With the recent demise of my 3.4 engine (2000 C4 cab with 50,000 miles) due to the oil/coolant intermix I have done alot of research on options and pricing. Thought I would share the information I have gathered.

Pricing on Remanufactured engines from both Sunset and Suncoast

3.4 E-gas $11,010.06/$2,229.63 core charge
3.6 $8,543.78/$2,336.81 core charge
3.6 X51 $9,600.73/$2,566.24 core charge

Shipping seems to be $300-$400 each way to Chicago area. Remember that the core charge is refunded only after the core is returned to the dealer, then returned to Porsche and torn down to see if it is "rebuildable." I am not sure what impact a cracked cylinder head or cracked liner has on this refund, although Porsche does not seem to want to tell anyone what the problem with the engines are. Does anyone have any knowledge of how Porsche handles this.

Also, Suncoast says you can use a 3.4 core on a 3.6 engine, but you get the lower credit for the core return, so this could be a couple of hundred dollars.

R&R of the same engine (i.e. 3.4 for 3.4 or 3.6 for 3.6) seems to run from $1,500 to $2,500 depending on dealer or independant. Upgrading from a 3.4 to a 3.6 cost more. Roock quotes $4,000 to $5,000+ for a turnkey. They also said the price togo to a 3.8 (997) would be about the same. There was a 3.8S engine listed here in the classified for only $9,010 with a core charge of $2,376, but I have not checked this out with a dealer.

Other options, flat6 innovations is offering a rebuild, including new sleeves, and a proprietary IMS upgrade (they say better than Autofarm) for about $14,000. There is a shop in the Los Angeles area (not Motormeister) that has 3.4's foir $6,500, with a $2,500 core deposit, refunded if rebuildable, some reductions if a head is cracked, or a liner. 6 months 6,000 mile warranty. They say they check all heads and blocks for cracks, and have a proprietary upgrade to the IMS. Don't know too much about this one.

Of course there is always LA dismantlers, but there are alot of question and comments about these guys, and their pricing is almost what a remanufactured engine goes for.

I ahve been keeping an eye on the used market, and there seem to be engines (some new) that come on the market on a regular basis, but they also go real fast. There was a party on the classifieds here that had 3 3.6 engines, supposed to be new or almost, $11,000 for all three, or $3,500, $4,000 and $4,500 seperate, but he sold them in 2 days to a party that bought all three, I got there a few days later and they were gone. I would have gone for the $4,500 3.6 still in the crate, but too late.

By the way, I went to the dealer where I bought the car in 2000, and they said there was not way Porsche would help if the car was 8 years old.

Hope this helps others with engine failures. There seem to be alot of posts in the last few weeks.

 

Cross motormeister off the list. They have a horrific reputation stretching back to the air-cooled days and have maintained it through the water.

Does the X51 motor include all the X51 accessories?

8 years old or not, I'd still contact PCNA and make a lot of noise. 50,000 miles

 

All of the #'s have changed for the better concerning the 3.6s since I needed an engine 1 year ago.

The end logic is still the same... for the same or less money just upgrade and do the conversion from a 3.4 to a 3.6.

Roock did my conversion from 3.4 to 3.6 a year ago. I only wish that the 3.6 x51 was a cheap as it is now and that Porsche was accepting 3.4 cores for a 3.6 (wow)

 

This sounds like Auto Strasse in Costa Mesa? They did my motor and I was very happy with the results - they do great work. It all really depends on your intentions with the car. If you want to keep it 10 years, put in the Porsche remanufactured. If you want to dump it and move on, put in the $6500 motor with the 6 month warranty and put it up for sale the day you get it back from the shop. I would not plan on getting much back for your core - I think I paid $2500 core and only got back $900.

You CAN make noise with PCNA. Send me a PM and I can tell you what I did. I cannot disclose the settlement I received, but something is better than nothing.

Good luck - you seem to be taking it well. I still hate thinking about it.

 

Paul, how does Roock handle the DME swap?.... do they put in a 3.6 DME harness etc?

 

Redridge,

All spelled out in my thread from a year ago. I have a 1999 996 originally with cable throttle and a DME version 5.2. All of that stayed put.

There is of course another way of doing this by installing a whole new harness and later variocam plus compatible DME and likely associated instrument gauge. (didn't go that way obviously).

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ght=3.6+engine

 

I spent some time talking with Fabian Roock yesterday regarding the 3.4/3.6 X51 swap. I had found a 3.6 X51 without an engine wiring harness, which wuld have cost $1.000+ to buy from Sunset or Suncoast. Roock said that it was not needed. He uses the 3.4 harness, and adapts it to the 3.6 engine. siome rewiring required. Then reflashes the 3.4 DME to run the 3.6 engine. Has done it several times so I guess they have it down pretty well. The cost is $4,000 - $5,000+ for the install, plus the price of the engine. He also said it would not be much different, or much more to do a 997 engine (i.e 3.8S). Unfortunately this is still a little rich for me right now, I'm a home builder and the business is about as bad as it can be right now. So my car will be sitting for awhile before I can do a new engine. May take out and tear down the 3.4 to see how the oil/coolaat mix took place.

But boy, a 3.6 X51 would be a nice upgrade. and given that the 3.6 X51 is $1,400 less than a 3.4 the cost for the upgrade is not that much more. Apparently the 3.8S engines are also only about $9,100 from Porsche. At least this was the price that Farnbacher Lola showed as a cost for the 3.8S they had for sale for $7,250, but I think it is gone now.

 

I have just installed a 3.6 X51 in a fellow Rennlisters car last week.Going to put her on our dyno next week and will post the charts.

Neil

 

Neil, there are a few of us on this forum who are interested in this swap. Can you tell us how you did it (which harness and DME, for example) and how much extra labor and tuning/debuggint as compared to installing a standard replacement engine? Thanks.

....Rickker

 

Hey there is a shop in Atlanta called Orton something the guy used to work at Roock before and started up his own shop. This you?

 

Sorry to hear about the motor - but please keep us posted on the options and the route you choose.

I have not had good experience with LA Dismantlers...

 

We used the 3.6 Harness but you have to change the temp sensor because the 3.4 Ltr motor has 4 pin and the 3.6 has only 2.The DME is the stock unit but remapped.You also have to play around with the Camshaft sensor signal and we install some electronics so the VC+ work

 

Neil,

That sounds exactly like how my 3.4 to 3.6 swap was done. Who does your DME remapping?

 

I work with a programmer in Germany who does all my mapping.