jsmirand

This weekend I drove from Tucson to the Grand Canyon, hiked 7 miles down the South Kaibab to Phantom Ranch, had a steak dinner at the bottom, camped, hiked up 9 miles up Bright Angel Trail, got into my 2003 C4 with 11k miles and began driving home.

I noticed that when i first turned on my Porsche at the Grand Canyon Park, it made a slight rattle from the engine, but barely noticeable, and certainly not noticeable when driving.

The car drove perfectly home, and as I backed it into the garage, I had just cleared the door by inches, when it sounded like a bunch of coins in a dryer coming from the engine, it stalled suddenly, and all the lights came on. I attempted one restart, and nothing happened. (will not attempt anymore).

After reading about engine's going kaput, based on that sound, I'm suspecting mine made it a whopping 11,400 miles. I'm having it towed to the dealer today and will know for sure soon. But it did sound severe.

This is disappointing, but I am trying to also look at the good side and keep things in overall perspective:

1. I had a safe hike in the Canyon, 17 miles walked without incidents.
2. The 11 hour drive was accident free.
3. The car made it back home, quite literally, by about 3 inches beyond the garage door's clearance before the engine suddenly died.
4. It's still covered by Porsche certified pre-owned.

I'll keep this forum updated on the engine diagnosis.

Tippy

Sounds like the Intermediate shaft let go

redridge

sorry to hear this... please keep us updated on the situation.

AndyK

Best part is Porsche will buy you a new (reman) engine and install it for you! Here is where you say "thank God for the CPO"!

I hit 20k on my engine, and heard rattling in my exhaust (I hope) last night after a long run. Seems this is normal, relatively. But it did sound like coins in a dryer!

Palting

Wow! Glad you made it home. How many miles on the clock.

67FJ45

Sounds like your intermediate shaft. My experience: 2004 with X51 package, 30k miles, 4 years and 9 days old, ran like a top, IMS failed as I was pulling into a parking space. The night before it failed, I heard a very faint, hollow, ringing sound from the engine, kinda like a coin rolling around in a dryer before all the other coins fall out of the pants pockets. I'd pulled some of the sound deadening insulation from the rear of my car and doubt I would have heard it with the insulation in place.

The good news: CPO (thank goodness, given that it was 9 days beyond the standard warranty); dealer covered it under warranty and apologized for taking two weeks (the extended time was due to PMNA asking the dealer to tear the engine down to verify the damage). The service manager told me the engine was completely destroyed.

Hope you get the same nice treatment I got.

rmillnj

With the CPO you should be just fine. Hopefully the dealer will give you a nice loaner while they figure it all out.

It is interesting that once again it is a garage queen that shows the problem. Makes me think I should consider selling my '99 with 96,000 miles since I no longer drive it everyday. I am worried what happens when I can't put at least 5,000 miles a year on it.

My totally un-scientific observation and experience is that if you can't drive a Porsche at least 5,000 miles a year you should give it to someone who can, because below that amount of use is where most of the problems happen.

Glenn

Oh man - for those of us that are out of warranty that just scares the **** out of me. On the bright side, I grew up in Flagstaff and have made that hike to Phantom Ranch probably 20 times. Really miss that part of the country now that I'm in "Upper Canada"

Keep us posted on progress.

AndyK

Wonder if I should bring my car to the dealer for a check on that noise I heard? Rattling around, but I thought it was exhaust related.

I have an aftermarket warrany through next year, but I would hate to be stranded miles from home if the engine decides to blow up!

redridge

def have it checked out, at least there will be a paper trail to help you out...

vwrado

I'd like to know this too. I have some weird noticable sound from the back of my car while idle but goes away when I drive it. It drives perfectly normal and I am hoping its a bad catalytic or something.

jsmirand

Update: Dealer called, its an intermediate shaft failure. They are working with Porsche now to process the warranty claim and order a replacement motor. Sounds like ~2 weeks. I indicated to the advisor that being a Porsche CPO warrantied car, purchased direct from a Porsche dealer, and with no signs of car abuse (I don't abuse), should be a seamless claim. He said its seamless to us, but they have to do all sorts of paperwork on their end, adding 1-2 days to the overall job.

Since purchasing my Carrera my driver window regulator wasn't dropping the window 1/8 inch, and I am pushing to have that covered (even if not included in CPO warranty) seeing the hassle factor of:

1. Motor blowing up at 11k miles on the clock.
2. Loosing the car for 2 weeks.
3. Possible depreciation impacts (not sure if it helps or hurts having a reman motor, but stories do tend to scare future buyers. And now my car has a story.

wrt to CPO including Porsche's service for towing, that was very well handled. I called the 1-800 number, flat bed arrived in ~45 minutes, works with local Porsche dealer, very professionally handled. I shared how lucky I was that the car failed in the garage, as the day before I was in remote highways near the Grand Canyon. Operator said they bailed someone from Death Valley recently, doesn't matter how remote the site, they figure a way to essentially 'rescue you' and get you on your way.

