BruceP

The only way it makes sense to trash the car is if you have no intention of replacing it with anything. Otherwise, another engine is the most economical option for you. That will end up being cheaper by far than crystallizing your losses on the Porsche plus buying something in its place. Replacing the engine, you merely end up with an overpriced Porsche, and you can get that value back by using it if you do so long enough.

People get irrational at moments like this, and let their anger/fear/pride cause them to make bad economic decisions. A car isn't generally an investment grade asset. It's an expense whose value can only be extracted through utility. The whole "fixing it will cost more than it's worth" argument, which many people make, is specious and illogical. I'm really sorry this crap happened to you, for sure, and it's not right. But unless you have to trash it for your own financial reasons, don't let emotions multiply your costs here. My .02.

ivangene

Good point Bruce, and others...

options are available, take a breath and start researching... knowledge will help more than emotion.

rpratt

Thanks. That's exactly why I started this thread, to solicit opinions on different options. This car (or it's replacement) is my daily driver, so I do need something reliable and consistent. Fixing it is definitely an option, but buying a lightly used or brand new replacement is also tempting, especially moving to a '997. Since I'm averaging twice as many miles per clutch as per engine, it doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the engine :-)

soverystout

+1 Do you actually know you have a cracked block or is it the head?
the head is a much cheaper fix.

rpratt

Personally I don't know, but I trust Tony Heyer (Heyer Performance, in Mountain View CA), and after doing the diagnostics he came to the conclusion that the engine wasn't repairable. He did say that I could try having it disassembled and repaired, but that he didn't recommend that and had not seen good results in the rare cases a customer of his had gone that route, at least not with a failure like mine.

Bob

ivangene

I will PM you a contact, never hurts to ask and get more ideas

ohdavey6286

I am sure Doug will chime in soon. He did this on his own car for next to nothing and he can guide you in the right direction.

ivangene

it also wasnt his daily driver - took him more than a couple days (not that he wont be able to offer a welth of helpful insight, just saying) We all (or most of us anyhow) have seen the Boxster guy that rebuilt his motor on youtube in his garage with no real special skills other than determination and the lack of wanting to spend $20k at the dealer...-

rpratt

Unfortunately (from a $$$ point of view, anyway), I'm not in a position to do this myself from either a time or skills perspective. So whatever I end up doing will involve paying someone else, even though doing it myself would certainly be less expensive.

Bob

Paul 996

May I ask what the diagnosis was? Cracked cylinder head or the block? There is a place in Costa Mesa with rebuilt cylinder heads on the shelf. If yours is unrepairable it is replaceable and only for the cost of a rebuild cylinder head vs engine. PM me if you want contacts as well as a mechanic in LA who routinely does this work.

soverystout

I'm not questioning the integrity of Tony Heyer having never met him but he just said "throw it away, it doesn't matter what is cracked or broken"?

That makes no sense.

Did he say "oh you should just get out of this car" and then offer to buy it from you for $5K?

Things that make you go "hmmmmmmm"

rpratt

Nope, neither of those. I can't recall precisely what he said on the phone, and I'm obviously going to be talking to him again, but it was along the lines of the following:

You have a bad crack in either the block or the head, and basically all the coolant had drained/been burned up in the engine. There are three repair choices:
1) tear down the engine, repair / replace the broken component, and reassemble.
2) buy a used replacement engine
3) Buy a new engine from Porsche.
1 would be cheapest but still not cheap (price will vary based on what's broken, but assume 5K to 10K with labor and all). He also sounded "leery" of 1 especially if it involved welding a damaged head back together or work of that type. He just didn't sound confident that this sort of thing would hold up over time.
2 and 3 were described to me as more expensive (3 being highest, of course), but definite options.

The other thing he told me to consider is that he often sees 996 manual transmissions fail by the time they get to 100-125K miles. I'm at 107K with the original transmission (new clutch, though), and he doesn't want to sell me a new engine then have me needing a $6K transmission 6 months later, at least not without warning me up front.

I definitely think he's giving me a reasonable set of options, but since NONE of them are particularly cheap I'm soliciting further thoughts before I make any final, expensive decisions.

Bob

Down South

rpratt:

Do you recall when your water pump was last replaced?

larry47us

Bob:

Your predicament is something that we all fear. But maybe you want to look at this as an "incremental" cost option. Maybe repairing the engine with a new head might cost $5,000 (I really don't know the numbers here - I am just using this as a sample calculation.) You already have $25,000 invested in your car. Selling a car like this without an engine will get you < $10,000. If you do that but buy another Porsche, you take the hit on your asset (the existing car) and another hit to buy a new one (new to you.) Where can you buy another Porsche for the cost of repairing/replacing your engine?

If you repair/replace the engine, you will have a significantly lower cash outlay now, and recover some of your original investment. I know that the emotional tendency is to toss the baby out with the bathwater, but that isn't a wise economical choice. That is UNLESS . . . . . you already know your tranny is nearly trash, the other mechanicals in your car need freshening/replacing, your interior is used up, you no longer enjoy a 996 NA and want to move up to a TT, or a 997. If there are OTHER reasons for the change, and the engine is just the straw that broke the camel's back, then go ahead.

But, if this is an emotional decision, and your car is otherwise in reasonable shape, do the repair, and enjoy the car for another 50 or 100K miles. You will come out with less of a cash outlay in the long run. Just my $.02 plain. It's your nickel.

larry

rpratt

not a clue. It would have been whenever "the book" called for a replacement, or it might have been done when I had the clutch done at 95K miles. Kinda a moot point now, though.

Bob