Jaycote

haha thanks for the check in! I subscribed to the thread and hadn't seen any email notifications and logged in today and see a bunch of replies, which I'm glad to see. I respect everyone's opinion, and always think through a problem through different sets of eyes and brains, so whether I agree with someone or not is irrelevant. I want to know if I'm missing any angles.

Jaycote

Thanks for all the comments guys! I am very familiar with finance and what's the "smart" thing to do. The "smart" thing to do would be to buy a $4,500 Honda and drive it until the wheels fall off, no matter if you're a millionaire or you're a broke college student. I do have an Acura TL as a daily driver, so this car is not my only means of transportation. I 100% understand I didn't make the smartest decision in buying this car, and I could've done more to mitigate my risk. Driving a Porsche is one of my favorite things to do in life. So if it costs $250/month and is my ultimate hobby, i'm OK with that decision. The car was orig. $21K. I bought it for $18K. I believed it was a good running car and knew there'd be things to fix, and i budgeted for that. The IMS was updated, so that was not a concern of mine. I had not read any issues about cracked heads before. I thought, worse case scenario, if I had to spend $3-4K fixing various parts over the next year or two, I'd have a 2000 996, that I sunk $21-22K into, and it'd be worth close to that amount. I had no idea that the engine would destruct in ways other than a failed bearing, or at least it wouldn't happen within a couple months of my purchase. I'm sure there's many of us on here that would be embarrassed about the amount of money we spend on our cars throughout our life, and possibly hide it from our significant others, myself included. Most 996 guys say the car is very reliable if you replace the IMS, drive it, and stay up to date on maintenance, and that's what my plan was.

From what I understand, to fully diagnose the issue on my car, it'll cost $5K at a minimum to repair a head, and get the engine back in place. I am not very mechanically inclined, but I can read and follow directions pretty well and have enjoyed learning how to fix things on my car. I'm up to replace many things on the vehicle, and there's a place near my house that allows you to rent a lift in their garage. If i had a friend or person to guide me through engine removal, and how to diagnose and repair a head, i'd take that challenge on. However, I do not have anyone in my life that could help, and i also do not have a garage to tinker with the car anytime I desire.

So far, i think i'm going to get the used engine. It has the IMS replaced by the shop I'm purchasing it from. He said its from a car that he sold to a customer, and the customer took a corner too fast and hit a guardrail. Again, I'm taking this guys word for that, but I believe his reputation is important and I don't see a need to lie about that. I would replace the clutch at the same time. My hesitation here is that I have a bad taste in my mouth about any used Porsche now. I'm afraid to drive it. Can lightening strike twice, and give me another cracked cylinder? Will another catastrophe happen? It sucks because I want to enjoy it and drive it, without having knots in my stomach and my eyes glued to the dash, waiting for coolant light or check engine light to flash. If i could purchase the motor and drive it for a couple years/20K miles, I'd be very happy with that. At that point, I could sell it, or continue driving it and feel very comfortable with it. I think i'd rather spend the $7K to get the used engine, and have a $20K car that I spent $25K on, than parking a car for three years, owning a $5K roller with a loan on it. I can't bear to do that. Also, if i can keep my engine and sell the core or whatever I can, and make another $1-2K, that'd be even better!

ejdoherty911

If you do go with the replacement engine make sure you have a written warranty that covers parts and labor should anything go wrong. I don't care what the reputation of the shop is, I don't care if Ferdinand Porsche himself rises from the dead and guarantees that used motor, If the shop won't stand behind their parts and work in writing RUN RUN RUN.

Jaycote

I want to clarify the engine situation......My mechanic sold a 996 to a customer, and the mechanic had serviced it and did the IMS. The customer continued to get the car serviced with this mechanic. Recently, the customer swiped a guardrail and the car is totaled, but the engine is still good. The mechanic is not currently in possession of the engine and is not necessarily selling it. He just offered me a way to get a used engine. He said he could get it from his customer for $4,500. I'd think that the customer doesn't want to deal with selling it for parts or doing any of this himself. Now, I don't know if all of those details are accurate, but that's what he told me.

