Well...my first post, is a sad one. 2006 Cayman S with blown motor

Hi All, My name is Kal. I've been watching these forums for a while, but haven't posted anything till today. Unfortunately, my first post is a sad one. I bought my 2006 Cayman S here in Southern California with 75k miles on it about 2 years ago. It's my daily driver (70 miles/day) and now has 92k miles, but it's sitting at Hergesheimer Motorsports in Lake Forest getting it's engine removed for potential rebuild...due to a big engine failure. From all the threads I've seen, it sounds like an IMS related failure. Failure Operation Method: - hard accel in 4th gear in straight line, slight vibration felt through chassis (felt by head toss- similar to going over a shallow gutter or manhole with one side) - soon after, braking and downshifting from 4th-->3rd-->2nd into a low-mid speed corner, felt strange engine character after downshift blip and powering out of corner (no I didn't over-rev) - immediately felt engine seize/decel surge - pulled over, engine died - looked under vehicle, no oil, no debris - engine cranks, but sounds labored (only tried once, for obvious reasons) - lots of bad valvetrain clatter - engine rpm immediately pulled down to 0 and seizes Current Status: - Oil Filter checked - metal debris found in filter Next Steps: - Hergesheimer will remove engine - will take pictures and give feedback along the way My humble request to all Planet 9 Cayman enthusiasts/specialists: - Any advise/recommendation/links/references to options/available engines/potential upgrades/or even purchase offers are welcome Your responses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks - Kal daily driver: 2006 Cayman S, manual transmission, 92k miles

Oh no, I hate to hear that. Just remember it's a mechanical device that can be fixed. Remember to breathe. It's a part of owning a high performance sports car. It's only money. Good luck and keep us all briefed.

My heartfelt condolences as a fellow 06 CS daily driver. I'm sure you will keep us posted with the final diagnosis of the engine failure. Someone with more experience than me might be able to comment if this could be caused by something else than IMS , I would think so. Do you know of a track history for this car? Did you get an over rev report on pre purchase inspection? Documentation of maintenance ? Just looking for reasons why your particular car might be at risk for an engine failure.

I did get a pre-purchase inspection with rev count, etc - which checked out fine. Unfortunately, there wasnt much previous service history. I do have a Porsche scan tool from durametric which I used to double check the vehicle codes, etc. Funny thing is there were no errors thrown when my failure happened. I guess it was such a catastrophic engine failure it didn't even know where to start? Lol.

Sorry to hear about that. Look on the bright side: you are safe, and the car seems to be in pretty repairable conditions. Could be IMS bearing failure, or could be anything else. Engines do blow up every now and then. Had a friend's 535i engine blow up. Supposedly valves dropped into the engine or something. No overrevs, and bone stock car there with only 35,000miles. Either case, good luck with the rebuild. Perhaps you could end up having a bigger and stronger motor if you decide to keep the car and put a few more pennies into it!

KGohill, Welcome to the forum. Big bummer about your engine. Eric and the folks at Herg will take good care of you. If you need an engine quickly I beleive Vision Motorsports in Laguna Hills has a rebuilt 987 3.4 sitting on the shelf ready to go. If I remember right this is a "sport" build that includes Carrillo rods, balanced crank, shaved heads, and a few other oiling/performnance mods. You can call Roland or Dwain @ [phone removed]. Alternately you can tell Eric at Herg that Dwain has an engine ready and he can call (they know each well and work togther often). Good luck.

Sorry to hear about the motor loss. Great time to upgrade to the Vision motor or similar. 3.6 or 3.8 would also be a great choice with some mods. LA dismantlers might be worth contacting Good luck and keep us posted.

see if renegade hybrids has finished fabricating the parts to allow you to swap in an LS3 or better yet, LS7. This is what I'll do if my engine ever takes a dump.

Hey thanks for the tips guys. I will give Dwain at Vision Motorsports a call and see if that 3.4l could be an option. Will keep you posted.

I feel for you. Lost the engine in my Cayman at Mid Ohio last week. Turn 1 which is a sweeping left hander, clunk and then bleeding oil. Looking at 997.1 3.8 motor but trying to piece together all of the necessary parts. If you don't go for the 3.4 motor, perhaps I contact them.

