by PO then he fought to get it covered by Porsche. This was late 2004, and the car is a '99; after 2 months they struck a deal. The RMS went on replaced engine 2 months later and was replaced. PPI noticed no further leak when I purchased about 1 month ago.

Thanks for the replies so far, all. Yup, did a search, Dell. Found a whole bunch of stuff, including that poll. I got a headache trying to weed out info that I needed. So I decided to post specifically. Keep 'em coming!

Yes, replaced at 3500 miles due to Intermediate Shaft bearing.

I had a main bearing failure at 52k. The engine was replaced under 3rd party warranty.

which warranty company is that? please let me know. i own a out-of-warranty p-car, and can't sleep well even since.

This was on your GT3?

Yep, on the GT3. $35K engine.

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Okay, I'm sufficient freaked out now after reading these posts. I just purchased my 99 996...any suggestions on purchasing aftermarket warantees? (bought off a private seller, so need advice on outside vendors). Thanks

Now, don't freak out. Catastrophic engine failure is rare in Porsche. Most of the engine replacements are due to a policy by Porsche, that they do not want the engines that are still under warranty to be opened but should be shiiped to Germany and a replacement engine issued. I'm simply trying to get a list of the reasons why. As for extended warranty, lot's of threads out there. You can do a search. Here's two threads for you: LINK ! and LINK 2 OK. Thanks for the replies so far. Sorry about that GT3, Jim. Now I'm not so sure I should have started this thread, but keep them coming .

Mine went at 52K miles. Cracked cylinder #1. I do not want to get into a big thing here, but suffice it to say that I am getting ready to sell my C4 $8,000 later. You can find my previous posts (and said rants) under "Engine Replacement." I bought a 2003 Range Rover and I really like it. I liked the Cayenne too, but looking at that emblem on the wheel made me think about how Porsche does not recall these motors or give 100,000 warranty extensions since it is not an **uncommon** problem.

I had the engine replaced in my 04 C4s at 17,000 miles due to the intermediate shaft failure. They came with a flatbed within 45 minutes and had me in a Cayenne within an hour. Not quick but painless.

No worries, Palting. The car was under warranty and Porsche took care of me and the car. Top notch. As for the policy, you are correct. Technically, the intermediate shaft should not warrant a complete engine replacement. However, Porsche AG doesn't want anyone cracking the engine open. It was shipped to Germany that day so that hopefully others in the future won't have the same experience.

Palting - Do you want BOB to reply???

My US '99 996 tip coupe (a very early Feb-98 build date) had an oil-coolant intermixing occur at 42,100 miles. No catastrophic failure occurred but with the intermixing, Warrantech paid for a brand new engine! I am the third owner of the Arctic Silver beauty. My (independent) mechanic noticed globs of oil in the coolant by a visual inspection prior to a routine oil change. I took the opportunity to put on new Fabspeed mufflers. The 2nd owner bought the car when it was still then under factory warranty. Because it was under factory warranty, he was then able to put on a Warrantech extended warranty with a one-time transfer. That transfer came to me when I bought the car in Jan-05. I feel like I hit the Porsche lottery! I love the way the car drove before and I love it even more now. I believe this intermixing problem was solved around 2001. Any thoughts??

That's good to hear, I have Warrantech as well, may come in handy one day

but looking at that emblem on the wheel made me think about how Porsche does not recall these motors or give 100,000 warranty extensions since it is not an **uncommon** problem. The only info we have on engine replacements is anecdotal, so to be fair to Porsche we don't know if the replacements are rare or common. Moreover, the wild card with Porsches is how the cars were driven by their owners. Maybe some were not abused and the engine still had to be replaced, but my guess is that's not the case for most of the replacements.

Had engine replaced at 45k. Problem with something installed wrong when engine was built. luckily covered under Porsche warranty.

See my posts regarding my 2002 C2 Cab which had engine failure at 10,000 miles. It had started making "bicycle bell" ringing noises upon startup one day. Turns out that the crankshaft pulley guide pin in the engine had broken off. Got a new engine after some discussion, happy camper in the end...

I have trouble sleeping at night after I read these posts!!

tell me about it, whenever someone started a "engine replacement" thread.