With that being said, I wouldn't think it's reasonable to demand a warranty on the engine in this instance. It has not been re-built and is not a product the mechanic is keeping in his inventory. I don't think the mechanic can warranty an engine in that situation, but maybe I'm wrong. I would, however, want some type of guarantee that the engine is in good order. Leak down tests and anything else that would help prove it's a good running engine. What do you guys think about that? If he was offering a warranty and was doing this as part of his inventory, i think the price of the engine would be quite higher.

Porschetech3

IMHO I think you have the correct perspective on this situation. It is reasonable to expect your Mechanic to warranty his work, but not a used part( engine) that he has not rebuilt. Any warranty would be on his workmanship, ie correct installation of the engine.It would be reasonable to expect the engine once installed to show no signs of problems during adequate road test by the Mechanic. If you don't trust your Mechanic then you should not have him working on your car. All engines are headed toward failure while running.For those who say there should be a warranty of up a year or more, I ask how much warranty would you offer me on your wife's $4500 Honda Accord? IF you are not in the car sales business I would think you would not offer any warranty OP .I think you should go for it and sell your core engine, or just keep it for later plans.

808Bill

Keep the old one and confirm if its a cylinder or head replacement. Fix and sell.

mrjonger

Apologies I jumped to conclusions. At least you kept your daily driver, I wish I had. If insurance totaled it, doesn't the car belong to the insurance company now? I'd confirm he can procure the engine for $4500.

You have to make the decision how important it is to you to be able to drive the 911. I flip flop every time something breaks / take it for a spirited drive.

If it's not worth your while --> $18K purchase price less $6K roller = $12K loss. Assuming the repair doesn't hit $12K, you would be better off fixing prior to selling.

If you can get the used engine as adverstised, I think a good inspection template would be the IMS pre-qualification procedure. http://imsretrofit.com/wp-content/up...lification.pdf

Good luck!

wyovino

It makes sense that he wouldn't want to stick his neck out guaranteeing a used engine. Get an estimate for an all-in price. If it's just a cracked head, which is a relatively common failure mode for MY2000 996's, look into what it would cost to replace or repair the head. Several people here have gone that route for much less than replacing an engine. I was hoping that they would chime in here but I haven't see it yet. Do a search.

Jaycote

Can you please explain how that process would work? I'm assuming I'd remove my engine, remove my cylinder heads, and then replace them with a new set? Would that 100% solve my problem? How much would a set of heads from you cost, including shipping? I apologize in advance, but this is one area of the car that I'm not very knowledgeable on and I'm trying to learn exactly how this process works. Thanks in advance!

Jaycote

What are the actual differences between a cylinder and a head repair? For now, all we know is that coolant is leaking into Cylinder 1. I believe the engine needs to be pulled, and then further analyzed in order to properly diagnose. I'm assuming that's a good amount of money just to do that. Do you know offhand what the differences in costs would be for one or the other? I thought a head needs to be replaces either way.....I'm not sure what a cylinder repair would entail. Thanks for any info you can provide.

jhbrennan

Probably more likely to get your answers with a telephone call. Hope this all turns out well for you.

FSI telephone 706.865.1963

Ahsai

I have not read the whole thread but there's a simple visual check from the cylinder #1 spark plug hole to see if there's any crack (most common case when the head is cracked). If you could see that, that's relatively good news as the head can be repaired.

Flat6 Innovations

There's 6 common crack prone areas with these heads. Actually, the crack extending down the spark plug tube area is the least common. It is the easiest to spot, and the largest, making it the most talked about.
The only way to properly evaluate a cylinder head is with a pressure test. only 2-3 of the common cracks are visible with the naked eye.

The worst of all cracks occurs deep within the head, on the backside of the chamber, and these cannot be found easily. They even require a different pressure test to find, as they often bridge the secondary air ports within the cylinder head

dgjks6

Have the mechanic pull the engine - it has to come out anyway. And then inspect. If he just has to swap the head it will be cheaper than the used motor. If the cylinder is shot then put the used motor in. Maybe save yourself a couple grand.

Ahsai

That's good to learn and thanks for the info. BTW, do you think a cracked cylinder is unlikely given engine is still running with no smoke and intermix?