Bummer. Vision has several engines built and on the shelf - usually inlcuding 3.6 or 3.8 conversions. It may be worth calling Dwain or Roland at [phone removed] to see what they have ready. Cheers,

Hi All, Sorry for the long break between posts. I have a lot of updates: The Post Mortem: 1. Oil starvation caused over heating of Cylinder 1 Rod bearing, which then caused rod bolt failure and broken connecting rod. 2. Crank is cooked/slightly damaged where Cylinder 1 rod bearing attaches 3. Cylinder 1 piston is seized in the cylinder, valves are slightly damaged in cylinder 1 4. Heavy damage on the Cylinder 1 Sleeve/Case - non-repairable left half case 5. Other cylinders/right side case look to be fine, heads look fine for rebuild * IMS bearing/shaft were completely fine and intact. There was NO play on the IMS bearing - meaning the engine could have gone for many more miles if not for the oil starvation check out the video here (the connecting rod looks like something out of an old bugs bunny cartoon, when he plugs Elmer Fudd's rifle and it peels back like a banana: 2006 Cayman S 987 3.4L M96 Engine Rod Bearing Failure - YouTube Options for Rebuild/Replacement: I've done a hell of a lot of research, and found lots of options, which I can summarize as this: A) Just replace with a used 3.6L or 3.8L ($10k-$15k engine only) i. That doesn't include rebuild, just a used engine out from a salvage vehicle, etc. ii. Core charges can vary from $0 (Ebay private vendors) to $2000-$4000 depending on seller B) Replace with rebuilt 3.4L in stock spec C) Replace with rebuilt 3.4L 'sport tuned' engine (knife-edged crank, carillo rods, deep oil sump, and other mods) D) Rebuild 3.4L heads and put onto rebuilt 3.6L short block [$$] i. Upgraded IMS bearing (with oil feed) ii. Upgraded main and rod bearings (15% wider) iii. Upgraded JE pistons (less prone to cylinder scoring) My Choice: I'm currently going with Option D. Reason being: - I'm not going to track the car, so I wouldn't really see much benefit from the money spent on Option C. - For the price of Option A/B, I could just upgrade my displacement with slightly better internals, so why not? Next Steps: - I'm having the dismantled motor shipped to the shop who's rebuilding the 3.6L short block (Vertex Auto) - Then completed rebuilt motor will be shipped back to my local shop (Hergesheimer) * before everyone asks about final pricing, out of respect for the vendors I'd need to ask to make sure with them. But I can say, that the option I chose is the best value, for what I want to do with the car, which is drive it spiritedly, but not at 10/10ths at the track. Anyway, so that's whats up!

Okay, so I'm not familiar with these engines but what caused the oil starvation and how will doing this repair avoid it in the future?

So sad....

Sorry to hear that. I have a 2014 CS now, but years ago I had a 1986 928S. The day I blew out the automatic transmission was a bad, bad day. I feel your pain.

To address the question of how this happened: Autoclub Speedway track day ( Infield Course ) -driving at 10/10ths on street tires , 75F temp, 4 x 20min sessions, bone-stock car, 92k miles, - recent oil change before track day (just before event) - recent brake fluid change (just before event) - recent air filter change (1 month prior) - air oil separator change (just before event) Regarding oil starvation, its a combination of phenomena which are outlined on Flat Six Innovations' website. - oil viscosity breakdown due to prolonged high rpm and high oil temp. ( race engines use much different oil with different characterstics/cost) - inedequate oil pickup due to oil pan baffling/scavenging deficiency during high G loads - inedequate air/oil separation which leads to degraded lubrication and cooling capacity, as well as blow by which can foul spark plugs if left unchecked (I experienced this at Streets of Willow Springs, hence the recent air oil separator replacement) Having said that, did the Option 'D' I chose solve those problems?...nope. ( But I'm not setting the car up as a track dedicated car so I wont be operating in that envelope of performance and my risk in minimal) - no more hardcore track driving. I'd be very interested in seeing someone who runs SpecCayman or SpecBoxster give us a top to bottom breakdown of engine prep, frequency of rebuild, and of course - operating costs. Maybe if I saw a legitimately documented prep sheet, I would consider getting back on track with this car.