All in all, this experience shakes my confidence in Porsche Carrera motors - I read the endless debate on how often catastrophic failures occur, but in 25 years of ownership of Datsun, Nissan, Ford, Benz's, BMWs, Honda, Toyota, this had to be the first, and it had to be within 6 mos of ownership and it had to be in a model with only 11k miles... what does that say?

I love the car, will get it back and drive the snot out of it (prior owner made it a garage queen, not I), and enjoy it while the CPO warranty holds, but once motor warranty starts to near end date will seriously consider refreshing to a newer 911 (If I so desire) to maintain coverage.

I'm taking this in stride as in the scheme of life, its only a car, it is warrantied, and it will be just as fun to drive with a new motor as it was with the original one. But had I not had a warranty, boy, I'd be really ticked off with Porsche in absorbing $15k on a blown motor (while idling in garage!) with only frickin 11k miles on it.

Gaspasser19

I've had both cats replaced CPO in the past year. They sounded like you have described. BTW, the stealership charged PCNA $1800 EACH time.

Benjamin Choi

I just passed my 1 year mark of owning my first Porsche and being an avid reader/poster of this forum, here's what I've come to learn:

-Remanufactured motor preferred: As ridiculous as this sounds, this is the reality. I actually got "lucky" because the 911 I fell in love with, thx to Ray S's good help, received a new motor at 13K miles. At first, it scared me, but having researched here, 'I've come to learn' that having a remanufactured motor is better than having the original especially if the original has been sitting around (low mileage, garage queen M96s).

-There are a good number of owners who are enjoying their ownership experience whether garage queen or daily driver. But, as an owner armed with a bit more knowledge, no longer do I buy into arguments stating that because this is a forum, you're going to read up on more negative/catastrophic scenarios than what's actually occurring --> BS. I've spent similar amounts of time enjoying s2ki and m3forum and in neither of those forums do engine blow-up threads begin to approach the consistency and frequency of the M96 explosion story. Not even close.

Now have these "tragedies" impacted the enjoyment of my M96 911? Hell naw. Why?

1) I have a remanufactured engine
2) I bought a warranty thru a Porsche dealership
3) I have the 3.6
4) I didn't buy a garage queen 911

I sympathize with you all because it can happen to the best of the 911s. All of us are here because we love our cars and if you're a normal lover, you take care of those things that you care deeply about. I'm sorry, fellas. This is why I can never single out Porsche engineers as being the best in the industry. Porsche has a spotty reliability track record. But I've come to learn through some of you guys (brainwashing?), the 911's idiosyncracies add to the ownership experience in an absurdly positive way.

Just typing out loud here,
Ben

jsmirand

thanks Ben, agree with the above. When I originally purchased the 'garage queen', I hadn't read so many posts - albeit on anecdotal data and no hard evidence I've seen - that these are more prone to catastrophic failures.

I think the more important element is having warranty coverage or being able to accept a possible $15k bill. Yes, anything is possible with any make... but...the thought of having my Honda Accord's engine catastrophically die just doesn't even map into any scenario I would expect, not even now. I'd sooner expect to win the lottery.

As for garage queen, now that I'm getting a reman motor, maybe in the end it wasn't the wrong way to go... that is, everything else about the car has seen less use, be it the electronics, the body, etc, so all things being equal I prefer a lower mileage 911 with reman motor then a higher mileage 911 with the same reman motor. Again, the key here was having the warranty.

Since I plan to use my 911, going forward, its going to get miles put on it. If anything I'm really going to drive it that much more, as I'm uncertain about weather I plan to keep it beyond 18-24 mos when the warranty does expire...

A couple thoughts / questions:

1. According to Porsche Tucson, the CPO warranty will continue on its original date, meaning I have 18 mos. Also, according to the dealer, the reman motor will get a full 24 mos. I plan to double check, but wanted to see if anyone knew definitively?

2. When getting a reman motor - what is the scope of what is changed? Are these part of it: Any part of the exhaust? All fluids (I would assume yes here)? MAF?

3. What does 'reman' motor really mean? Is it a new core with new parts? Used core, used parts? A mix? Are all reman motors by Porsche generally equal? As of this writing, is a reman motor based on a particular model year?