I mess around with computers. I guess you could call me a glorified technical support guy as I'm part of a team that provides network and desktop support to 600 or so people throughout the country. I used to be a system admin but took a 'lesser' job because my old one interfered with my personal life and made me miserable.

 

UFO,

You have had a ton of responses and advice to try and help you out. A testament of the solid people in this forum.
We have all gone through ups and downs in life and I am sure this is not the low point for yours. Turning a negative event into a positive is the challenge when going through a down cycle.
I would suggest you get a better engine than stock (as already mentioned) even if it takes you time.
The goal is to come out with a better car than you bought. At this point the pain of the blown engine will quickly fade.
If this is not acceptable than the second choice is simple. Cut your loss and move on. The financial impact does hurt but does not have a long term impact in your life.
Good health is a blessing and will not last forever.
The bottom line of your problem is money, that IS the good news, you can do something about that.
Count your blessings.

Good luck

 

All I can say is wow. I owned a 1968 911 in my early 20's. When I sold it I promised myself that "someday" I'd have another. Well, 30 years went by and after watching my father's health deteriorate to the point where he is in a nursing home, then watching how the cash he stashed from a lifetime of self-denial and frugality was drained like from a firehose, I looked at my own life and asked myself how much joy my finances really brought me. So, I decided to live now, and not keep holding out for the "someday when". And now to my wife's dismay, my standard answer when asked how I like my Porsche is "best decision I EVER made".

And no, I am not independentaly wealthy, I work my butt off and earn every cent I have. Would a $10k repair bill upset my apple cart? Absolutely. But it wouldn't be the first or last time I got through stuff.

 

Sounds like a healthy outlook to me. Enjoy today.....and drive that 911.

 

for 20k just buy another 996 that has front end wreck or something, then swap it yourself.

i have a few weeks of school left before i graduate, and 996's look mighty tempting for the money

 

You own the car, if you look at what it's worth now and what it would cost to repair, it's still worth replacing the engine with the Porsche reman unit and drive it for few more years. Then the total cost is not that bad. The next owner will know that the engine has been replaced with the Porsche updated reman unit and resale value will be higher.

Please note that the reman engines do not come with the flywheel, clutch and serpentine belt so check all the parts and all the seals, gaskets, etc required are on your estimate.

We usually also replace the coolant tank, level sensor, cap, coolant hose and line (from tank to heater pipe) and other items to the latest part numbers as needed with engine changes.

 

Sorry to bump an old post but this is a bit of a follow-up so I didn't want to create a new thread. I guess the dealership got tired of the car being there. I can't blame them as it's been there for 6 weeks or so.... I'd almost forgot what it looked like. Anyway, the car's home now: for how long I don't know.

Thought you might like to see a quick vid of what it sounds like on startup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPi3V4NSuDg

 

so is it fixed? Your comments suggest that there's still an issue.

 

They replaced the engine while I was sunning myself in dear old Blighty. No issues as yet other than a horrible grinding sound about 1/4 mile outside the dealership. There was a wrench embedded in the plastic undertray that was dragging on the ground.... Let's hope that's the only thing they left in there and that they tightened the bolt first.

 

Am I also missing something here

Here's the 1st post in this thread as a reminder:

Porsche owner for less than a month. 75K on a '01 C4. Car had been checked over but no compression test was run. Car died, won't start, white smoke coming from driver exhaust pipe. Car does turn over. Oil is clean and coolant is clear. My Porsche owning experience has not been a happy one.

So now it starts, I didn't see any white smoke as expressed during the vid...so what is the problem again with your car ???

 

It's like a surprise, except not as interesting, exciting, or surprising. Sorry, my dry & sarcastic humour really isn't funny 99% of the time. I had the engine replaced.

 

I'm glad you explained. I thought I was a moron, because that engine sounds perfectly good. (Well, I may still be a moron, but that post wasn't proof.)

 

Nice and my post was being written at the time you did the one above it saying that you had the engine replaced.

So congratulations and now stop your whining (J/K)

 

Good luck - let's hope that the wrench was the only issue.

Commiserations on "sunning" yourself in Blighty at this time of year... hardly much sun and brass monkeys come to mind. Where were you?

 

Great news, and it sounds great.