Bob you need to remember that the MB boards (mbforum) one of the most popular has less than 2K threads in the SL (AMG) forum and less than 2K threads in the R230 forum. I spent some time there myself when looking into getting a SL about 6 months ago but the forum is mainly dominated by just a few users and a LOT of people that do NOT have SL's that are just posting about dreams and desires to learn about bling and Renntech upgrades. Whereas, here, there are over 15K threads just on the 996 forum alone. And many thousand more dealing with the M96 based car in others (986/987/997)

 

And your personal experiences are truly representative of all 996 owners in the world, including the fella who started this thread, so we should all get rid of our 996s and trade them for SLs, which surely must be plagued with electronic gremlins since there are some reports of them on the SL boards.

Look, Bob, if you really had the experiences you claim, and I were you, then I would be disenchanted as well. The problem comes when you try to extrapolate your experiences to other engines.

 

LV,

NOBODY posts to that forum.. that's a desert.. everyone posts to mbworld.org
Check out that forum.. thousands and thousands of SL owners and thousands of threads.. mbforum is barely even used..

Bob you need to remember that the MB boards (mbforum) one of the most popular has less than 2K threads in the SL (AMG) forum and less than 2K threads in the R230 forum. I spent some time there myself when looking into getting a SL about 6 months ago but the forum is mainly dominated by just a few users and a LOT of people that do NOT have SL's that are just posting about dreams and desires to learn about bling and Renntech upgrades. Whereas, here, there are over 15K threads just on the 996 forum alone. And many thousand more dealing with the M96 based car in others (986/987/997)
__________________

 

TD,

all i'm saying is, that in this time and day, it should not be acceptable for ANY engine in any mass produced car to fail or grenade at 8,000, 10,000, 12,000, etc.. miles, even after being in production for over 6 years. Do you disagree with me, or can you name another car in the world currently being produced that has countless individuals out there with engines grenading at this low mileage with perfect maintenance records?

i don't find that acceptable.. if you do, all the power to you.. but when buying a brand new car, having the engine blow up after buying it a few months later would certainly not give me much confidence in it.. i don't know about yourself..

 

Bob, that is the board I was referring to (my apologies...I should have posted the exact URL). Check it out if you like so you can verify my statements.

I am so done with this thread. Ciao'

 

Mass production certain should reduce the incidence of "engine cratering" due to manufacturing defects in any brand car. Will it eliminate that possibility? Absolutely not. Perfection is an ideal that is, quite frankly, impossible to achieve. Further, there are many possible reasons for an engine to grenade, some of which are due to design, some of which are due to manufacturing defects, some of which are due to installation/service errors, engine abuse, improper maintenance, overrevs, etc. . . . It is hard enough to know what causes a single engine to crater let alone a "trend" of engines to crater. Apart from your story, and from the cylinder sleeve slippage problem on early Boxster engines, and of course the RMS leak issues (which is hardly an "engine cratering" issue), I am unaware of a "trend" or indeed even a frequency of "engine cratering" issues with Porsche engines. Of course, that doesn't mean it might not exist (who the hell am I?), but your comments about your experience somehow translating to hundreds or thousands of other Porsche owners seems baseless. If what you say really happened to you, it sucks. Sorry man. But you have no evidence that there is a "common flaw" in the Porsche engines that caused your failures and are somehow ticking time bombs in everyone else's engines. Sorry, I am just tired of hearing the "sky is falling" about these cars. If I were you, I wouldn't have confidence due to my "PERSONAL" experience. I haven't shared the experiences you have, and, quite fankly, I haven't heard about too many who have. I am satisfied, for the moment.

 

all i'm saying is, that in this time and day, it should not be acceptable for ANY engine in any mass produced car to fail or grenade at 8,000, 10,000, 12,000, etc.. miles, even after being in production for over 6 years. Do you disagree with me, or can you name another car in the world currently being produced that has countless individuals out there with engines grenading at this low mileage with perfect maintenance records?

