She?s died... resurrection?

She�s toast. My once loved 2000 996 cab with the tiptronic transmission that I grew to begrudgingly appreciate has died. 96000 or so miles was as far as she could go. Was it the IMS? No. She had the solution. Was it a cracked head? Seems so. No pressure in 6 of all places. Maybe the cylinder. She can�t even turn over by hand. Her core at this stage, I�m told by my indy, is close to worthless. In truth, the particulars of her death at this point are insignificant. I�m more interested now in her possible resurrection. I�m not so keen on spending crazy money on a Raby engine, although I do respect his passion. I�m most interested in finding a low milage used 2001 engine in the US. Anyone have one they would like to unload?

That sucks. Sorry to hear it. Deciding what to do in this situation is not easy. Lots of people here are going to try to convince you to do the most expensive option, and will tell you anything less is mistake. Take your time and figure out what's best for you. One thing to consider: a low mileage engine with shipping, removal, and installation is going to cost you close to 10k (especially if you don't have a core to return). If your heads are repairable, you may may be able to get a new short block installed for not a lot more than that, and you'll have an essentially new engine. If you haven't seen it already, check out this thread which includes a bunch of good discussion and a spreadsheet comparison of rebuild options: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...bs-vertex.html Feel free to DM me if you have questions

Quotes source post: 16548311

that�s the kicker, even the �cheap� rebuild isn�t cheap and you have to be cautious with any used parts.

That is such a bummer....I would call a dismantler like norspecdismantling.com to see if they have a decent engine.

I would first find out what went wrong, what is still usable and then decide what to do. If the heads are good, maybe a shortblock from the local Porsche dealer is an option. If you got that way, the IMS bearing in the old engine will not be transferable. Maybe it's just me but when something goes wrong with an engine, unless a good used replacement is really cheap (under $1000), I want to open it up enough to see what happened inside.

What's your budget?

Love the 996 in white! Looks like a really nice car, certainly worthy of resurrection. Sorry to hear this happen to anyone's car, but your best strategy now is patience, don't make a hasty decision now fresh from the trauma. Hopefully you've got a place to tuck the car away while you formulate a plan. Start thinking about what your budget is. Study 'wsrgkit's spread sheet of rebuild options in the message above, see what works for you. If you can do any of the wrenching yourself you can save yourself a ton of $. I share 'Imo000"s opinion above, and would want to disassemble the engine to find out what went wrong, and to determine what's salvageable because that will further refine your budget, and perhaps be a source of revenue because if you install a complete engine you can sell the salvageable parts from the old engine. Anyway, wish you the best of luck in whatever decision you make, and keep in mind that many people have resurrected these cars and you can as well, its all a function of how much you love the car.

I would be searching Autotempest, Copart, and IAA for a donor car, if you are that attached to yours. You will have to be somewhat patient. We are living in strange times. Although I expect a lot of used vehicles to come on the market, there may be fewer wrecked cars due to the reduction in driving. You may be able to find a mechanically sound 3.4 at a reasonable price.

Don�t believe your Indy, as long as there isn�t a hole in the case the engine is not worthless. Cracked head is usually repairable, Hoffman is the best in the country and only a few hours from you. I have been to his shop and his reputation is stellar. He reworked my heads and weld repaired 5 stripped thread holes among other things. https://newsite.hamheads.com/ take your time and weigh your options and find a solution that fits your budget. I�d be happy to discuss details if you want to contact me. Good luck!

