She’s toast.



My once loved 2000 996 cab with the tiptronic transmission that I grew to begrudgingly appreciate has died. 96000 or so miles was as far as she could go. Was it the IMS? No. She had the solution. Was it a cracked head? Seems so. No pressure in 6 of all places. Maybe the cylinder. She can’t even turn over by hand. Her core at this stage, I’m told by my indy, is close to worthless.



In truth, the particulars of her death at this point are insignificant. I’m more interested now in her possible resurrection. I’m not so keen on spending crazy money on a Raby engine, although I do respect his passion. I’m most interested in finding a low milage used 2001 engine in the US. Anyone have one they would like to unload?

 

That sucks. Sorry to hear it.

Deciding what to do in this situation is not easy. Lots of people here are going to try to convince you to do the most expensive option, and will tell you anything less is mistake. Take your time and figure out what's best for you.

One thing to consider: a low mileage engine with shipping, removal, and installation is going to cost you close to 10k (especially if you don't have a core to return). If your heads are repairable, you may may be able to get a new short block installed for not a lot more than that, and you'll have an essentially new engine.

If you haven't seen it already, check out this thread which includes a bunch of good discussion and a spreadsheet comparison of rebuild options: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...bs-vertex.html

Feel free to DM me if you have questions

 

that’s the kicker, even the “cheap” rebuild isn’t cheap and you have to be cautious with any used parts.

 

That is such a bummer....I would call a dismantler like norspecdismantling.com to see if they have a decent engine.

 

I would first find out what went wrong, what is still usable and then decide what to do. If the heads are good, maybe a shortblock from the local Porsche dealer is an option. If you got that way, the IMS bearing in the old engine will not be transferable.

Maybe it's just me but when something goes wrong with an engine, unless a good used replacement is really cheap (under $1000), I want to open it up enough to see what happened inside.

 

What's your budget?

 

Love the 996 in white! Looks like a really nice car, certainly worthy of resurrection. Sorry to hear this happen to anyone's car, but your best strategy now is patience, don't make a hasty decision now fresh from the trauma. Hopefully you've got a place to tuck the car away while you formulate a plan. Start thinking about what your budget is. Study 'wsrgkit's spread sheet of rebuild options in the message above, see what works for you. If you can do any of the wrenching yourself you can save yourself a ton of $. I share 'Imo000"s opinion above, and would want to disassemble the engine to find out what went wrong, and to determine what's salvageable because that will further refine your budget, and perhaps be a source of revenue because if you install a complete engine you can sell the salvageable parts from the old engine. Anyway, wish you the best of luck in whatever decision you make, and keep in mind that many people have resurrected these cars and you can as well, its all a function of how much you love the car.

 

I would be searching Autotempest, Copart, and IAA for a donor car, if you are that attached to yours. You will have to be somewhat patient. We are living in strange times. Although I expect a lot of used vehicles to come on the market, there may be fewer wrecked cars due to the reduction in driving. You may be able to find a mechanically sound 3.4 at a reasonable price.

 

Don’t believe your Indy, as long as there isn’t a hole in the case the engine is not worthless. Cracked head is usually repairable, Hoffman is the best in the country and only a few hours from you. I have been to his shop and his reputation is stellar. He reworked my heads and weld repaired 5 stripped thread holes among other things.
https://newsite.hamheads.com/
take your time and weigh your options and find a solution that fits your budget. I’d be happy to discuss details if you want to contact me. Good luck!

 

^^^ This ^^^ Take a look at some of the blocks that LN Engineering has repaired... most people would think that they're useless. Don't give up too quickly and definitely don't trust the guy who stands to make $ or perhaps your car - He may have the best intentions for you, but then again maybe not...it's been known to happen is all I'm saying . If you're seriously considering buying a used engine, you really have to crunch the #'s and decide how much risk you're willing to take on a unknown (the engine and the seller) entity. Good Luck

 

The whole "solution" thing is loosely spread around forums for all bearing products, but do you mean you had the LN Engineering "IMS Solution" product installed on this car? If so, who did the work?


Please clarify. After failure, you attempted to manually crank the engine and it wouldn't turn. Or is that what the indy tried to do?

Let's step back a few... Explain the circumstances surrounding the failure. What happened? Were you driving and it went "bang"?

So basically, the indy has determined that the block is "worthless". Did he drop the sump or what?

 

A second opinion is probably worth the price of another tow. Could be your mechanic looking for a sweet deal on your crippled 996 -- not trying to disparage the guy or his shop, but be wary at this point. As others have said take your time and go methodically with a reasonable budget in mind and you'll likely get a good result resurrecting the car.

 

Maybe a lose of translation from your event- to the mechanics diagnosis- to your post, but things just don't sound right surrounding this "failure"....

 

Sorry to hear. But with a bit of luck you can find an engine. I melted down last year when there was some metal in my engine oil. My mechanic was gloom and doom. I have driven it 1500 miles since...ifnit blows,it blows. There was a great thread on here a guy had a preadsheet with all kinds of options and costs. When the CV19 threat subsides hopefully in June i@: having the engine rebuilt. I am not going the FS route that is more than I want to spend. But I have targeted about 8-12k for it. I am looking at a shop in LA that specializes in Porsche’s.

is your car a cab with a hard top?

 

What parts of the engine are you hoping to get rebuilt for that much money? Also, how do you know your engine can be rebuilt at all if you hoping to drive it until it pops?