987 Bores Scope Photos

Hey everyone I know bore scoring discussions are beating a dead horse here but I bought a borescope to inspect my cylinders during a spark plug change. I was hoping that this would ease my concerns about bore scoring but I have now found myself feeling quite the opposite after scoping cylinder 1 (passenger side front cylinder) Would love some feedback on these photos. I am not super experienced with bore scoring as this is my first Porsche and I really hope it's not as bad as my gut tells me it is. I bought this car in November after several years of researching and dreaming and was stupidly convinced by C & C Repair in Monterey, California that it wasn't something I should worry about so I trusted them. I'm now realizing I probably should have never bought this car without seeing inside the cylinders. Background: Car is a 2006 Cayman S and spent it's entire life in Monterey Bay, CA until I bought this car in November and brought it here to Indianapolis. It has 77k miles and has not been tracked to my knowledge. Had an oil analysis done that didn't show any "red flags" as far as metal content in oil. Car also is not consuming oil at a measurable rate so I'm holding out hope that this is nothing and that I have an untrained eye. Below are the photos I took please let me know if I need to save up $20k or if I'm in the clear for a couple years. I apologize for low photo quality these were obviously taken with the included mirror and I couldn't get it to focus very well. Thanks TL;DR: How screwed am I?

I could be wrong, but doesn’t look like a problem to me. All engines have some degree of scoring. and this looks very light, superficial if at all My $0.02, I worried a lot about this initially, but 2 years later, unless it starts to consume oil or make sounds, drive it and enjoy it. if it ticks or billows smoke, that’s when you start to worry better save the engine block and do a rebuild than blow the engine block at that point some purists might disagree

Thank you for the reply I needed to hear this. This is my first real sports car and it feels like finding out it has a terminal illness LOL

Doesn't look significant to me.

From the little I can see, I am guessing your car is just fine. If you've got a good lab report, I think you'll be able to sleep well at night. Now go introduce yourself in the new members section with photos. Let's see that awesome ride you bought! Welcome to P9.

I don’t know what my bores look like, I know the car runs strong to redline in every gear and pulls hard. When you’re diligent on maintenance sometimes it’s way better to keep it simple.

I'm not an expert either, but I've watched plenty of videos showing bore scoring and they looked nothing like yours. Here's what I have learned are the best practices to prevent bore scoring. Always allow the engine to reach full operating temp Use top tier 93 octane fuel Change oil and filter every 5,000 with an A40 spec Porsche spec oil This is a best practice to enjoy life. leave any conversation if you hear the terms IMS, RMS bore scoring Is there a story about how you found your car and brought it home? What convinced you to buy your Caymen?

Hi joeltrg, The scoring is generally worse on cylinders 6 and 5 (driver side). I would go back and take a look at those. Keep in mind that the scoring gets worse as it gets closer to the bottom of the cylinder. You will not be able to see the worst of the scoring unless you go in from the sump. Unfortunately, cylinder scoring is inevitable. From what I've learned, the best thing you can do is more frequent oil changes, as well as consider changing out your fuel injectors, or at least having them checked. The injectors can lose their spray pattern and essential drip fuel down the side of your cylinders, resulting in oil dilution. The other big thing that is always mentioned is NOT using Mobile1 oil, and instead using Driven, Motul , or LIQUI MOLY , all of which supposedly have additional additives. One last thing that is always talked about is avoiding idling from a cold start. This is due to the fact that the ECU wants to bring the catalytic convert up to temp as quickly as possible and therefore causing the engine to idle a bit higher and use more fuel -which can result in additional oil dilution, etc... Paul

@NTesla - Those three suggestions are solid and easy suggestions. @picinkoff — Great suggestions/thoughts as well. Yes, ignorance is certainly bliss. That being said, given that our P-cars are quite expensive, I regularly recommend that P-car users soberly inform themselves of the risks involved with both IMS and bore scoring (especially especially 987.1S from 2006-08 for the latter). At the same time, we shouldn’t drive ourselves crazy with false alarms and such all to the point where we’re not enjoying our cars in the process. Kind of a “keep calm and carry on” situation, IMHO. A P9 user recently offered a kind suggestion that I do a borescope on my 987.2 2.9L, while I was already in deep there doing my plugs and coils. It seemed to make sense given that I’ve got nearly 260K miles on the odometer, but it really didn’t seem necessary as it’s not prone to bore scoring. Again, it’s about risk assumption. Now if one wants to exit conversations about oil preferences, that’s entirely another story — regardless of marque…

Don't ask questions where you don't want to hear the answer. A golden rule my mother-in-law (RIP) taught and practiced for over 80 years and she was loved by everyone. I have a bore-scope (it actually looks about identical to the one the urologist uses to look into my bladder - but he connects his to a monitor not his phone.. but I digress..) I have never looked inside any of my cylinders, even when I had an early Cayenne V8 (very prone to scoring until Porsche switched block providers and the issue simply stopped..) There are MANY places in life where this applies - and it applies to Porsche engines that don't show any symptoms of problems. Your engine looks fine. That's bore polish - which is what happens with the type of bore we have - the aluminum bore is slightly worn away exposing silica that provides the protective layer in the cylinder. Sleep well - your engine is fine.

Unfortunately your Cayman is a total loss but I'll take it off your hands for $5000. Seruiously, I think you're all right. Now go enjoy this beast!!! Drive it whenever you can and enjoy it. Do regular maintenance including oil changes and cut you oil filters open with a razor for inspection and if you're into over kill have your oil analyzed. Look and listen for signs something is wrong but outside of that stop worrying and enjoy it!!!!