**POOF** Beloved 1999 Carrera with new LN retrofit died on I-75 (sniffle)

Just searching auctions on eBay and found this one with an interesting description. Read up. Thoughts? This is like the third or fourth 1999 model 996 with this kind of story in the last month. Will this be an increasing trend? May also explain the downward spiral in values of the M96 based Carreras. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1999-Porsche...p2047675.l2557 (taken from the seller's description) [snip] What started like any other Saturday ended with my worst Porsche fear coming to pass. When shifting from third to fourth gear at full throttle...POOF! Just like that, my gorgeous, show-quality 996 engulfed I-75 in an enormous cloud of white smoke. As a result, this car has the 'milkshake' condition, water and oil mixed. If you know anything about the 996, once you retrofit the original IMS bearing with an LN unit, you're supposed to be good to go. Well, this car has the LN IMS bearing retrofit (just done around 1,000 miles ago) and it's now in front of you with a blown motor. A very reputable independent shop was not able to pinpoint the cause of the problem without disassembling the motor, so here we are. If you're looking for an LS swap project (see the Gas Monkey Garage 996 episode for more on this), or are willing and able to fit the car with a used 3.4L motor (available right now on eBay), a rebuilt or new motor (talk to Vertex or Flat 6 Innovations), this may be your lucky day. This car is shown regularly. It's had a very high-quality respray in its original Carrera White, with not a single scratch or stone chip on the car. I used the AMMO NYC Paint Regimen which has resulted in a very high gloss with stunning depth and feels amazing to the touch. The wheels were just refinished in black, with new Porsche caps, and even new black wheel lugs (details, details). The Graphite Gray interior is very, very clean and the car has BRAND NEW headlight assemblies, which are very expensive. As I mentioned, it has an LN IMS bearing installed, and the car is lowered and sits on KYB struts. The exhaust is a Fister D Mod and sounds incredible...well, it did anyway. It has a short shift kit, and the Continental Extreme tires have around 90% tread. Are you beginning to see how painful this is for me, how much I love this car?! While I don't need to give the car away, I am needing to step back and collect my thoughts. If you're looking for an amazing car with which to begin a project, this has all the ingredients. [snip]

Sigh. If the guy is foolish enough to link intermix with an IMS failure + spend more money on his paint job than engine maintenance, I'm not seeing any lesson to learn here. Drain the coolant & oil, flush the systems if it's safe, otherwise hand over to mechanic for a top end rebuild. If it ends up needing a complete rebuild, sure - bad luck. But otherwise, this could be a cracked head without the need for a complete rebuild. Sooo many 2.7, 3.0, 3.2L cars have had top end rebuilds that the Carreras from 1965 onward that don't need top end work every decade or so are the exception.

Sounds more like a cracked head than an IMS issue. The IMS is a catch-all when it comes to m96 engine failures. Plus, I'm pretty sure that it's the black wheels that caused the problem.

You're better than this b3. Why mention the LN swap in the title. This was clearly an intermix of some form. The IMSB has no relation to that. The title as is just adds FUD as it leads one to think that bearing failed.

Someone got a nice roller for $7600.00

Quotes source post: 14521724

Got you interested in reading didn't I? But you're right. I should have put quotes in the title so it links to the seller's comments. I complain a lot about the "Huffpost" type titles, and here I've done the same thing. Sorry bout that. And yes, I felt the same way regarding the seller's intent on mentioning the LN IMS bearing, but wanted to let others chime in first. The seller is making it sound like the LN bearing was the reason for the failure. But the reality is more than likely a cracked head or maybe worse? This problem motor could have been saved, but the buyer in this auction did get one hell of a deal. Heck, those new front headlight enclosures costs about $2000 each. No telling what the paint job cost. IMHO, the seller jumped the gun and should have let his emotions chill out before auctioning it off. But again, I still think these kinds of stories hurt the current values of the 996. Great for me though... I still love these rotten cars and hope to be in one by Spring. Mr. TwoBags has already been rooting for me, right Tony? ha!

Haha the good news is cheaper prices will just lower the cost of reentry into the crazy club It's not very ethical to link LN to intermix or even cylinder failure, but anyone reading your thread here will learn that in short order. Outside of Rennlist the misinformation will continue. Modest depreciation up to 25% is what I'm personally expecting - alongside years of driving pleasure!

See #6 Looks like the seller paid $16,750 for it back in May 2017. Wonder how much he dumped into it? $5,000 - $7,000??? Maybe? I probably would have put the original headlight enclosures back on and sell the "new" ones on eBay. They look like standard halogen based so they won't bring as much as the Litronics. Maybe even do the same with the wheels. I don't know. But in the end, the seller only got about 5 months and 1000 miles out of it. If he has $25,000 in it and just sold it for only $7600, that equals to a big $17,400 kick in the gonads. ouch!

Quotes source post: 14521722

Man, you're onto something here! Wonder if this is like the "black cat" curse or something. Maybe we should alert Slakker?

TTB is spot on, and it looks like the seller maybe gave this car away. Bad enough that he equated the LN IMS retrofit with M96 immortality, but referring anyone to Gas Monkey Garage should be a criminal offense.

Quotes source post: 14521822

KoB, You mean you didn't like the episode where the gas monkeys modified a very nice 996 cab into a extreme wide body 997 conversion with LS engine? They only cut about 20% off the structure to make everything fit and I thought it was super fair of them to race a modern 991 Turbo S, didn't you? I really thought the 996/997/LS frunkenstein would have been three or four car lengths ahead. I blamed it on the driver.