Ultimate Warranty One thing about these warranties, they are very specific. Originally we thought the timing chain was slapping against the block. The timing chain is covered. The shop thought it may have been the timing mechanism, which is NOT covered. My heart sank after he said that. However, upon further investigation, a main bearing had failed, which was explicitly covered. The warranty company sent a guy out to verify this. So in my case, it worked for me.

intermix, intermediate shaft related problems, main bearings, timing chain breaking are most common problems I have seen. Porsche and most warranty companies know about the possible engine problems that can can up. To repair any one problem could be a waste of their money, so more than likely they will replace an engine if there are any internal failures. Of course any issues that deal with the cam chains can be repaired, as long as the cam chain doesnt break.

Getting a new one next for for the RMS, It's ok doesn't effect my view of Porsche what so ever, its a car things go wrong, **** breaks, I am over it already, oh yea car has 45 K or 30 M.I remember you asking about the RMS, I thought I had my issues repaired they are not, and yes its the newest seal, OH well life goes on.

My MY03 had a main bearing seize during a track day in Dec at 31,000 Km. This snapped the rod and caused secondary damage to the cylinder liner and the #4 piston was shattered, jammed at the top of the cylinder. Engine would still run on 5 cylinders, with large smoke cloud developing. The engine was stripped down to assess the damage, then shipped to Germany. The sump was full of white metal bearing fragments, which had entered the oiling system and scored the other cylinders and pistons. Engine was replaced under extended warranty. Original engine had also suffered two RMS failures in the first 20,000 Km. I have since been advised by Porsche Cars Australia that the mention in the owner's manual of possible voiding of the warranty by driving on racing tyres includes R-compound tyres as well as slicks. I just pass this on as a warning to drivers of 996's and Boxsters who track their cars on R-compounds.

2002 c2 6speed, still in the shop getting a replacement, 35k on the dial. dunno why, the shop just called and replace it under warranty citing "noises"?!

Oops! Just reread my earlier post. It was, of course, a big end bearing that seized, not a crankshaft main bearing.

01 C2, in 2004 coolant level kept going down, w/ no leak noticed, dealer found out it was mixing w/ engine oil and said that I needed a new engine - all under warranty. They replaced it with a new, not rebuilt, one. I was going to get rid of the car, but then thought about it and decided to keep my "old" car with its brand new engine, and bought an extended wrrnty.

Just had mine replaced at 14k miles, cracked head. Was under warranty. dealer was great. First noticed problem when it starting idling like a 69 camaro. had it towed in and 3 days later, had it back with a brand new engine, did not cost me a penny

Well.......on a quick search (and a re-read of the last few pages of the last Bob thread)......I thought this most appropriate a place to add my 'statistic'........a 37K, well maintained 02 C4 cab popped a timing chain & proceded to chew it up. My wife's car, and my occaisional drop-top weekend ride. Obviously never tracked....over reved...or missed a service date......this car could still be concoured. Left 1,2,3 cam shaft is not turning. She's toast. Eleven months out of warranty. Never before but now I'm an advocate of extended warranties (for M96 engines & drivelines going off OEM warranty). I was going to flip it in the spring......timing is everything.

Gregg....what's the verdict though? Talk to the dealer about it? And goodwill, etc?

wow, This puts huge doubts in buying a older 996. The RMS, and cracking cylinders are common enough to be well known, and have been seen in enough mags. This is more than a little scarey, I don't seem to run in the same economic circles as some here who can drop 10K on a fix. Man, make me wish Porsche would hire some engineers from Japan.

Dell........the verdict is not in sight yet.....and I can see that reaching it will be a bit of a project. Selling dealer is not local. Car is not at the local dealership, and there is more.......but I'm working on it......& will check back in with updates.

Either way, best of luck to you! Hope it all works out.

i think they did.

Heh-heh . Don't get bent out of shape, 2000wrx. These incidents are few, but do get talked about a lot. I started this thread because I have had RMS replaced twice, and was wondering if it was out of the ordinary to expect a new engine under warranty if the RMS fails again. Eight months and 6,000 miles later, the new fix is still dry as a bone.

