Edgy01

That sort of thinking is correct if you're talking about a 356 Carrera. For the 996 and 997 cars, total engine swaps are NBD (no big deal). Face it, these are all mass produced cars, and engines today are R&R items (remove and replace).

missmy993

Help! I am trying to find the engine # on my car. The description is not clear to me and dang it I can't seem to find it. Should I be looking from underneath the car or from the engine bay. Thanks,

Macster

Let's see... My experience is with Boxster/Caymans and these have their serial numbers on the right side of the car which can be viewed if one gets down real low behind the passenger side (USA car) rear tire and with a bright light find the oil sump cover and the seam where it joins to the engine block.

Look left towards the rear of the car and just above the seam there should be a machined surface at a 45 deg. angle from perpendicular with the engine's serial number stamped into the face.

The machined face into which the serial number is stamped may be dirty so you might want to have handy a rag or paper towel and some kind of cleaner -- brake cleaner in an aerosol can -- to use to remove the grime so you can make out the number.

Now a 996 has its engine turned 'round so this would put the serial number on the other side of the car and one would have to look from the driver's side, maybe from just ahead of the rear wheel.

The few times I've been under 996s I never paid any attention -- save I took pics of my Turbo's engine serial number (but the engine is not the same as in the NA 996 cars and the serial number is located in a different place) -- and took pics of my Boxster and Cayman serial numbers as well.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Shark Attack

On the drivers side, you dont even have to lift the car.... Look under the car right behind the DS rear wheel. The number will be facing you on the bottom, front corner of the engine on a part of the case casting that has a 45 degree angle to it.

vtxto996

look in your owners manual, it shows you exactly where the engine number is and with a picture

smackboy1

Not true. I bought my car with 30,000 miles on the chassis but only 8,000 miles on the engine which was replaced under warranty because the IMS went on the original. The new engine had all the updated parts so if anything it was more reliable than the original. It was a plus for me.

In my experience if you really want to know, have a dealer perform the PPI, they can pull up the data on the car and tell you if the engine is the same as when the car was delivered. They can also tell you about the warranty and TSB history, which dealer the car was originally delivered at etc.. What they will not tell you is non-warranty work without the owner's permission.