Please Help! My engine and transmission broke!

I have a 99 c4 with 49k miles I was driving "spiritedly" the other day and my transmission literaly blew apart! I have an extended warranty on the car which is fortunate, but the dealership where I had the car towed to took a look at the car and they don't think that the repairs will be covered by the extended warranty company! Evidently, I'm going to need and entirely new transmission AND engine! The parts alone are 30k! They said that they have never seen anything like this before. The dealership doesnt think that the warranty company will cover the repairs because the car looks like its been tracked. they say this because there is burned asphalt and vulcanization of the rubber on my tires.... also, the damage occurred while I was at redline...They said that the warranty company will say that the car has been abused. Today is saturday and on monday the service manager wants me to come down to the shop so we can take a look at the car together. As of yet they have not called the insurance company. I think that one of the things that I'd/we'd like to do is change the wheels and tires so the issue of the burned rubber does not come up... anybody have an extra set I can borrow for a few days? I'm in san jose, ca. Any thoughts on what I should do about this? Can the insurance company deny coverage if the car was at redline? anybody heard of this happening? Thanks in advance... Ron

I forgot to add that the car is completely stock and all regular maintenence has been done at the dealership.

Has the car been tracked? You don't say. You may not really want to answer that question, if it has.

it has been driven hard at times...

Is the language of the extended warranty specific about use and "abuse"? If it's really 30K and the warranty doesn't step up, it sounds like you'll be in litigation land. But, since that takes years, you'll probably be looking for an engine and trans to install while you wait. Hope the problem works out more easily than I'd guess. By the way, what qualifies as "spirited'? If that means a downshift from fifth to second with an overrev to 9,000, it's probably not likely that anybody other than you will pay. If it's just hitting the rev limiter, I think all of us have done that. AS

Wow. Sorry to hear that. I suppose the dealers's response was due to the unusual nature of the damage. Porsche engines are not known to just grenade. He therefore assumed that the problem was the "spirited" driving. There is a record within the engine computer of the over-revs. Hitting the rev limiter while accelerating is classified as stage1, which is no biggie since the rev limiter protects the engine. But a forced over-rev such as downshifting to the wrong gear can and does grenade the engine and will void the warrantree. OTOH, there can be no discounting the possiblity of a mechanical defect. No one can distinguish between spirited drivng and track driving unless they actually witnessed it, or you have done so much modifications that the car can only be driven on the track. As for spirited driving, maybe the tranny broke, forcing the car to over-rev, grenading the engine. That can be covered by the warrantee. Unfortunately, just from the fact that both the engine and tranny broke, the immediate conclusion is that you forced the transmission into the wrong gear, grenading both transmission and engine .

I was in gear when it happend. I was in second gear near or at the rev-limiter. felt and heard something loud and then no power and horrible noises coming from the engine compartment. I definitely didn't down shift from fifth to second. I'm not sure if the computer will show that or not.

I've had similar experience in each of 2 vintage racers. In my Kurtis (406 cubic inch small block), later disassembly showed the oil hole in a crankshaft bearing to be unalligned with the oil passage in the crankshaft(faulty crankshaft and assembler oversight) The crank manufacturer and the engine builder paid for a new engine, only after I initiated litigation. My son driving my Lotus Super 7 believes he may have caught first instead of third on an upshift. The flywheel sheared from the crank with the expected damage. Later disassembly showed that the flywheel had been affixed with the correct bolts but no locating pin. This led the second engine builder to conclude that the shift may not have been missed, but that spontaneous shearing of the bolts led to the failure. I paid for the new engine without complaint due to the doubt about causation. My lesson was that careful disassembly can pinpoint the cause of the failure. However, in both cases it required a separate party (not the potentially responsible party) to identify the cause. If the dealer isn't on your side, I'd have the repair done at a second shop, and take photos of the culprit when you find it. AS

I really do not see how it could be close to 30k for parts alone. What is the name of the extended warrenty co? Pm me if you'd like Have you done a mods to the car? What does a "tracked" car look like? "burned asphalt and vulcanization of the rubber on my tires" have the detail department clean the car up. The dealer should have no problem with this, If they do, do it your self! ie... I need to get a few items out of the car, and clean up the fender wells. do you have all your service records? Did you buy the car from the dealer you had it towed too? PM if you like pull a copy of your extended warrenty. What does the print say? You left a lot of open ?? on the table. Help us Help You

My 'box was $10k with labor. i was told a factory rebuilt 3.4L motor is in the $20k region. $30k is not off the mark.

Fahren, IMO (and that all it is) I have heard you can get a 996 crate motor for 5kish w/ exchange.( this may have been before the "erou" took off, but even a 20% exchange rate would be 6k??? But back on topic....I have never heard of blown motor, AND transmission...Unless it's the MONEY shift Even with a MONEY SHift...it should be covered under extended warrenty, But.....it all depends on the "warrenty coverage" That is what the remaing question is?

Phil, you've got a PM.

Would like to see your car hooked up to the PST2. Jeff

I read the following in the Boxster forumn: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by Geoffrey Actually, the 3.4 996 conversion is quite easy. It takes us about 5 days to do and costs roughly 13k which includes a brand new 996 engine from Porsche. We use the Boxster motornics which are reprogramed with the 996 X51 power kit program using the Porsche programming tool and yields about 340hp with a GHL stainless exhaust all included. We use the factory Boxster harness and run a separate wire to make the varioram work. All-in-all it is a nice package. So if their 996 conversion costs $13K and includes a new engine, then I would think the new engine must be quite a bit less. Charlie

i think that a good portion of the cost they quoted me comes from the fact that my transmission case is not reusable. The service manager said that I would have no core to exchange for a rebuilt transmission and I would have to buy a new one.

I thought extended warranties cover only big items like drivetrain assemblies... I would be really upset if I have bought an extended warranty and not be covered because of redline shifting etc. Track or not tracked, I dont think it should make a difference. Of coarse and downshift over-rev is another story. It would be in the dealers best interest to lobby for you with the extended wattanty company. The dealer will get work from this.