from the speccayman builds I've seen they use a inexpensive 4x4 power steering cooler from a certain company whose name escapes me but is popular on Jeep wranglers, dual scavenging oil pumps, motorsports aos and deep sump. FVD sells an entire kit for $3000...cheaper than a new engine I think this kit and the power steering cooler addresses the problem with 987.1 issues on track. The only other issue would be Porsche increased the torque spec on the connecting rod bolts after 2007 I believe, I would feel better using new bolts with the latest torque value. Do the above and you should have a pretty bullet proof track car. Maybe switch from Mobil 1 to Motul 5w-40 (Porsche approved) This FVD Motorsports Oil Pump Kit is a must for 987.1 Caymans and Boxsters driven on the track. Our kit includes a second return oil pump and our FVD Motorsports Oil Pan. The issue: The 987.1 Boxster/Cayman from 2005 to 2008 has the factory Return Oil pump located on the right rear side. On the left side, the Return Oil pump located in front. So when driven fast in right turns, the oil from the camshaft case (rear left) does not flow back quickly enough into the oil pan. When the oil pan is starved of oil, the oil pump sucks in air and over time the motor will seize. The solution: Our tandem return oil pump draws oil from the camshaft housing in (rear left, 3rd cylinder) and feeds it back into the oil pan so that starvation is not created when cornering hard. We also include our FVD Motorsport oil pan that features baffles to keep the oil pump intake consistent and increases the amount of oil in the system by a quart."

Ouch. Sounds like a classic case of oil starvation. In hard braking, especially after a left hand sweeper, the passenger side head gets full of oil which the scavenger pump cannot remove, lead ind to oil starvation and failure. Did you have any oiling mods? Upgraded baffle? Sump extension.

Didn't have any oiling mods. Foolish...I know.

I'm thinking of buying another CS this time manual. See a nice 06, around at my local Porsche ... Is the engine failure a really common thing? Is it something to be worried about when buying a 06' CS with 30K miles on it?

If you are thinking of tracking the car, you are tempting fate. If not tracking, you could leave the IMS bearing as it is, since for 2006 Cayman S it's the beefier single row ball bearing. You should check by VIN/engine code to be sure. But for piece of mind, I would replace it with an upgraded IMS bearing . The replacement motor I'm putting in will have an updated IMS bearing .

Bore scoring is a known problem on these engines but the jury is still out as to the actual causes. The advice I tend to follow is to not gun the motor when it has been idling for a time, but instead to take it easy to allow the temps to drop a bit. Full throttle openings at low revs are though to be harmful, and you could also fit a low temperature thermostat as this is considered to help reduce high bore temperatures. Frequent oil changes are also advised (at least once a year). Finally, if you intend to track the car then definately fit a sump extension/windage kit.

There are several things you can do to help mitigate the risk, all of which are discussed on this board. Here is another great resource for info: Pre-failure Directives He is discussing the M96 and the same principles apply to your M97 engine. Also, Jake highly recommends Joe Gibbs DT40 oil for street, Joe Gibbs XP9 for track. Viscosity breakdown due to elevated temperatures leads to many of the problems with these engines. Just know that replacing the IMS bearing in a Cayman requires splitting the engine cases, which means a rebuild. If you go that route beef up other components while you're in there, like the rod bolts and head bolts to name a few.

We have been racing the same IMS shaft and bearing for six years without issue. When we built the 3.8 we just moved the stock shaft and bearing to the new block. And then when we lost that engine we moved the part again. Yes, these engines have issues, but the IMS is not really one of them. Cheers,

Nice to see that you have things sorted out. I have been doing some research also, cost will be pretty much the same but looking at 3.8 track built motor with Nickies etc. or the Renegade LS7 engine. Also looked at the 3.8 DI motor but with the unclear issues about carbon build up on the valves, steered me toward more conventional FI. Will probably go with the LS7 or the LS3 swap as I will be looking at more track use.

I am currently rebuilding a 72,000 mile 2006 Cayman S w a spun bearing on number one rod. I've read these engines are extremely oil level sensitive and that seems true. I bought it already broken and will prolly break even on value. After driving it I'll be MILES AHEAD as these cars are fantastic enjoyable.

Something very similar happened to my car ( 2008 Cayman S ) some years back. It was a broken connecting rod. Nothing to do with the IMS bearing . IMS bearing problems are not common on the M97.

Hmm. Just saw this post was from 2014! Sigh.