-Danno-

If you drive our 25 to 30 year old cars enough, the large expenses are eventually coming. I think the question is do you enjoy it enough that you don't want to do without it. It sounds to me like you do, so get the work done and keep racking up the miles! That said, If you decide to let it go, let me know, I love GP White coupes...........


Danno

apanossi

I am not a mechanic (I too am a fixer but of faces ) but I took on an engine out reseal in my garage last year. I picked up my spanner skills over the years thanks to this forum. Didn't quite get to the cylinder heads which I kind of wish I did, but did pull apart the cam towers and had my pitted cams resurfaced. There are many other things I ended up having to do "while I was in there." I won't lie, those little items did add up. Grand total for my "reseal" was north of $9k with me doing all the assembly/disassembly. Ironically, I had a fun time with timing the cams and adjusting the valves. Very satisfying when it came to life. I suspect you would enjoy the process as well. So in reality, you shouldn't look at this so much as a big bill as it is a potentially enjoyable opportunity, should you wish to diy. I'm planning on a full bottom/top rebuild in another 30k miles.

canuck964

For me the annual cost is not too bad ($$ / years of ownership) BUT I try not to think of the cost per driven KM.

DOC - I think you nailed it when you said it would be unlikely you would ever be able to get back into a 964. Kinda like selling property in TO or Van.

R6XTERRA

Mitch, If you are interested in selling. Let me know. If you want advice on a local shop....send me a message over facebook. I have just the guy who will make your motor perfect again, if you choose to go this route.

Way to many wrenches in Ontario that have no clue what they are doing on our 964's or pretend to know what they are doing...and it will cost a fortune to correct those mistakes.

Jeff

Dr Mitch

Thanks Jeff! Will shoot you a message shortly

Dr Mitch

Exactly, if I sold, no way I'd find a 964 or 993. I'd probably go back to Japanese hot-hatches, sell em every couple of years, although I've always wanted an NSX!!

I'm gonna go ahead and get the work done... fingers crossed

-nick

A shop will always recommend a re$eal!

Cam chain boxes, valve covers, oil pressure gasket, and hoses are the places that oil will drip from and they can all be done without even pulling the motor. You only need to open the motor to get to the head gaskets, cylinder base o-rings, and case through bolts, all of which are likely to get moist but unlikely to drip. Unless the valve guides are worn and you need to do a top end anyway, I would at least start by fixing the easy leaks and see where that gets you. Many of the hoses can be rebuilt at a hydraulic shop if the ends are in good shape too. I didn't see mention of the mileage, or year (head gaskets or not)?

Disclaimer: if this suggestion saves you $20k, you owe me a beer

AVI_8

I totally agree with what Nick said above, if it were mine and if I wasn't able to do the job myself I'd get a leak down test done by someone I could trust and take it from there.
If the leak down numbers are bad then bite the bullet and get a rebuild, if they're good then get a garage to drop the engine and replace all of the seals and bad hoses which should cure most of the leaks and would only cost a fraction of the cost of a rebuild.

There are few potential leak areas which can't be fixed without a rebuild but the leaks from these areas are generally not bad leaks and are liveable with.
As Nick said, most shops will recommend a full rebuild to someone who has no knowledge of 911 engines(why wouldn't they as they'll make a load of cash)
Find a reputable garage and make sure that they know that you know what you're talking about and you'll be less likely to be told you need a 20k rebuild to fix a few oil leaks.

Logan

Earlydays

+++1

Rocket Rob

I too recommend keeping the car. Disassembling the engine, replacing all the seals and reassembling is doable. If I can do it, you can too. The cam timing is scary when you read the instructions but if you watch or talk to someone its not that bad. You can also borrow many of the engine tools to reduce the costs.

When I rebuilt my engine, the difficult part was where do you stop? Do you renew all of the rubber hoses? What about rebuilding the power steering pump, etc. It can be a lot to do or a little, depending on what your car needs and how much of a rebuild/restoration project you want. In my case, I did the engine, all rubber hoses, tranny, clutch, converted to LWF and Steve Wong chip plus J-pipe. I had damaged (pitted) cams as a result of bad oil, so those were replaced. I now have 15K miles on it and all is dry. Total time took me almost two years. The duration depends on the scope of work and how much time you can focus on it. In my case, I have a number of family distractions/projects that slowed things down.

Dr Mitch

Someone asked, my car has almost 170K miles - has had a top end done when new cams were installed with a bunch of other work - that was about 5 years ago.
I am discussing options with the shop and have asked for a compression test.
I do trust them. Part of me wants to KNOW what her insides look like once and for all. Car seemed to run great, no hesitation at speed, little oil leakage and little burning. Past year after last oil change (done at another shop) - leaking from literally everywhere you can imagine - my mechanic mentioned that they were concerned that it wasn't drained properly last time?

Anyway, I'm still asking questions, and they are doing some of the other work first -

Sunroof - broken cable - replacing both.
A/C - they leak tested it - no leaks! Only needed a recharge - phew!
ABS sensor in rear was bad - when I cleaned them last summer - I noticed a small piece of broken plastic as the culprit.
They found some leaking from a differential and are taking care of that.
My windscreen is very scratched and has a small chip - would love to replace it with a new one - but may wait for insurance to cover that...

BTW - Already has SS Cams, J pipe, Wong chip and all the suspension goodies.
Ordered an Appbiz ultimate pad and a pad keeper to tidy everything up in there.

They will be taking pics of everything along the way.

AVI_8

With all due respect Rob
Why would you recommend that the OP has his engine rebuilt?
He has oil leaks, the 964 engine has lots of seals which eventually go brittle and cause leaks, most of these seals are external and can be replaced quite easily without doing an engine rebuild. Ok you had pitted cams so you had all the reasons required for stripping the engine, pitted cams can be diagnosed just by removing the rocker covers.
Why recommend an engine rebuild just because a few seals are leaking??

Well done to you for rebuilding your engine, I'm about to do mine this summer, I get the impression that a home rebuild would unrealistic for the OP so he'd end up paying many thousands of dollars potentially just to fix a few oil leaks.
A bit like taking a sledge hammer to break a walnut.
Or since he's a doctor to do a triple bypass just because one artery is blocked.

AVI_8

Hi Mitch,
You posted while I was writing my last post, 170,000 miles is quite high, these engines can go on to do lots of miles, yours has quite a lot.
What's the oil pressure like when the engines warm at idle?
I suppose you have to consider your options if you're looking to keep the car long term or if you just want to get it fixed and keep it for a while then sell it.
If your plans are to keep the car long term and you're doing more than just a few thousand miles per year then I would say that it would be false economy to spend a couple of thousand dollars to just get the leaks fixed.
At that mileage Possibly a full rebuild would be the best course of action. Not just a top end rebuild, you should get the case split and have the crank inspected and get the bearings replaced also, your IMS bearings are probably well past their best.
Having said that it depends on your financial circumstances, if you don't do a lot of miles you could get a re seal then look towards a full rebuild in a few years time.

Dr Mitch

Thanks again for the advice.
Yeah, I forgot to mention the miles - I do drive quite a bit - it's a 3.5 season daily driver basically. While it's had a couple of top end's done in it's life, never had the full rebuild - so while I can probably plug most leaks, I'm guessing it's time especially with the amount of current leaks - I'm not fixing it to sell, but figured a full rebuild at this time will help resale if I HAVE to sell - but more importantly I want this car to last a few hundred tousand more miles!!

Rocket Rob

I agree, a rebuild may not be required. My intent was to offer encouragement that if needed, he can do it himself.