Why don't you do us a favor and explain why you need this? What are you searching for? This issue has been covered more than once on probably every automotive forum in existence. The results are far from scientific. Rather they turn into a collection of random gripes and encourage trolls. I have two M96 motors and neither has failed. This proves nothing. They could fail tomorrow, or they could never fail. Palting, you are a great contributor to this board and you certainly know how to use the search function. Tell us what you are looking for and I am sure that many will try to help you out. No flame intended btw

My 2004 had the engine replaced at 4,500 miles. They found metal in the oil system. The car was broken in properly, never redlined, driven daily, and never tracked. PCNA replaced under warranty.

this is an old thread. it's incorrect to judge "why you need this thread?" without knowing the context.

Sorry, I didn't realize this was old. However, when a perfectly good search function exist "why do you need this" is a legitimate question.

Agree.........and my apologies for resurecting the thread.....my post was more informational and this thread seemed to be the place to leave it. Hey....Pcar engines have failed through history.....the M96 was certainly not the 1st. I would make the observation however, that for out-of-warranty cars, engine & drive line things that we used to tear down and fix.......often today have a different suggested 'remedy' (which is almost a non-issue to you if PCNA picks up the warranty tab for a rebuilt engine......not, if you just own the car, no warranty).......hence my suggestion of the Extended. Again.........apologies for adding to this April thread

It is an old thread, Ray. Might help if you read it all the way through, though . Like, here's an old post on the thread: And my response, here: And the answer to your question actually was posted just before your question, here: It's an old thread, and as I stated, no longer pertinent to me since the RMS fix is staying fixed. The car, as almost all 996's are, is bulletproof.

The engine on my 2003 996 C-2, 6-speed with 23,000 miles just died last Wednesday. I was driving in a residential area going about 25 or 30 mph when I heard a radio static-like noise coming from the back of the car. It then turned into a metallic clanking noise and continued to get louder. I drove back home and when I parked it, most or all of the oil began to leak from the front of the engine. The dealership simply said something broke inside and I will need a new engine. PCNA approved the replacement. The service adviser said the �new� engine are actually better because it uses an old case but has all new internal parts that are all hand-assembled. I hope she�s right. I did some research and suspect my intermediate shaft bearing failed or the retaining stud in or on the sprocket broke off. If everything goes well, I will be able to pick it up today and start the not-so-fun 2000-mile break-in again. Now I have to decide of whether to keep the car beyond the warranty period.

I have a few questions. Are you the original owner, and did you ever track your car or are you aware of anything else that may have contributed to your engine's demise? The reason I'm asking is that you have a relatively new car with low miles, and I wouldn't expect the engine to die so quickly.

Hi fast1, I am the original owner and I have never tracked the car although I had planned to take it to a DE or two. Because of this incident, I will not even consider a DE at this time. I don't want to give PCNA the remote chance to void my warranty. The car was always maintained by the local dealership and I had my last annual service/oil change in April of 2006. The car is 3.5 years old (built in 2/03 and purchased in 4/03) and now has 23,000 miles -- a semi-daily driver and used solely on the street. I did the 2000-mile break-in, and always waited until the engine was completely warmed up before exceeding 4K RPM. The car has been fairly good until last week with no signs of problems until that incident. When I first got the car, I had problems with the clutch (squeaking) and throwout bearing noise but that was eventually fixed after they pulled the tranny out. There was also two radio replacements. I guess and hope this was just a freak incident and within the 2% error. Maybe I should play the lottery? I'm still bummed out.

Your replacement engine will have all the updated components. So, although it's sad hear that you are one of the few that need an engine replacement, the replacement engine should be a better one. With regards to DE, sound out your local dealer. They are the one's who will OK it or not as warranty work, and PCNA usually just rubber stamps it. Porsche has the rep of a "street legal race car". So long as there are no signs of abuse, like melted clutch or type 2 over-revs, simply taking the car to DE usually does not void the warranty. So long as there is no abuse, chances are you will not need the warranty, anyway.

jeneric996 - I can imagine how you feel since I even get pissed when I get something as minor as an annoying rattle that's hard to find. Anyway thanks for your response and best of luck with your new engine.

