Vin wpcoa2994ys650084

Anyone have any info on this vin #? wpcoa2994ys650084 How do I find out if it has had a new motor ever? The dealer has been no help.

You find out by buying a 30 day carfax subscription. www.carfax.com

actually you could buy a single VIN lookup from carfax.....and possibly still not know

just curious... why do you suspect it has a new motor?

Nothing on Carfax, dealer already gave me that. I should have been more specific. Is there any way to find out if the engine has been replaced using my Vehicle Identification Number (or VIN number to the experts out there)? Is there a Porsche d-base somewhere?

It's got very high miles and I want to know if the motor has been replaced. I know that possibly 1 out of 20 cars (2000 MY) got a new motor at some point (according to my local dealer) The dealer has no records on it unfortunately.

Well, I've not actually done it on my car, but shouldn't the vin stamped on the engine match the one on the frame?

Call another dealer. They all have access to warranty related info on a car by VIN, so if it had the engine replaced under warranty, they would know.

That's a load of crap. You must really be naive to believe that.

well you posted the vin wrong so i guess at what it was supposed to be vin WP0CA2994YS650084 car had a coolant tnak in 7/03/02 along with a remote and some minor trim stuff engine was out 9/9/02 for replacement of oil seprator oil suction pumps plugs maf sesnor no explaintaion why wok was done by sonnen porsche you could cal them and get more details maybe has an open a209 recall porsche shows only one owner steve

Very generous of you to post that Steve

Having a bad day?

Dell, I just finished complimenting your "kinder/gentler" approach toward Newbies on another thread. When I read this comment, I literally started laughing so hard that my eyes started watering! Glad to see you back!

Aww, come on, when has Dell ever been kinder and gentler? Kinder and gentler to what? A slap in the face, being run over at 120 mph? taking a swimming lesson in the submarine?

Well, a dealer said it, so it MUST be true... even better if it's written on the Internet AND a Dealer says it, then it's more reliable than the bible. Ooops! Shouldn't said that.

... 85% of all statistics that a dealer quotes are made up. 67% of all statistics I quote are pulled out of my a$$

Thank you so much. I'll call Sonnen. Overall, this board is very useful and filled with most great people who are car folks. A few bad apples don't spoil the bunch! (Granny)

LOL!!!!! You knew I would have to b!tch slap some newbie talking out his @ss at some point.

Hey, it's been a few weeks, so I figured that you were overdue.

sorry the one owners name was steve i didnt think the last name was importain or ok to post, i figured if the guy your buying from is steve its problay the same guy. Thats the only info i can get from the porsce computer sorry no compy and pasteing just the basics

If they don't have records it probably wasn't changed...I'm sure they're trying to use it as a positive fact that it "probabaly" has a new motor in it.

I passed on the car because it has pretty bad oil leaks and had a strange whine and driveline vibration at certain rpm. Still looking.

good choice. be patient as there are PLENTY of good examples out there. Best of luck in your search

Interesting. I also agree, I did not find out my car had a new engine via CarFax, but it took the dealer a whole 5 mins after they got my car on the rack to tell me that my car has had it's engine replaced. Which in P-car world I guess is a good thing

That leads right to my next question. Should I be looking for a 996 that has had a new engine sometime in its life? My guess is that when they put a new engine in, it's probably a rebuilt one that is really tight to factory tolerances. It could be said that the "born with" engine is not within as tight of a spec. as the reman. engines (provided failure rates have been happening less with reman. engines). Some people say that $12k isn't so much money for the priviledge of a brand new engine but I'm only spending ~$25k on my 996 so it IS half of the price of the car!

the early 996 engines have been good, dont really see to many fail........the 02+ 996 engine fail more often NOTE I AM NOT SAYING THEY ALL BLOW UP OR ITS A TIME BOMB OR ANYTHING ELSE OF THE SORT JUST THAT THE NEWER ONES FAIL MORE THEN THE OLDER ONES in my experince

I agree with firehawk. Having a new engine doesn't mean it will be less problem prone, having a car with higher miles with no RMS (Real Main Seal) issue doesn't mean it's going to break any sooner than a car with a new engine. My main throught process with lower mileage cars, and I bought my car with very low miles, it is much better IMHO to have someone run across that RMS problem, and had it replaced, at lets say 20K, then have it not surface until 30K when I own it My understanding with RMS is that it either leaks right off the bat or it doesn't. Just this past weekend I heard a Boxster owner that was on his 3rd engine because of RMS issues. But as with I believe what everyone else is saying on the board, it is a known issue, but not a common one. You see it a lot on the board since the small percentage of the people who had encountered the problem are more vocal.

