My dead engine photos

Here's some shots of my blown 996 3.4 engine. #1 cylinder wall broken, lots of seized pistons, 9.9k for factory replacement. Photos are too big to post here, sorry. http://www.trackpedia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=827

9.9 IS THAT FOR A NEW OR REMAN ENGINE? does that include labor?

I hate to hear about a blown engine. What year? How many miles?

9.9k including install for a reman engine with 2 year warranty. 43k miles, 99.

Local photos

Bnewport, were you at LCTM a couple weeks ago? Sorry to hear about the engine. Any word on the cause for the cylinder wall failure?

I was at the LCMT DE event last two weeks back, and there was a burgundy C4 that blew its engine in front of me - was that you? If so, you did a great job getting off the track - no oil anywhere on the track surface. I never saw so much smoke come out of a car (that was not on fire). Sorry about the engine though.

Any word yet on the cause of this? I have a 1999 with 33k and that scares the hell out of me.

I cannot imagine that you could rebuild and install that engine yourself for much less than 9.9k. You "might" be able to save a little on the installation costs if you checked around or considered doing it yourself, but it doesn't sound all that bad to me considering everything plus the two year factory warranty.

Aplrus, was that you with your fiance at LCMT?

Chris, Yep. That was me and my fiance, Beth. Our first DE. What car did you have? Adam

Well, Nothing motivates someone like the thought that you're about to burn alive Suddenly 1500 bucks for a suit doesn't seem so expensive. No idea why this happened. The dealer did the tear down visible in the pics but it would cost more bucks to go deeper and figure it out. From what I'm reading this is pretty common. A fellow PCA guy had his 2003 C4S fail a month ago, again new engine.

Sweet, I was in the Seal grey C4, parked on the grass, a couple spots down from you. Your a brave man bringing the lady to the DE. She must of loved your drive on the grass Good call getting the Pcar in BEFORE the big day. I did exactly that! Did you stay for day three? I bet it was the best day! I sent you am IM, with a link for some picture I took. Sorry, only black/red, but thought you might be interested.

Sorry to hear about your motor. That blows. But I know first hand what you are going through. Same thing happened to my motor early this year - also cracked cylinder #1. Yours does not looks as obviously cracked as mine was though. In hindsight, you might as well buy the remanufactured motor from Porsche. Mine was rebuilt by an independent, and when I went to sell it (just a couple of months ago), the fact that it was not a factory replacment really scared a lot of people off. You should get the difference back that you pay in the end. I know it is a tough pill to swallow, and I feel badly for you. It ruined the whole Porsche experience for me and I get mad just talking about it still. There are SO MANY 99's with this problem out there. So many of the potential buyers kept asking me, "why are there so many 99's with replacement motors?" I just kept saying, "Porsche says there is nothing wrong with it, that's all I know." Best of luck. For all you other 99 owners - GET THE WARRANTY.

Just for the sake of comparison, how much did it cost you total to get the engine rebuilt and installed by an independent? Thanks.

I guess the bummer for me is that my tip failed 4 weeks ago also. That was 9.7k and now 9.9k for the engine. Apparently, tips don't fail which makes it even more bizarre. Hopefully, these problems are gone now that the car has a new DME, tranny and engine, all with 2 yr warrantys from the factory. I means, whats left, and then the wheels fall off...

I had it done by Auto Strasse in Newport. He charges about $5500-6500 for this cylinder problem. R & R included, with a 6 month warranty. With the engine and trans both failing, I think BOB might have to make an apperance in this thread. Good luck to the original poster. I would be sure to DE and track THE **** out of that thing trying to break something while under that 2 year warranty.

Thanks for providing that data point. I think you actually got a decent price, but I agree with you that at that rate you might as well get the Porsche engine with 2 year factory warranty.

Who is Bob and what did the 6.5k get you, i.e. how was it repaired?

6500 seems like a waste to me, your not gonna get verything new like with a reman, alternator coils harness ect not to mention internals you may get bearigns and rings and gaskets but likey youll still have all the old valves, springs, timing chains ect. Id recomned the new one, are you the original owner?