Quotes source post: 16548964

^^^ This ^^^ Take a look at some of the blocks that LN Engineering has repaired... most people would think that they're useless. Don't give up too quickly and definitely don't trust the guy who stands to make $ or perhaps your car - He may have the best intentions for you, but then again maybe not...it's been known to happen is all I'm saying . If you're seriously considering buying a used engine, you really have to crunch the #'s and decide how much risk you're willing to take on a unknown (the engine and the seller) entity. Good Luck

Quotes source posts: 16548228, 16548228

The whole "solution" thing is loosely spread around forums for all bearing products, but do you mean you had the LN Engineering "IMS Solution" product installed on this car? If so, who did the work? Please clarify. After failure, you attempted to manually crank the engine and it wouldn't turn. Or is that what the indy tried to do? Let's step back a few... Explain the circumstances surrounding the failure. What happened? Were you driving and it went "bang"? So basically, the indy has determined that the block is "worthless". Did he drop the sump or what?

A second opinion is probably worth the price of another tow. Could be your mechanic looking for a sweet deal on your crippled 996 -- not trying to disparage the guy or his shop, but be wary at this point. As others have said take your time and go methodically with a reasonable budget in mind and you'll likely get a good result resurrecting the car.

Maybe a lose of translation from your event- to the mechanics diagnosis- to your post, but things just don't sound right surrounding this "failure"....

Sorry to hear. But with a bit of luck you can find an engine. I melted down last year when there was some metal in my engine oil. My mechanic was gloom and doom. I have driven it 1500 miles since...ifnit blows,it blows. There was a great thread on here a guy had a preadsheet with all kinds of options and costs. When the CV19 threat subsides hopefully in June i@: having the engine rebuilt. I am not going the FS route that is more than I want to spend. But I have targeted about 8-12k for it. I am looking at a shop in LA that specializes in Porsche’s. is your car a cab with a hard top?

Quotes source post: 16551097

What parts of the engine are you hoping to get rebuilt for that much money? Also, how do you know your engine can be rebuilt at all if you hoping to drive it until it pops?

Dan , Its beautiful car. I really like the spoiler on it, would you share the made and model of the spoiler. I have 2002 in white too and I been looking to change mine from factory to aftermarket spoiler.

I am not a mechanic, so I don�t know what can or can not be rebuilt. But I will let a shop figure it out. I am am not going to stress about it, I am just enjoying it and I will cross the rebuilding bridge when I get there. i am anticipating about 1600 to drop the engine, crack it open and get an opinion and go from there.

Quotes source post: 16552179

If you drive it to it's death, there will be nothing left to rebuild. It is a lot cheaper to repair or rebuild the engine now while that is still possible. You keep driving it and then grenade that **** and you will have no choice but to buy another engine.

Quotes source post: 16552179

I agree with your approach. The 996 game is a gamble if the engine hasn't been properly been rebuilt. I see no reason to rebuild a running engine. Cross that bridge IF you get to it. Enjoy it like it's going to blow up tomorrow. The nice thing is it could last.

Thanks everyone for the input. It seems most everyone is concerned about the exact moments leading up to the engine failure. I'll try and provide some more info. I noticed when I had the engine compartment open a few weeks ago that the coolant level was below the "low" line on the tank. I warmed up the engine and the level didn't rise up enough to reach the "low" mark on the reservoir, so I added a bit to even it out. I came back to check it again a couple days later and I noticed a similar condition with a small leak that appeared to be the reservoir tank itself. I found this odd, as the tank was replaced with an OEM tank when I had an IMS solution installed last year, but it's so common, I figured that was my problem. At that time I had some brake work I wanted to do, so I put her up on the lift in my garage and got to work. It took a week for me to finish up my project. When I took the car off the lift I attempted to start the car. I really should have looked at the coolant tank, for if I had I would have seen that it was bone dry. The engine tried to turn, there was a loud bang, and I wet my pants. The engine had hydro-locked. I drained 10-12L of an oil and coolant mixture from the engine. This is when I had it towed to my indy (a good guy by the way). He hooked it up to pressure test and water poured out of cylinder 6. Trying to turn the engine by hand resulted in a bind. It seems trying to start a hydro-locked engine results in exactly what you'd think. Happily I have been able to find a totaled 1999 with 60000 miles on it for an affordable price. I'll keep everyone posed if you're interested.

