How hard to remove & install the engine? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hello all, I bought a 2001 S at the end of July. My First Porsche. It did not have records, so I paid a local specialist to do the IMS, RMS and they also put in a new flywheel. Last Saturday the engine died on me and This past Tuesday, the shop told me the motor was done (copper in the oil filter and a very ugly squealing when started). I did get to enjoy the car for all of 573 miles. I am trying to decide if I am capable of swapping in a used engine. I have other cars to drive and a garage bay to store/work for an extended period of time (if necessary). My experience: C4 Corvette: - Valve stem seal replacement - Cooling system work (water pump, radiator, etc) - Brakes (master cylinder on down) BMW E39 525i: - Cooling system - VANOS rebuild - Crank Case Vent replacement (pull the intake and replace all gaskets & consumables I touched). normal cars: - brakes - shocks/suspension - fuel injectors - OBD2 errors - normal "old car care" I have taken automotive courses on : - Steering & Suspension - Manual transmission & differential - Auto Air conditioning I would like your opinion on the difficulty of doing an engine replacement, how you got the car high enough to get the motor out, and if I am a moron for thinking of taking this on. Thanks!

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Hello Fred, Sorry to hear about your troubles, but before you remove the engine you may want to try to pin down the source of the squealing noise, perhaps by running the engine without the the accessory belt and also checking the starter motor itself. IMHO, removing the engine on one of these cars is actually easier than the standard front engine/RWD configuration as long as you have some basic tools and the space to do the job. You are at the right place as this forum has many members with plenty of experience that will help you (use the search function and you will be surprised). Good luck

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If you are replacing with the same year and model of engine it is not difficult at all. If you have a standard trans. find an engine from a standard trans car of the same year and model. Should be plug and play. Same goes if you have an auto trans. If you get the same model engine but a different year then there is the possibility of differences in the DME/ECU programing. If you use a furniture dolly to set the engine and trans on you don't need to get the car that high. A furniture dolly sets very low and supports 1000 lbs. and they are cheap about $15.00 I use them all the time. So you just need the car body high enough to clear the engine setting on the dolly. Then just roll the engine out from under. Use a good floor jack or two and jack the car up in stages so you can block it up solidly and your good to go.

with a 2 post lift and hydraulic lift table, i could have a girl scout dropping the engine in 3 hours. on jack stands, its more finnicky, but not a huge deal. I you are going to be on jackstands, I highly recommend the harbor freight lift table. basically you just remove your rear bumper, exhaust and wheel the engine out.

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Sounds about right. You'll need to get the car up about 24" to clear. Furniture cart will allow you to wiggle it out. Remember to check all of your hoses etc. I remember pulling and swearing for about 20 minutes one time before I realized that I still had a coolant line attached!

I do not have a 2 post lift (or access to one). I have a quick Jack 5000 (not Tall enough, I know) 4 regular plastic ramps and a pair of Lift Stands : https://myliftstand.com/ I don't think they are quite tall enough either, but I may be able to put a couple of 2X12" boards under them to make it work. I need to do some measuring. I appreciate all of your responses! My pride does not want me to walk away from the car, but I am also concerned about dropping an additional $X,000 into it and failing.

Thank you for all of your input. I do not have a 2 post lift or access to one. I have a quick jack 5000 (not tall enough), some ramps and a pair of lift stands: https://myliftstand.com/ I will need to do some measuring to see if it is high enough. Thanks again!

Thank you for all your input. I do not have a 2 post lift. I have a pair of lift stands, but I need to do some measuring.

And watch out for the parking brake cable. I've managed to forget clearing it twice!

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Fred, IMHO you will be better off (and safer) if you use four stands instead of two, this way the engine/transmission will come straight down/up. .

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This also gave me trouble with all the hoses on the corner of the motor behind the driver. It is a fairly straight forward process. The thing I had trouble with was getting the power steering reservoir off. Tons of good info in this Pelican write up. https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/15-ENGINE-Engine_Drop/15-ENGINE-Engine_Drop.htm

I'm still a strong believer in using a normal engine hoist to drop the engine down. The hoist holds the engine from the top so its as easy as lowering the engine down and on to the furniture dolly. Just use a long chain and have the hoist at its highest... then lower the engine down with the crane. Simple as that. I can tell you all about lowering the boxer out. I got no comment on putting one back in. LOL

This is my prefered way from the bottom.

The Bentley manual for Porsche Boxster has an entire chapter on how to remove & install the motor. You can find this for sale from time to time in the Parts section of the classifieds, or Christmas is coming and you could ask Santa for a new one. But once you get it out, you have to replace it. Obviously, you want to replace the IMS, RMS, clutch, and flywheel before you put the replacement back in but there may be several more things to do While It's Out. And how are you going to ensure the rod bearings are good on the replacement? That may be the source of your original engine's copper. It can get expensive with all the extras before you slap the new engine in.

Hi all, Thank you for your responses and info. I was told that 24" is the minimum height to get the engine out. I was able to achieve 25" with some 2X12's and my Quickjack. I do have the Bentley manual (came with the car). Husker, you bring up a very good point. Given the car has 123K miles, am I better off getting/buying a rebuilt M96 and installing that? Is there a list of companies who offer rebuilt engines or a rebuild service? I tried calling a couple of Porsche dealers, but their parts departments only sold parts of an engine (block, heads, ect.) not a complete engine on a pallet (like a chevy/ford small block). I am new to the Porsche world, and while I knew about the IMS issue, I did not know about the other issues that seem to be common to the M96 (bore scoring, chain tensioners, chain guides, main bearings, etc). I appreciate all of your help as I try to figure this out.

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Hello Fred could you please post a pic of your car on the quickjack? 25" seems a pretty nice height (22" w/out the 2x12), thanks!

https://www.snapfish.com/share?via=link&token=9S2YImXNrrpA_BOGu0_3GA/AUS/27951738836070/SNAPFISH Full details from floor to car: 2X12 Quickjack 5000 Quickjack Frame Extensions Quickjack Large rubber block Quickjack small rubber block I jacked the car up and put ramps under the tires to allow me to stack all the components on/under the quickjack frames. I added a pic, but it does not seem to be showing up in the post.

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I think angle is kinda important too. That might be why I didn't have any issues clearing the rear bumper when I pulled my boat anchor. I had my HF (yes I put my car on HF stands but in my defense I put it up before the recall) stands in the front and they are small. I had some larger stands in the rear and that made the car sit nose down making the bumper higher. IDK how high the whole shibang was but it was high enough for me to sit upright at the rear of the car.

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ByProDriver (I think that's her name) has a nice engine for sale. You might give it some consideration. It's bullet proof and likely would outlast the rest of your car. He's on this forum. Look him up. Best wishes.

I was able to get the engine out of my 99 Boxster with out having to get the quick jack higher than stock height. I did have to "transfer" the engine off the motorcycle jack, onto a furniture dolly that was an inch or so lower than the motor cycle jack, AND the engine needed to be rotated 90 degrees to fit between the suspension. Then is slid right out. -Eric 99 986 5 speed 09 987 Cayman S PDK