3.4 Liter Rebuilt Engine

My 01 996 C2 with 57,000 miles may be in need of replacement. I have oil in the coolant but no coolant in the oil. I have had the oil heat exchanger replaced and I will also have a leakdown test performed. I am just trying to cover all bases should replacement be the final answer. While my Virginia Beach dealership is $8,400 plus tax for factory rebuild with core exchange, is there a less costly way to obtain a quality rebuild with warranty? I am just wondering if anyone has had experience with 996 engine replacement.

I'm going through this right now. Suncoast quoted me $10,200 for engine with a $2,055 core return credit. Now, you also have to bear in mind that if the head or block is cracked then you're SOL on that $2K. My total quote from my local dealer was $17Kish with taxes out the door. So, if you can find a cheaper way to do it then I'm all ears as my 996 has spent longer in the shop than on the road at this point.

The only difference for me is that I will have a local shop do the work. Lutzo with LMN Motorsports is an excellent local Porsche person who knows what he is doing. So I am just trying to find the engine. My core is fine now and that is also an issue. If I have a problem and a catastrophic engine failure at the track, then I understand the core would be worth nothing. I am driving the car today and things are running fine but oil in the coolant is not nice.

If you have oil in the coolant, you also have coolant in the oil because coolant pressure will be greater than oil pressure after the engine is stopped. It's just much more difficult to see small amounts of coolant in the oil than it is oil in the coolant. It's a really bad idea to be driving the car when the oil and coolant are mixing.

You would think so but I had the oil checked chemically for Glycol. This was suggested a couple of months ago by Joel Reiser who answers questions for PCA and the 996. The test found 50 parts per million of glycol and this is extremely low. It still confuses me how this could be as swapping fluids would seem to go both ways.

That means that whatever is causing the leak is only exposed at the higher pressures seen in the oil circuit. It can happen like that. Good job on getting the oil tested.

This might be due to coolant pressure max being around the 20 psi mark where oil pressure max is around 75psi. Possible that 20 psi isnt enough to seep past the trouble area but 75psi is. I honestly hate to see all these folks have engine troubles with the 996. They are quickly becoming a performance bargain!!

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You're kidding right? Do a search for engine replacement and your head will spin with the amount of info and opinions out there. Sounds like you had some warning which seems to be weird. I would have RUN to a dealer for trade in before I was faced with the $8500 bill. However, that sounds like a pretty good price compared to what we usually see on this board. Best of luck

http://car-part.com/

is the 8500 incl labor?? If so....get it done....but I think the 8500 is parts only...labor will add another 5K or more. I feel for you guys....maybe it helps that when you are driving a BMW the replacement costs are about the same...so it is not only Porsche charging such high prices for what I almost think is a desing ..lets call it weakness. I am wondering if all engines that need replacement are in stick driven cars??

There a crated unused 997 factory 3.8 engine up for just $8000 on the 997 board. Could that be of any use to you?

bella- Good luck with your engine repair. I hope that everything is done by spring. Your track car looks great with the black wheels. I have considered doing that with my seal grey. I am envious of your Porsche stable of cars especially the white C4S. Nice.

Thanks for your kind comments. I stumbled across a PCA member who was selling his GT3 Wheels, GT3 Seats, DAS roll bar and Schroth five point harnesses in the summer of 2006. He lives on Long Island and I got all of that for $4500. I confirmed with the 996 PCA advisor that the GT3 would fit my 996, same car, and they have made a big difference on the track.

Thanks Doug for an opinion that would explain why this is happening. also, I have been extracting oil from the coolant tank with a 3/8 inch tube and placing in a clear bottle. Since the cooling system is large this oil could be left over from the original problem so if it keeps appearing after several weeks of extraction, at least this will confirm the problem still exists.

Well my mechanic and I determined that a rebuilt engine is the way we will go. Purchased rebuilt from Va Beach dealer with delivery next week. In the last month of street driving my 01 996, I continued to loose coolant on regular basis. As additional oil was appearing, I extracted coolant from the expansion tank into a one liter bottle. I filled it two thirds and half of that was oil. A week later, my mechanic pulled additional oil from the tank. While the engine runs perfectly fine, this problem will not go away. Replacing the head gaskets on each side is a possible fix, but we decided against this in order to be sure that the problem was resolved. I am replacing with the same 3.4 L engine and not going bigger like some I have spoken with. I just thought I would post to for anyone having similar oil in coolant issues. My 996 is getting a transplant for Christmas!

sorry about the news... gl with the replacement

Do you plan on having the old engine examined to see exactly what failed where? If so, please let us know. So is the engine that you are getting a rebuilt one then and so you are not rebuilding your existing one? Keep us posted and sorry to hear about this.

Yes I am getting factory rebuilt with 12 month 12000 mile warranty. My mechanic is Lutzo Kovasyk, and we spent several months on trying to save what I have. Replacing the two head gaskets and some smaller ones may work but that job is 45 hours in the book according to him. Since I expect to keep and track this car for some time, I want to go with a fix without questions so rebuilt is the decision. Since there is a core exchange I do not think we will spend a lot of time on the old one

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Thanks for the clarification. So the rebuilt is a factory unit so yep you cannot tear down the core, shame about that as we will not really know exactly what failed. But at least you get a warranty with the engine which is good.

bella - if you don't mind sharing this info, what was the "net" cost of the engine without labor (rebuilt engine minus the core exchange)?

I thought the new (rebuilt) engines came with a 2 year warranty?

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me too. what gives? Does it have to dealer installed to get the extra year?

I had to have mine replace as well. Mine had the same oil/coolant intermix issue. To this date I still don’t know what caused the failure. I was quoted $8,129 at two different dealers. Labor was 36 hours at $102.50. Total with PCA discount was just under $12,000. Warranty is for two years unlimited miles for Porsche dealer.