Ok, so you've already had one engine "grenade"/D-Chunk without any real warning (or was there more that you just haven't mentioned) but you're willing to take a chance on another "unknown" 60k mile motor - maybe just playing the odds? Doesn't seem like a good bet to me... Has the Indy dropped the bad motor a full tear-down and come up with an analysis of the damage yet, or are you just forging ahead? What are you going to do with the bad motor?

If the price was good on the that 60K engine then I would have went for it too. But I do all my work so to me labour is somewhat unimportant.

Wow, big popcorn thread here. Good luck, and keep us posted!

Quotes source post: 16555784

What would the "right price" be to make it worth the gamble ? $5-6k ? $8k ? If it was the $5-6k range I may do it as well. If it's in the $8k range, you're approaching the price to have Nickies fitted to your existing engine - Of course, if someone else is doing the work it's going to cost you way more - but you'll have a bulletproof engine... Not so with either the used engine or the shortblock...

Quotes source posts: 16555073, 16556627

Yes, this is what happens everytime someone buys a Porsche with an M96. EVERY M96 that hasn't been properly rebuilt is a ticking timebomb. We all know this. You seem shocked and I'm not sure why. Why would he pay someone to disassemble his current engine? Coolant poured out of places it shouldn't. Again, nothing surprising to people who know about the M96 flaws. Why waste more money confirming what we all know? Not everyone is willing to spend $15k+ to fix these engines. They see the gamble of installing a used running engine the better option. Is it a good idea? No one knows because there are so many variables. The 996 is a car most people would say is insane to buy. We on this forum see it differently. We choose to gamble. Some will be burned pretty badly by the experienced, others not at all.

Quotes source post: 16556724

He said he already committed to paying his mechanic $1600 to determine the condition of his failed motor. My point was that he should weigh his options before he just jumps into another motor that may have the same exact issues as his current one. I think the goal of most people is to have a motor they can trust, so they can drive the car and enjoy it without worrying about it blowing up. I�m not sure how a used motor gets you there...

I would guess 1-2% of the M96 3.4 Litre engines don't have excessively worn cylinders due to the thinnest cylinders of any M96 engine. Installing a used engine is wasting time & money.

Quotes source post: 16557324

Or may not have the same exact issues. There are thousands of M96 engines out there that never had any problems at all. You are buying too much into the hype.

The 3.4 doesn't have the thinnest cylinders ?? It's the smallest bore m96 engine in a 996 so has the thickest cylinders , I would say the 3.8 has the thinnest cylinders , outer part of my cylinder and block same size on all m96 inner bore changes to meet piston size , bore hole bigger , cylinder wall gets thinner 3.4 96mm bore 3.6 and 3.8 99mm bore , 3.8 has stroked crank also for extra cc

Quotes source posts: 16558125, 16561287

The Locasil cylinders really don't have much of a problem with wear, The biggest issue is ovaling or scoring. The ovaling can also go so far as to cause the cylinder to crack/D-chunk. A decent frugal fix would be to correct the ovaling before it cracks by re-rounding the cylinders and using a support ring like Hartech used to offer, then do a Direct Nickasil Plating to the cylinders that Millennium offers back to original bore size. I started to design and build some tooling to do the re-rounding and machining/ support rings that could be done DIY in the basement , but didn't think the investment would be worth the profit/trouble.

Well, that sucks. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope the 60k motor lets you keep enjoying your 996.

Quotes source post: 16561287

That's not necessarily true. All 996 blocks may have the same outside dimensions but the cylinder wall thicknesses are cast differently between the different size engines. I know this for a fact that the Boxter 2.5L M96 engine cylinder walls are cast differently than the 3.4L M96 block that is in my '99. The distance between the outer edge of the bore castings is more in the 2.4L Boxter engine that my 3.4L. Until I saw this myself, I was under the logical impression that the blocks castings are the same and just the bore diameters are different.