No, I bought the car just as the factory warranty expired, one owner before me.

10K is a lot of money, but for a reman engine including warranty and install...not bad at all!! I thought the engine alone was 15K plus another 5K labor!! Is this done at a P dealer, with P dealer warranty?? I am not saying it doesn't suck......because it does...especially after a tip failure!!....you could almost had bought a frontal wrecked P just for the engine and transmission

"Bob" is a guy who bought a used 996 from a Ford dealer. The original new car warranty had run out and it was, obviously, NOT a CPO car. If I recall correctly, he had 2 engines blow up on him and had a fire in the car. He spent over $45K repairing the car (by independant shop, not a Porsche dealer) and was pi$$ed that Porsche North America would not "assist" with any of the repairs. This was posted here 15 to 18 months ago.

sucks but not the original buyer means porsche didnt make any money off them, and wont make any money off them. If porsce doesnt help them out then they may be turned off towards porsches.......so it may prevent them from buying another older out of warrenty car that they would expcet porsche to foot the bill. If your gonna buy a used porsche, warrenty or not, if you wanna be covered or have a chance at help when its out of warrenty, get the car serviced at the dealer youll have a way better chance at getting help. If you buy a car have it serviced at your local pepboys then the engine comes apart and you have never had the car to the dealer they arent gonna help to the orignal poster, being that you just spent alot of money with the dealer onyour trans, I would go in and talk with the service manager, see if they can help you out a lil bit, reduced labor rate, or 10 percent off the bill somethig to help you out, if your willing to step up (which you have shown them with the trans) they should be willing to do the same

Does anyone here know if the 3.4L cracked wall problem eased up a bit on the '00, and '01 model years, compared to '99?

I only serviced my car with the p-dealer which I have to say has made this whole thing a lot easier. The dealer has been awesome so far, Maplewood Imports in Minneapolis, very helpful. I think the 00-01s are all the same as the 99s. Unless you can afford the repair bills then an 02 or better with CPO is the only thing I'd buy. If money was no object the a GT3 or TT is best given they don't use the 996 engine and don't suffer from these failures as a result.

same... had a friend with same problem.... FOR THOSE WHO BLOW THIEIR MOTOR GET THE "S" VERSION .... IT'S ESSENTIALLY THE X-51 MOTOR FOR 99... BUT IN 99 THEY CALLED IT THE CARRERA EUROPEAN POWERKIT.... SAME PRICE!!!

I have only seen 3.4s lose cylinders but even those arent too common. the 3.6s have their issues too, nothing is perfect or 100%

The S engine doesn't exist in US parts catalogs. I tried today but it would cause problems as this isn't what the warranty company wants, they want the 'correct' replacement engine not this engine. Either way, I get 2 years on the engine they will give me so it could be a lot worse.

Hey, if you wanna be the first one to rebuild your engine and upgrade to 4.0L, here is the link: http://www.autofarm.co.uk/new.php3/silsleeve.html It's a UK company which provides rebuild kit for the 996 engine! They're actually featured in Excellence megazine, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. The price is not too bad either! Actually, I think 3.4 can be upgraded to 3.7, and 3.6 can be upped to 4.0. Correct me if I'm wrong.

O yah, check out their cylinder wall!!! It's beefy~ Your upgrade engine will probably last forever with those THICK wall.

Does Autofarm have affiliates in the U.S.?

Someone should give those british a call!! I wanna have an engine replacement plan for the future~ Let us know if anyone find out about them!!

Just picked up the car. Final cost 13,592 USD. Keep RPMs under 4.5k for 2k miles. Engine was 8500, core was 2300 and labor, tax etc

Seems a bit expensive, my final bill was almost 10.000 euros but this inclueded a new clutch plus all taxes. Of course I�ve sold the car just after, these 996 are equipped with time bombing engines ready to explode at any time, not kidding. Here�s what heppened to mine http://www.rennteam.com/showflat.php...&page=0#102121

WHY DID U HAVE TO PAY THE CORE CHARGE ?

The core was dead, unusable.