Thanks guys. I just drove it back from the dealership and maintained under 4200 rpm that was difficult. The engine appears slightly smoother than the older one. However, this could all be in my mind. I did notice a rather rough idle while waiting at the lights. When I got home, I notice they forgot to plug in one vacuum line. I hope they did not forget anything else. I asked about the warranty stuff and the adviser indicated that since PCNA provided this "reconditioned" engine under warranty, there will be no 2-year warranty and just the balance of the new car warranty. She said the 2-year only applies if the customer paid for the product or if a 3rd-party like a independent warranty company paid for it. So my factory warranty expires this coming April 2007, but I am glad I purchased the extended 7/70 at the time I bought the car; I usually don't buy extended warranties. She said this warranty claim costed about $11,000, but would have cost me about $13,000 had PCNA not covered the replacement. I also got a free alignment after the install. Apparently, they have to remove part of the rear suspension to get to the engine. Lastly, the engine is nice and shiny with lots of new external parts including an alternator and the oil cap that has the picture level to the ground like the 997s. I also see lots of parts made in 2005 and 2006.

It seems like you are already doing it, but Ijust want to reinforce that you nned to break -in the engine like any other new engine. I think not warrantying the engine other than the original car warranty is simply bogus.

I replaced my engine when it got dirty. New squeaky clean engine is nize!!

64 K miles, 3 RMS so far, told everything was in spec. I asked about engine replacement.

Anyone with a TIP has had an engine replacement??

I had promised to follow up with info on how this went down. All cases are different, however in my case PCNA offered to step-up with 1/3 of the cost of full engine replacement.....it's currently listed as a Reman however I've known others that were shipped New. Reman warranty is 24 mo. Hopefully this car will be back on the road in a week or two. I am fortunate to live in a town that has excellent points of support for Pcar service (Kelly Moss, Lee's, etc) however in this case I have to give the dealer (Z European) and Z's Service Management credit where credit's due......they handled the situation professionally. I'm not saying that a Pcar owner should be 'happy' with a $7000 event 11 months out of warranty however I've owned Pcars long enough to know that sh#t happens & when it does, can be significant. I stand by my recomendation however..........that for an M96 based Pcar, if kept beyond warranty, have an Extended for engine & driveline.

c2 2002 rms

Just a thought - almost all the reliability surveys at the moment are coming out with Porsche as number 1. Probably a more realistic statistic than asking "who's had problems". I'd love to ask this question on a GM or Ford board Oh, and this also speaks volumes - http://www.jdpower.com/autos/brand-ratings/

Sorry, I kinda disagree. We are not talking about repairing hood latches, dash squeeks, or cold starting problems (for people still under warranty and who purchased in last 2 yrs, and who completed the JD survey). Yep, I got the JD surveys to fill out in the 12 months following purchase. Engine or drive-line failure out-of warranty are a bit different.......and I don't think JD is sending me questionaires any longer, that I might enter that info

July 26, 2002 RO 15226 mileage 50,222 coolant leaking out of left rear vehicle. Engine Hydrolocked. Replaced under warranty I believe this was the whole porosity failure issue.

CPO warranty? Have it done at Performance or Leith?

Don Rosen Porsche in Conshohocken, PA actually, pre-NC days. I have Tioga's Automotive Solutions take care of all my cars here. Andrew

I bought a website last year after my motor died - it is called www.996classaction.com and reading this thread REALLY makes me want to get it going. It would probably take about 1 hour of HTML to get it to where people could post vin #, mileage when motor died, previous problems, and what PCNA did as a result. Still cannot believe Porsche does not think this probelm is common enough to warranty replacement out of warranty, but that's how they lost me as a customer when it came time to buy a new SUV.

Normally I like to keep the feds out of business issues, but in this case I wouldn't mind if the feds required each manufacturer to have their own web site which kept a list of catasrtophic failures requiring the replacement of engines and transmissions. The site would list the car's model, year the part was replaced, mileage, and what was replaced. . I bought a website last year after my motor died - it is called www.996classaction.com and reading this thread REALLY makes me want to get it going. It would probably take about 1 hour of HTML to get it to where people could post vin #, mileage when motor died, previous problems, and what PCNA did as a result. It would be interesting to determine the exact number of 996 owners on this forum and the number of them who had their engines replaced. I did a search on a Corvette forum to determine if their owners have a problem with engines needing replacement. My search revelaed no threads with the words "engine replacement" in the tittle. Lots of posts with the words "engine replacement" in the body of the post, but the few I read talked about head gasket replacement on engines with well over 100K miles.