Buying 996 w/replaced engine?

Any reason why this would be bad or good? I'm looking at a car that had RMS and had a new engine replaced under warrenty by Porsche. Also installed at Porsche. Would this lower the price or not make a difference? Car has 30K miles...engine has 5K...

IMO it would not make a difference except you now have a newer engine that may be under a warranty and run stronger than the original. There are a lot of 996s with replaced engines and I do not ever see these vehicles being such a collector that matching numbers would ever mean anything.

^ bingo. it seems to be hit and miss as far as the RMS anyhow. If the price is right and it has a warrenty, then i say go for it. mine has been very good to me. some more details on the car might help such as year and price (btw..did u own an S14 nissan before?)

Agree with jsaindc. True P-car people look at it as an engine with fewer miles and therefore better. Non P-car people often frown upon the swap. Are you sure it was RMS and not something more critical such as an intermediate shaft?

^ bingo on the S14 part... Back years ago when I was a freshman in college, I bought a 95 240SX and swapped over to a sr20det with a Ball bearing GT3037 turbo. It was modded with everything possible minus a standalone and also had a S15 front.

Wow. Do you have pics of the S14?

I noticed your name has a G35 in it...I recently sold mine earlier this year.

BTW - thanks for all the replies so far. It seems like it's not really an issue in the P-Car world...

Yup I have a G35 Coupe in Ivory Pearl right now. I joined these forums 2 years ago because I really wanted a C4S, however I bought a new home instead and so now I am returning to these forums to catch up on the latest info as 2007 should be my year. Have no idea what model I will get or if I am going new or used. I might wait till the lease is up on my G35 and lease a new 997 and buy a simple means of transportation for work use and use my lease allowance (or as much as I can) or if I should buy something "pre-loved" and use my lease allowance for what it was intended for LOL

s14Roller, First, if they replaced the engine due to an RMS issue; it meant that when they checked it the crank was out of round. That is the normal service procedure for that issue. Is it good or bad? Well, it can't be bad that they replaced it. The new engine could be stronger or weaker than the one that was in it. The one true benefit to the new engine is that it will have all the updates that were done up until its production date. Would it lower the price? Absolutely not. Because true resale is detemined by the chassis mileage, they should not be charging more either. I too ditched a G35 coupe to move to a 996. Although I have in the past had great luck with my Nissan Maxima (I still own it), my G35 6MT Coupe was a miserable experience. It was always squeeking, rattling, have problems with the stereo and the Brembo brakes since new. I've had poor experiences with 2 of Infiniti's dealers (1 is rated #1 for Infiniti Service in the County). It spent 30 days in for repair in the first year. It finally ended trading if for my 996 (with the financial assistance of Infiniti/Nissan Consumer Affairs, who contributed nicely to the 996 fund). By comparison, the 996 is a much higher quality, tighter, better built car that comes with far better service. Just to give you an idea, the leather in my 996 at 4 years looks far better (basically new) than the leather in my G35 did at only 1 year. Best of luck making the step up.

Granted what you say is basically true but let's not forget that you are comparing a $80K+ car to a $35K car. I would hope that there would be some quality improvements in a car costing almost $50K more. My son bought a G35 coupe in '04 and kept it for two years and had virtually no problems. After discount he got his nearly fully equipped G for a little over $33K, and sold it privately this year for $28, 500. He then moved up to the Infiniti M45 which seems to be another nice car. Bottom line is that I believe Infiniti did a nice job with their G and M series cars, especially when price is considered.

I'm an X max.orger. I really wanted a G35 coupe until I had a chance to ride in one. It felt so slow for some reason and it didn't feal fast until my x max.orger put a single turbo in his G35. I knew I didn't want to immediately void my warranty with FI, plus I wanted something with a body style that would be a bit more "timeless", hence my C2 Cab.

There is one thing to consider, and I don't think that it should affect your decision but it is a bargaining tool. Now that the engine has been replaced, the numbers won't match up. For collectors that is very important. Since the 996 platform was so sucessful, I doubt anyone is "collecting" them.

I would not worry about a factory rebuilt. Below is an excerpt from Joel Reiser's PCA tech q/a: "There is no such choice as a new vs rebuilt engine. Take the factory rebuilt engine, that is as good as a new one, and probably better, because someone at Porsche has gone through it (after 2002) and made the updates as needed. Porsche operates with an ISO-type continuous improvement process, so you want a factory rebuilt unit with improvements, not another possibly defective original unit that may have been collecting dust on a shelf for 4 years. I really don't believe they have such a stock, which is why I say there is no such choice, and if there was, it would not be a customer choice under a warranty claim."

I would agree, but my $22K Maxima that I bought new many years earlier has been a great car, at least on par (if not better) than the quality of my 996. It has only spent 3 days in the shop in over 5 years and 1 was for a recall. It is still tight with very good fit and finish. My dealer experiences with Nissan were far better than my Infiniti, even though this is Nissans lower end brand. By comparison, my G35 was a POS; but Nissan/Infiniti Consumer Affairs compensated me well for it in the end. I am glad your son had a better experience than I did.

If you consider everything you will agree that the replacement motor will add value over over having the original for these reasons. The replacement motors are an upgrade from the originals as they use the latest designed part to fit that motor. An example is an upgraded water pump, latest RMS and IMS (seals) designed, latest cam cover gaskets and seals, most significant is the larger bearings and latest intermediate shaft design. Every latest part supersession and improved assembly technique is used in factory replacement motors. Also when you consider the power steering pump, alternator, starter, belt, fuel injectors, coils wiring, throttle body assy, TPS, and other electronics are all new as are the cam chains and related tensioners, valves, guides, pistons, rings, all internal bearings, oil pumps and more. I was also told by the dealer that the factory uses only the best and sometimes brand new engine cases for a reman motor. The dealer told me my reman looked like a brand new motor and pointed out several examples. Being in a related business I agreed. All the Porsche motor issues should be resolved with a remanufactured motor and it should go over 200k miles without having to tear it down.