I thought RMS had nothing to do with an engine failure (unless you ran out of oil, of course). Porsche doesn't ever replace engines just for RMS do they?

some engines were replaed for rms issues, usually after multiple attempts if it was found that the cracnk was out of alignment the engine would be replaced. rms can leak at any time they leak when they sit they leak after you do a clutch qand have the trans out. engine dont blow up from rms issues its a spot in your driveway nothing more nothing less

Yeah, 2nd what firehawk said. From my understanding, the engine is usually replaced when they found the crank to be out of alignment to the engine. Or if there was an RMS issue that was not caught until too late. Not exactly the only cause of the problem that leads to replacing the engine but from what I read on the board can lead to it.

theres no rms issue thats too late, it leaks or it doesnt the engine dont fail from rms leaks ever they just leak on your garage floor

Curious... why do so many dealers replace engines based on RMS problems?

I have a 2004 C2 with 5.6k miles on it that was bought new this past December. It got a new engine about a month ago. The new engine has 600 miles on it, and I would think that if I wanted to sell this car it would be a very desireable one because of the fact that it has a new engine in it. I took extreme caution in breaking in the first engine, etc, but it was defective and replaced. The new engine is being broken in properly. I do not think engine replacement is a big deal. I also do not think Porsche refers to reman engines. They simply have replacement engines that come fully assembled. At least mine was. I was there to see it taken out of the box. Pretty cool really. Anyway, i wouldn't shy away from a car that had an engine replaced. I will see how this new one goes and hope for the best. The way I see it my car is under warranty until 2011 so I will either get rid of it at that time or keep it if it is running fine and trouble free.

There is a go / no go tool for replacing RMS that every dealer has. If it is a no go then the motor gets replaced. This tool basically reads the RMS clearance in relationship to the crank. As for more motors being replaced on later cars than earlier cars there is no proof of this that anyone other than Porsche has. And they are not letting this out. The dealers in Dallas and Austin actually say the exact oposite...by the way. Motors are replaced for many reasons and early in the run there were few parts available for the dealers to even work on the motors with. So there was no choice but to send it back. Today they can do a lot more to the motors.

Best thing I've seen on RMS so far: The 993 engine is based on the 964 which evolved from the 911 back in 1964. All these engines have their rear main bearing right next to the flywheel, the main bearings are supported directly in the crankcase and do not have a problem whatsoever with premature RMS failure. They all get the odd RMS leak, but this is a trivial issue usually caused by an aged seal after 100,000 miles, once dealt with it does not fail again for a long, long time. So why the problemwith the new generation engines? The 986/996 had to be redesigned by Porsche to be cheaper to make, i.e.less time consuming to assemble, in order to cut the cost of making their cars to remain competitive (look at the bottom line profit of Porsche Ag, maybethey went too far?). They probably achieved their goal at a price. Known faults of the new generation engines include: 1. RMS failure 2. Intermediate shaft bearing failure 3. Dropped liners 4. Overheating cylinders (caused by the incorrect use of 100% coolant, not a 50/50 mixture) 5. Variocam actuator failure 6. Breather housing oil leaks All of these will be engineered out of the cars in due course in the usual efficient Porsche way, but that is no comfort for the owner of a problematic engine out of warranty. Going back to the RMS, unfortunately the cantilevered flywheel, relatively flexible crank & seperate crank cradle (from the crankcase) all contribute to the problem, induced by wobble on the flywheel end leading to premature rear main bearing wear. I believe that Porsche actually have checking tools for the wear on these bearings now, or at least have a measurement for permissible side play, which should indicate the level of the problem. Some engines suffer more than others, I would hope that later engines are better, but I cannot vouch for that. Guess what though? The GT3 & GT2 do not have the problem. Why? They both use an evolution of the 993 crankcase & crank design, not the new one because it is not strong enough for racing. The moral of the saga is that if you want to buy a 996 and not worry about your RMS, buy a GT3. -Now I just need to find a $25k GT3!!

go no go guage is opbsolete we now measure the clearence with a snap gauge. we still dont open up the motors under warrenty we send them back. anythig beyond a lifter and its going back in a box. Ive changed gt3 rms seals and turbo rms seals too, not in the same sabout asc2/c4 seals but its percentages i see way more c2/c4s then gt/turbo cars in the shop its an oil leak not a catastropic failure, 993s leak oil 964s leak oil 930s leak oil 928s leak oil 944s leak oil all cars leak oil

Call PCNA, ask them for dealership's numbers who have ever performed any service on the car. Then call the dealer and try to extract the info.

I already passed on the car due to a serious oil leak but thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that next time if I run into the same predicament.