Actually, As someone who is in the midst of putting a new engine in his 996, I can say I think, 7600 is too much. Its irrelevant what he put into the car. I recently bought a nice running convertible 996 for 8K that needed tranny work, fixed and flipped it. Was a real nice car. Rollers at 8 grand are way too much in my book.

Quotes source post: 14521857

I must admit to a bit of jealousy when I peek into your garage.

Quotes source post: 14521857

IMO, depends on whether this is a cracked head or cracked block.

Quotes source post: 14521862

I just try to pretend he's not posting. Either way, sucks to be OP of original story, but not gonna deter my habits in any way and hope don't end up in their shoes. If so, such is life, and that's where Woodford Reserve helps a bit.

Quotes source post: 14521857

$7600 roller, $7000. motor=$14000.00 nice running and mod'd 996 with fresh paint...I'd be happy!

"This is like the third or fourth 1999 model 996 with this kind of story in the last month. Will this be an increasing trend?" Probably, given the age and quantity of these cars, I would expect to see more of this, not less. But I don't see how the 99s are any different from the others in general. Why would this or any other car need a respray? Doesn't that sound like the car was either stored outdoors too much, it wasn't cared for?

Quotes source post: 14522107

Ah...your assuming you do the install yourself and that you can get a low mileage engine you are right. The quote I got was $10K for 55K mile engine and another 3K for install plus IMS. I just got a fresh quote on this but I didn't do this option in the end since I opted for 997.

Quotes source post: 14522172

I look forward to project.

Look, lets just admit up front I'm the cheapest bastard who ever saved used gum. Having said that, I see no value in a roller unless someone hands you the keys, and gives a BJ with the title. Anyone who's shopping 996, and can't pony up ~$13-17k entry price for a runner can just go buy a Mini with the Union Jack roof and be done with it. The entry price is low enough, that like most perf cars, the running cost is what separates the men from the posers. I just bought a driver 928 in rough shape for $1300. I've got about $1200 in parts so far, and in another $800 I'll have a decent driver. Add paint, int work and it'll be a nice save. But - that's a far cry from spending $9k on a bust. Who knows what the chassis is like? Prolly pretty nice, but it's still a do-over with an engine. Now - it's got a black mark against it for a blown engine. So, with this model, it may not make much diff, but when others are shop for a car unless it has a rebuild provenance, most folks are gonna go with the car without any history in it's past. YMMV

I think the seller was not so smart to splash IMSB all across the add. He should have posted it as the best opportunity for anybody fixing up a great car that has ALL work done with now an unfortunate intermix issue (which can easily be resolved but unfortunately I need to move on with my life yadie yadie).

Perhaps someone should have told him you're supposed to lift off the gas when you change gear? Don't really understand why you'd do an IMSB on a 104k-mile dual row '99 in the first place. And does respray + new headlights say "front end bump" to anyone else, or is it just me?

Quotes source post: 14522701

Have you seen some of the guys that sell on this forum? Eeeek. 🐒

Quotes source post: 14523840

I did a second take after reading that as well. Bless his heart.

BJ = Bundle of Jacksons?

The belief that a new bearing will prevent D-chunking or any of the other issues that have nothing to do with the IMS bearing, I suspect, leads a lot of people to assume their cars are indestructible. The K&N intake...on a "show-quality" 996? Very sad. Regardless of whether or not the seller knows his bum from a hole in the ground...it's sad to see another '99 being sold as a roller, especially for something that isn't necessarily one of the most expensive engine problems you can find yourself with in a 996... A dollar says it was running the stock water pump and some impeller wound up in a place it shouldn't have...*crack*.

Quotes source post: 14525124

No joke... a "show quality 996" ... he painted over the Porsche logo on his calipers for goodness sakes. ugh!

Quotes source post: 14525096

Maybe he meant "Ben & Jerry's" ice cream?

Quotes source post: 14525396

Bonbons and Jager! Hey, his 996 was show quality. He drove it like a bat out of hell when leaving a very prestigious car show that plebs like you only WISH you could get an invite...., little thing called Cars and Coffee...., yeah..., don't you two feel embarrassed now!

Quotes source post: 14524029

I see what you did there.

Quotes source post: 14525124

I'll up that bet to a mil pesos.

"What started like any other Saturday ended with my worst Porsche fear coming to pass. When shifting from third to fourth gear at full throttle...POOF! Just like that, my gorgeous, show-quality 996 engulfed I-75 in an enormous cloud of white smoke. As a result, this car has the 'milkshake' condition, water and oil mixed ." Redline in third is about 100mph...seems kinda rough on the ol' show-quality 996. "The wheels were just refinished in black" He didn't even mask the rotor hats before rattle-canning them...I guess the concours judges missed some of those smaller details.

LOL @ you guys and those calipers

Quotes source post: 14521822

I flew into Dallas-Love Airport a couple of months ago and happened to look out the window just in time to see the big Gas Monkey painted roof...and the big black donuts in the parking lot...I thought it was kinda cool...wish I'd snapped a pic.

$3k for an engine swap is ridiculously expensive. You aren’t supposed to keep your eyes open. My understanding is if you knew the guy you wouldn’t have bothered. I think pulling the AOS might have revealed the cause fairly easily.