Repair or sell recently purchased 996 with bore scoring?
 

After years of planning and hard work, I recently fulfilled a lifelong dream purchased a '99 Carrera black/black coupe with 71k miles. It was out of state, but I had done my homework and learned about IMS, RMS, AOS, bore scoring issues, and talked to a local mechanic who inspected the car and seemed to be aware of those issues as well.

When I picked up the car, it wasn’t making any worrying noises, but just a couple weeks after bringing it home I heard a ticking sound at startup that would fade away. I took it a local Porsche specialist that looked into the cylinders with a borescope and confirmed scoring on cylinders 5 and 6.

As I understand it, the only fix is to bore-out and resleeve the block - basically a complete rebuild. I’ve talked to 4 different Porsche specialist shops, and searched the internet, and can’t find a number lower than $15k to fix this. That’s almost what I paid for the car a month ago, and I’m having a tough time justifying spending $30k+ on a car that will likely end up being worth low 20s. The dream is now a nightmare.

I have two questions for this forum:

1. Is there a way to fix this car for significantly less than $15k? (Doing the work myself is not an option)
2. How much is the car worth in this condition?

You might try and find someone that will pull the engine and do just the cylinders/pistons.

I know I'll get some slaps from folks here but you don't have to do a complete rebuild on the engine. If the bore scoring is light, and there's no other damage then the crank and heads should be fine.

This might be a way for you to get this done on a budget.

Also, have you checked the Porsche junk yards for an engine?

There is a member here who ran a scored engine for multiple years before doing a rebuild. If it doesn't smoke, and it isn't gobbling oil, I am not sure what the harm is.

But I am not an expert, and the experts all sell rebuilds, so it is hard not to think that they might have a certain bias.

Also: factory short blocks are now very economical.

Ouch. Sorry to hear about your situation. Bore scoring is a pretty common problem with the M96 and M97 motors. Just watch Jake Raby's Bore Scoring video on YouTube and you'll see how the problem occurs. I've read that many people have changed their oil to a heavier viscosity to squeeze out a few more miles, but the problem won't go away of course. Aside from a full rebuild, you could always try to find a suitable used engine or just sell it as-is and move on with life. Rebuild or used engine... either way, it's going to mean a lot of money.

Did he take pics of the scoring? To bad a proper PPI wasn't done before purchase.

I would second the motion of getting a Porsche short block. I think it is $6k?

One of the shops I talked to offered to go that route, which would still be close to $10k. And once you have the engine out and in pieces, you have to be willing to spend up to $17 if they start to find it needs the full treatment. In fact it ends up being more expensive than sending it out to a rebuilder specialist in the first place, as an indy shop can't do a full rebuild as economically as a shop that does them all the time.

I have spent a lot of time beating myself up about pre-purchase due diligence. However, none of the shops I talked to would have done a borescope as part of the PPI. PPI+borescope = $1k inspection. Do that on a couple of sub-$20k cars and you've eaten up a bunch of your budget.

It's risk analysis. I took a riskier route and got (very) unlucky.

99 not sure I'd bother with it. A roller is worth 5-10k based on condition and model since this is a 99 I can't see it more the 5k. The factory short block is probably the cheapest way to go but then you should probably keep it for 5 years to get your monies worth.
I drove my 02 C4S for 40k miles with scoring until it got bad enough that I was worried about a 2 hour drive and having to check the oil and top it up. At the end of the day when I did rebuild, scoring was not deep but getting close near the top. It was just a matter of time. Over the period of time the tick tuned into a loud slap as it got worse so I think the scoring got worse over time.

This is my 4.5.6 before and after

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...b1e85bedb6.jpg

A couple of people here have mentioned a factory short block. I can't find anything resembling that for less than $10k, but I fully admit I might be searching for the wrong term. Any links would be greatly appreciated.

I think it was on sale at the dealer for 6k when that was posted, not sure it is anymore.

Also if your do decide to keep driving it and it starts burning oil. Best to decat it or change the cats to at least a 200 cell as the oem cats will get backed up with all the oil it has to burn off and will eventually break apart.

Short block:
part number 996100996TX
https://www.sunsetporscheparts.com/o...4l-996100996tx

• Sale Price:$6,902.00
• Core Charge:$2,513.04

If it's the car you want to keep long term I would go for the Short Block from Porsche. If you just want to get out from it, check the Porsche dismantlers across the country. Either way expect to spend at least $9-12K.
Can you pull and install the motor yourself?

Where are you located? Tell us more about the cat and how it is optioned.

You have plenty of time to determine what to do with your car. I would just drive it right now and consider your options. As many had said, a short block from Porsche would be a great option.

Relax and sit back for a while. Go drive the car, have some fun. Nothing should break because of it.