I'm inclined to agree with Bob, there is no reason for this engine to be blowing up at this low mileage, particularly in light of the fact that this engine design has been around for decades, not years. The problem with these boards is you don't know if 3-5 posters constitutes a trend, or just the loudest voice at a concert. By the way I can name another car that's had engine failures despite being mass produced...the 2001-02 BMW M3. Now the company itself has extended the warranty to 100k and issued a recall to repair the problem on all cars.
Since Porsche has not, we can assume one of two things:
1. The problem is not nearly as serious as it's made out to be on these boards and affects a negligible percentage of cars.
2. They fix the ones in warranty and don't tell anyone of the design flaw, and when the warranty ends your out of luck.

I'm not sure which is the case here, but I'm inclined to thinks its the first based on Porsche's track record. Bob is also right about the Mercedes--both sl and slk. I haven't heard a single engine failure complaint on the v8 ( TONS on the new v6 though!), but the electronic gremlins are rampant

 

Porsche hasn't offered a recall for RMS and makes out of warranty customers pay for RMS issues, and refuses to even address it as a problem.. (ex: the 997 was released with the same RMS problems) and that affects around 1 out of 4 owners. So why do you think 1. if porsche won't even admit RMS is an issue or problem.. why in the world would they stand up to plate an assume responsibility for a replacement costing 20 times as much?

----

Since Porsche has not, we can assume one of two things:
1. The problem is not nearly as serious as it's made out to be on these boards and affects a negligible percentage of cars.
2. They fix the ones in warranty and don't tell anyone of the design flaw, and when the warranty ends your out of luck.

I'm not sure which is the case here, but I'm inclined to thinks its the first based on Porsche's track record. Bob is also right about the Mercedes--both sl and slk. I haven't heard a single engine failure complaint on the v8 ( TONS on the new v6 though!), but the electronic gremlins are rampant[/QUOTE]

 

And the evidence to support 1 in 4 RMS replacements is located where? I would be interested to read that.

 

If you go to this 996 rennlist survey, it is actually about 4 of 10... i said 1 in 4 to be conservative and fair...

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ght=RMS+survey

from munro86:

Ignacio,
I think you've hit on an important point here. The statisticians have already slammed the validity of this poll, but although this forum is a subset of the total category of 996/Boxster owners, I don't believe the actual total group would seriously dent the results obtained so far.Granted not all owners are represented here,but why are people suggesting this group significantly skews the results? When I first took my 996 to the Porsche service centre, I immediatley asked what was the prevalence of RMS problems that you have seen here? Without hesitating he said: "40 to 50%" I said: "Seriously, 40-50% of 996's you've serviced here have had their RMS repaired?" He said: "Yep". So from this subset the same results are obtained as we have had here.So your suggestion that Porsche should provide any extended warranty is certainly not an outlandish one. If the poll delivered a result of say 5-10%,then it would be within exceptable limits, but its not, and something must be done about it.

 

13,500 miles. Intermediate shaft let loose. Engine replaced with new.

Car used more for trips and enthusiastic driving than around town.

No big deal though I'd get an extended warranty if I decide to keep the car beyond its warranty period.

 

ah, the infamous valid & empirical (detect sarcasm) 996 forum survey.

.....you really need to go pick up a stats book and then you will understand why all the slamming from us statisticians. One word: anecdotal.

 

'00 986
'02 996

Both M96 motors running strong, no problems!!

 

I have previously read here that tiptronics had no better luck with RMS leaks than 6 speeds. Last months Excellence indicates that tips have less chance for RMS leaks and engine failures due to the difference in design. Are there Tip owners on the forum who have experience with RMS leaks and/or engine replacements?

Before flaming me, I'm just curious and not losing any sleep over it one way or the other. As I've previously stated I've had no real issues with any of the P-cars I've owned, including 996 and 986. I do drive them regulalry and do maintenance the same as I did with older versions of the 911, notwithstanding valve adjustments of course.

 

LvDell, is that you again!! You said Ciao couple posts back!!
you know, for such a worthless thread, there really are so many people interested in commenting here, hmmm, wonder why!! you know i'm just poking fun at you right?
Thanks RayS for sticking to topic. How many miles so far?
Peter