Hi big Dave, as to what I have left, I have most parts, but bare in mind that I'm in Australia so small light items are probably the only ones I would ship or would be worth shipping. Let me know.

 

Do you get part ownership at the Dealership?

30k for an engine? It better be off an F-14

I think 928 international can get engines for 5k or so....

Call 911 its a hold up!

 

From what Rob told me (I still haven't had a chance to see the car....most likely on Jan 3rd), he pulled all the plugs. One of them has a very strong fuel smell to it. We'll turn the crank (try to) by hand on Saturday and see what happens. The gas smell seems to be consistent with the hydraulic lock theory.

Keeping our collective fingers crossed....

 

This story reminds me of the day a client towed in a 944 trade-in. There was no available drive - the gearshift would move freely in any direction, like a stick in a can of paint - and the local Porsche dealer had"diagnosed" a new transmission, at the cost of $7,500. We put the car on a lift, and found that a pin had dropped out of the bottom of the gear selector: we replaced it, at the cost of about .75c, and everything was perfect!

 

SATURDAY, JAN. 3rd UPDATE

1. All the plugs have been pulled. The tips of all of them are black and apparently fouled.
2. The oil, which only has 800 or so miles on it, is black with a cloudy texture in it.
3. With the plugs out, the engine can be turned (with more effort than should be necessary) backwards. We only turned about 1/8 of a revolution.
4. Turning the engine clockwise, it moves back the same 1/8 distance and refuses to move any further.
5. We pulled the oil filter and snipped it open. The filter element has what looks like tiny copper and metal shavings all over it.
6. The torque tube was replacing 1 year ago.
7. Rob used something called "RESTORE" for 800 miles before changing the oil to get it out.
8. I didn't hear any grinding when turning the engine the small bit that I could by hand, but I believe that I might have been hitting something (possibly heard a metal clank) whenever it reached the "stop" point going clockwise.
9. The Porsche mechanic told Rob he only got about 4.5 to 5 quarts of oil out when he drained it. The filter didn't have much in it....not as much as I'm accustomed to finding whenever I change mine.
10. Rob says last time the oil was changed, he was shown the dipstick and that it had an appropriate amount of oil in it.
11. A probe stuck down into each of the spark plug holes came out with traces of black liquid on them....just traces.

So....what do you all think?

 

bump

 

Hey Dave. I know of a engine that you can have off a 87 928s4 that is in great shape for around $13,000.00. In fact it comes with alot of spare parts. Like the hood,fenders seats, wheels, radio etc. All these "parts" are ready to ship in a custom case shown below. I have a Paypal account when you are ready.

 

lol...thanks for the offer. I'm not in the market for an engine with "all the fittings", and hopefully Rob isn't yet either.

 

Do I understand correctly? He added RESTORE to the oil in the engine, ran it for 800 miles, then drained it and put in semi-synth and ran that another 800 miles before it stopped. Just want to make sure I understand completely the sequence of events leading up to the failure. Those metal bits sure sound like a bearing failure, though is hard to be certain without examining them.

 

The correct thing to do is drop the 'pan' and check things out.
I don't like the sound of that coppery stuff as I used to see a lot of that when tearing down motorpickles usually just clutch matierial -wet sump clutches- from a smoked clutch.
But, occassionally ruined clutch pack metal plates and or hub washers, rod bearings and even rarer mains.
I know a lot of folks who have used Restore most had good results on smoking/weak engines. Any info would be anecdotal on my part and we never got to see the drained oil prior to adding it or the first change afterwards. Anyone know for sure if Porsche supplied any info on Restore, Slick 50, or additives in general?
Before/during the pan drop could you guy's check the 'springback' measurement on the TT when you release the clamp.
Procedure should be in archives with allowable play and on the Nichols site as well.
Crossing my fingers and wish the best on this one.

 

Bart:

Yes, he added RESTORE, ran for 800 miles, then drained and replaced with semi-synthetic. He put about 1,000 miles on the semi-synthetic before this happened.

John: We haven't gotten to the point where we've decided to go at the TT, but I think we're getting closer to it (although the current tube is less than a year old).

 

Dave,
Oops and Irk!
There is a post by Tom Falkenberg with informative/manual page number replies below concerning the TT 'movement'/thrust washer/ clamps.
I wasn't woofin' on a TT replacement -sorry if that's what I came across like-
But to see if the crank had walked and done the dirty deed .
I guess you really wouldn't have to do the check if you drop the pan as it would be glaringly evident if the crank had indeed decided to become a machine tool and shaved off/pushed the main bearings and commenced carving on the mains supports/journals.
If it did, ... you could do some measurements to see how much (how little) grace Porsche actually gives the 89 S-4's. It may have more or less variance than the manual give and would be a nice to know bit of info for all of the Auto owners in general.
Again, I hope this isn't what happened and wish the sHARk and its owner all the best.
On the other hand, if it is the culprit, I HOPE to hear the reassuring sound of jacks cranking sHARKs up for inspection all over the world.
Would be a damn good time for those of us who procrastinate to check for aluminum ball joint carriers as well -the shame-.
Tom, other BTDT folks could you post a diagram of inspection: location, procedure, torque, loctie(s) with play/travel allowances.
Was that a 17 or 22mm allen?
One last thing.
I don't know if this is like reading the Obituary's but other than the Intake,
SC 513 HP, SC kits and a few others this post and other engine failure posts garner an enormous number of hits if not responses. Near 1100!
To be nice I'll assume most of the hits are of my ilk: wondering what caused the failure and if it applies to me/my model and year, was it mechanical, additive complications, injectior/computer failure, timing,or owner error.
Not rushing you or the owner to a hasty judgement its' just that catastophic -if thats what it is- and costly failures on any sHARk arouses parental cares and worries in all of us.
Again hoping this is a temporary and correctable problem.
Thanks for alerting us and supplying the info as available.

 

bump

 

Dave, I agree with John S. Before you guys jerk the engine around any more, you need to get a look inside the crank case. A spun bearing may exhibit the symptoms of being able to move the engin a little bit, but not a complete revolution. As I mentioned before, DON'T TURN THE ENGINE BACKWARDS. (very bad for the timing belt and associated parts).

Can you post a picture of the filter contents?

Next items I suggest. Get oil pan off, inspect. Take rod caps off, Inspect.

 

Gretch:

I'll see if I can get a picture of the filter contents. It ain't pretty.

I agree...we're going to have to get the oil pan off. Major exploratory surgery seems unavoidable now.

Anyone heard from Wally lately? I'd love to hear his thoughts on this one.