Haalex

Can you post pictures of your cylinders?
Based on what you describe, my guess is it's probably nothing to worry about and not "actual" bore scoring.

I would still call the shop that did the PPI and let them know about their mistake. See how they react. Best case scenario, you'll get some money back, worst case scenario you'll get a flat "no" from a company you have no intention of doing business with anyway.

Also, when the time comes, my bet is it'll be far cheaper (read: still eye-wateringly expensive) to build your engine into a 3.8 or 4.0L than trying to bring the motor to X51 spec. Get the aluminum intake manifold if you like the looks of it an fancy some originality on the rebuilt motor.

plpete84

Congrats on the car but sorry to hear about the engine. If it's true what you say about the owner, and it might be as I've come across some that are very oblivious to the finer details of these cars, I hope that the shop can take some responsibility here. It seems like you still like the car and have already invested some money into it and I can't imagine going back on the purchase and that investment can be done easily. I was in a somewhat similar situation where my engine ended up being a partial X51 but the shop I worked with was very good about pointing that out and it was something I used in negotiating. IMHO, the shop should really do you a solid and provide a level of discount provided you still want to work with them. In the end you could have potentially negotiated a lower price and are at a "loss" financially.

Working with Brandon from Slakker I had an option to upgrade back to X51 heads (he had a set on his shelves) for a complete X51 package but chose to skip the option. Based on his experience, they would have provided about a 2% benefit in power and for me, I didn't find the cost/benefit worthwhile. Driving around now with the 4.1L, not a mile goes by where I wish I had the heads. Beyond happy with the outcome. Not all bore scoring is equal too. If you don't have any symptoms, you can probably drive the car for quite some time and save for the eventual rebuild. While some folks had really bad scoring with symptoms like constant misfires, large oil consumption, piston slap and loss of power, many have driven their cars for years before the rebuild actually happened. Drive the car and change the oil often. PM me if you want to chat more.

connect_yvr

I have no idea why the shop couldn't bother setting the date on their scope correctly. These are from May 2024. Images are from bank 2 cylinders, scoped through the spark plug holes (another PPI grievance - I had specifically requested through the sump but when I got a call to update me on the PPI progress, they told me they had already gone through the spark plug holes and didn't want to go again through the sump).

plpete84

This is NOT bad scoring at all but the fact that the shop couldn't follow your directions would have me concerned. Typically a shop would charge more labor for a scope through the sump than via spark plug hole so hope you didn't pay a premium for that service only to not receive it.

connect_yvr

Thanks, I appreciate your suggestions and insight! I've read through your 40th AE thread which has been really helpful as well. I may end up reaching out when the time comes. For now, as you suggested, I plan on frequent oil changes and driving the snot out of the car.

cqhall

Anecdotal stuff:

In the past, I've had a Lexus dealership do an out-of-town PPI for me on a newer LS 460 and miss some very obvious stuff (literal cuts in the driver and passenger seatbelts which to this day go unexplained) and granted me a refund when I made a stink about it. I passed on buying the car, BTW.

On another Lexus purchase (super clean 80K mile LS 430 for $8K), during the test drive I was so busy listening for engine, transmission, or suspension sounds, that I never turned on the Mark Levinson stereo. After the purchase, I turn on the stereo to listen to tunes on the way home to find all of the big speakers and sub were blown. I later found out that the Mark Levinson amp was blown, too. I gave the seller an earful and he mailed me a check for $1,000 to offset the expense of replacing all of the above with OEM speakers and amp (about $1,500).

So, OP, you may be able to press both the shop and seller to recoup some funds.

cqhall

Oh, and @connect_yvr, if you have new ownership paperwork with your name on it, you should be able to go down to the dealership and ask for a list of all warranty work that's been done on the car in the past. Maybe the engine mystery can be cleared up there.

connect_yvr

Thankfully, they did not charge anything extra. They seemed to have a very "cookie cutter" methodology to things and did not really listen to any requests I had. They have an "a la carte" menu for common services including PPI and seemed to have followed their usual PPI protocol.

connect_yvr

That's a great idea - I may try doing that to see if I can learn a bit more. This car's been around the block a few times so it would be interesting to know.

Gary12000

Well it would seem most people are congratulating you, politely i would suggest you have a bit of a quandary here, the potential investment value of an all original 40AE is significant, for you that is now void. Your car will never be worth more than a regular well specced 996,,, also you have a lower powered engine, and on these 996's extra power is expensive... if you love the car that's great... but i would be asking for some compensation.. its likely the PPI was only a few hundred to pay for, but a full refund is in order,

its great that the previous owner was a "Nice Guy" but the car was either purposely or inadvertently mis-represented to you... you will never get full value for that car moving forward... if it becomes a family heirloom and you keep it long term that's great but at some point there will be a change in ownership ..

I would be providing the documentation and asking that previous owner to come to the table to discuss this, a refund of 5 grand would not be out of order in my considered opinion.

Of course you might also be a nice guy and just decide to move on and accept things as they are, that is your choice and by all means enjoy your car i'm sure its bringing you great joy...

peterp

That would have been a good price for a standard 996.2 in good shape -- so instead of a screaming deal, you only got a great deal, on a car that is still special (even if it doesn't have the correct engine). As long as the car doesn't have any major issues, you should be very happy and enjoy it (in my opinion). You drove two examples if I recall correctly, so this shows the difference weight makes in a 996 even more so, since you now know this car has a non-X51 engine.

connect_yvr

These are all good points, particularly about the PPI. I've definitely lost out on a bit of cash in this transaction and have considered my options. I may still go back to the shop that did the PPI and confront them about it, but at the end of the day the cost of the PPI relative to the purchase value and long term expected cost is pretty negligible.

This is essentially how I feel. I love the way the car drives as is and plan to keep it hopefully for most of my life (20+ years). Over that time horizon an engine rebuild would be in order for almost any car this old. By the time I need it to change hands, I suspect the original engine issue will be much less of a concern than the quality of the rebuild.

At this point I'm just trying to solve the mystery of why and when the engine was swapped. Ted from the 40th registry has been helpful with some leads so hopefully I'll be able to tell the full story when the next buyer comes around.

ZuffenZeus

Most shops that conduct PPI are not certified Porsche appraisers. They only inspect what they see, nothing more nothing less. If you hired Nathan Merz, I'd understand your beef, but the shop did their job to the best of their abilities. The mistake that was made was when you inquired about the car, you should have requested the engine serial number to research. That would be have been a big red flag when you found out that it was just a run-of-the-mill M96.03. Based on the picture you posted, it looks like it's NOT a factory reman either which probably means an independent shop did the swap. Wonder what shop that was? If you can identify the shop in question, then they may still have the old engine, X51 parts, or know where it ended up.



I assume you've ran an AutoCheck in addition to the Carfax That's where I'd start.


Good luck!

ZuffenZeus

The engine number M96/0366215260 translates to...



M96/03 = 3.6L motor



6 = 6 Cylinders



6 = Natural Aspirating Motor



2 = date of manufacture = 2002



15260 = actual serial number

connect_yvr

That's great info. Thanks!