A Porsche owner had his motor blow out after only 43,000 kilometres and four months after the warranty expired. Pat Foran has more............


http://toronto.ctv.ca/consumer/#TopVideoAn

 

buyer beware....

There are no guarantees in life, there are on cars, and he was past it. Grow up, ante up!!!!

There is risk in everything....what did he expect, lifetime warranty on the engine. This makes Porsche owners look bad, he act as if he deserves special treatment because it is a Porsche. What if if was a Honda Accord, there would not have even been a news story. The News is like "spotlight glam", lotsa fluff, no substance. Hey what's Brittany Spears been upto?" That's what people call "news"

"Scary story..." NO, it's called LIFE happens...

 

Oh brother... That's not a scary story, that's a ridiculous story. The car is 4+ years old, is out of warranty, was not purchased from a Porsche dealer, has an incomplete service history, and yet Porsche offers out of good will to give him $5k toward a new engine. The owner says "I have the service records" but obviously, there's missing information. Was it properly maintained? Was the oil changed? What caused the engine to blow? Did the DME show lots of time above Range 6 over-revs, suggesting an abused engine? Did the current owner get a DME readout and PPI before he bought it from the Chrysler dealer to insure the engine was in good health? The owner thinks Porsche should stand by their product? From all the biased information on that "news story", it sure sounds like 100% of expectations and promises were met by Porsche. I'd say 110% because despite the facts Porsche still offered to help with $5k, but there's no such thing as more than 100%.

Are you perhaps the current owner? You might benefit from getting a lawyer, but I think your target should be to first discover why the engine blew and then if there's indication of abuse and you know it wasn't you (which you probably can't prove now because you didn't get a PPI / DME readout before buying it) then I'd be asking questions of the Chrysler dealership and not Porsche.

 

What a deuche!

 

I had a simialr issue. I bought a 2000 boxster with no warranty from a local porsche dealer. Then 3 days after buying the engine went. The only thing that saved my butt was the credit union had not cut a check and I found out that the dealership had given me a bogus carfax (4 owner not 1). I learned a lot. 1. Luck is a good thing. 2. don't ever trust a cars salesman or dealership even if they are high end cars. 3. ask yourself why it is such a good deal. 4 verify the facts on the car. 5 step away from the new car smell.....now what you are buying and have it checked out!!!

 

People are something else, I think Porsche should be applauded, not vilified for their response to this issue! I can't believe these media people are even running a story like this. This guy should consider himself lucky and take Porsche's generous offer!

 

How about the paint job on the hood! Reminds me of the chevy vans back in the 70's. I say, that if Porsche is offering a guy who bought a used, out of warranty vehicle without service records 5k, cheers to Porsche! Out of warranty means out of warranty. Porsche owes him nothing....

 

Sorrry for the rant but.....

As a long time enthusiast and owner of Porsche's my concern is what would cause catastrophic failure of a Porsche engine with 26,718.96 miles? Was the engine abused? I've abused several air cooled (356 914, 911S) Porsche engines over the years on the street an on the track with no failures to date. I had a mini "money shift" in my 924 S last year and so far it's still running fine. There are too many stories floating around about the dreaded IMS failure in the newer models.

My experience with Porsche so far is they deny there are any problems. The trade in value of my 6000 mile '06 "S" is awful. I understand the economy is in a mess, but according to a contact in the "business", the mid-2000's models are also suffering due to the rumored story about premature engine failure whether it's fact or fiction. When I asked several people at the dealer where I bought the car they denied hearing about any engine failures. Blank stares, claim they don't know what I am talking about. But right here in the north Georgia mountains a fellow has expanded his business at significant expense to include the ability to rebuild these motors specifically to handle this problem.

In my less than significant opinion, if Porsche really stands behing the intergrity of their products they would put out an ad or statement addressing the engine/IMS issue stating any failure related to the IMS will be covered under factory warranty up to 100,000 miles. Honda does it, had an '03 Acura TLS with 90,000 miles & they put a trans in it no questions asked as they knew they had a problem with reliability beyond the warranty period of 50,000 miles.

Also, from what I've heard Porsche does not treat all customers alike. I am not naive, understanding that is not uncommon treatment in the automotive world but that's always been part of the reason people purchase "high end" cars - better treatment is expected. When I worked for a Porsche dealer many years ago the "integrity of the mark" was driven into us as employees. I know of a situation where a 996 club race car (lunched motor) was fixed under factory warranty because the right people were involved while another guy with a street car got offered a "good will adjustment". That's BS - sorry Porsche, no more new Porsche cars for me. Seems the last 10 years or so each successive model is touted to have everything fixed and improved over the previous models. Just ask Porsche, if there are no known problems with the engine/IMS in the mid 2000 models why did they redesign the engine and the IMS in the '09's? Go to a dealer and act interested in buying a new car but tell them your trepidation is the rumored engine problems and hear what the sales guy will tell you. After that speech reveal to him (her) that you have an '06 you want to trade and watch the expression on their face. I would like to hear more about the cause of this poor guys engine failure before judging him.

Also, those that rely on a PPI/DME report I'd be careful. I was in a DE students car who made a rather dramatic downshift (he liked to skip-shift, which I don't recommend) locking the wheels and stalling the car. The car seems to be running fine ('05 987) and when it was serviced by a Porsche dealer the report did not show the overrev condition. The car was Revo'd but the owner decided to have the Revo dumped prior to his visit to the dealer. Maybe clearing the remap also removed the downshift?

Again, apologize for the rant.

 

Update - appears the fellow in Canada is trying to file a class action suit against Porsche citing specifically "IMS failures."

"I need people to come forward to join me and expose this engineering flaw that has been swept under the rug for too long. Please reply even if yours failed within the warranty.We need to document all falures."
Thanks

 

What an idiot. He needs to have a revelation and realize you just don't go out and buy such a car without some research!@?$

Oh by the way...nice paint job Rich Richter!

 

Gee another case of WTF, check out the Mini blown tranny too!

 

IMS bearing failures are a well known issue at Porsche despite what some dealer service advisors are telling customers. The bearing has been revised several times over the life of the M96 motor. This is not a case of parts wearing out from normal use or from poor maintenance. It is that design of the bearing is not sufficient to support the IMS in its intended use. Not all motors will fail, in fact it’s probably a relatively small percentage that are affected, but it’s happening in numbers large enough for a cottage industry to realize there is a business opportunity to produce re-engineered parts to address this problem.

It’s easy to make fun of or discredit Richter’s plight with his unique mural or the “consumer affairs” new story, but that doesn’t change the design of the failed part and neither does the fact that he didn’t buy the car off a Porsche dealer’s lot. It was still Porsche that designed and built the motor. There have been other well known problems with the M96 motor like block porosity in the early motors or the slipped cylinder sleeves. These were admitted manufacturing and design flaws and similar to the IMS issue were usually catastrophic when they occurred.

When the clock runs out on the warranty period (but not in this case on mi/kms) the manufacture is off the hook for parts that wear out but are they also no longer responsible for engineering and manufacturing flaws? Or is it generally accepted in the Porsche owners community to only own cars covered by a warranty? Not a ringing endorsement for a company who engineering is so boldly touted and whose products we hold in such high esteem.

I’m pretty sure Porsche does not accept faulty parts or assemblies from their suppliers; shouldn’t we hold them to the same standard?



As an aside note, the dealer left the windows open on Richter’s car while stored outside (raining in the news piece) allowing the interior to get soaked and the computer module was destroyed.

 

+1 and, just got the October issue of Excellence. Page 12, check out the ad. If there was no truth to this issue would not the legals at Porsche be all over the company that place the ad?

My disappointment with Porsche is they won't comment or step up to the plate and admit the design is flawed. If I break a car by abusive use that's my fault, I accept the responsibility. But gently driven garage queens with low mileage, that's another issue. As I mentioned before, no more new P cars for me, lost too much value on this one and it's not all due to the economy. Well maybe a GT-3......