FRUNKenstein

I believe the bigger bearings have proved to have a less than a 1% failure rate, which is why they were excluded from the IMS settlement. I suspect there is no way to tell which bearing you have without dropping the engine or transmission.
If it has the smaller bearing, concur with swapping it out with the LNE bearing.
I put no stock in the cursed car theory. It's a machine, not a mentally disturbed woman. What are we, freaking gypsies or something?

lingpoen

run....

c4racer

Yes based on what I'm hearing I would run far fast and far. There are so many no story cars out there for cheap. This one would have to be under $15k for me to even think about thinking about it.

Fracture

the money and mileage is appealing for a reason

the car has been taken apart twice, engine / transmission taken out
stuff gets missed

what is Manhattan Motors reputation for rebuilding motors ?

onewhippedpuppy

An RMS is not an engine. An RMS is a cheap seal that tends to leak. An RMS is not a big deal. That car is on engine #2.

Huh? You really think a dealership would rebuild an engine and warranty their work based on guesswork? A dealership has access to more Porsche engine data than any independent. Dealerships also very rarely venture outside of what Porsche recommends, and in the case of M96 rebuilds they almost always replace, not rebuild. So I suspect any parts that needed replacement were actually replaced.

To the OP, it wouldn't concern me. If it's a good running and driving car with a clean bill of health, I would definitely buy it. That's a good price for a C4S.

DCJosh

Thanks for every ones input, I still have a little bit of time to wait until my insurance process is finished with my Cayenne so I am still on the hunt.

prosled8

YES! I do think they would do just that.

I have NEVER heard of dealerships having access to engine rebuild specs which is exactly why almost none were "rebuilt" at dealerships. Can you verify that this dealer actually had the specs from Porsche in order to effect a quality rebuild?

The onus is on Porsche, not the dealer. The dealer did what Porsche recommended, even if it was beyond the scope of the shops abilities.

I suspect that if dealer techs had access to rebuild specs for these engines they would have leaked to the public a decade ago. The ONLY specs I have heard of are the ones Raby developed based on experience.

I too would run, not walk from this project car.

KrazyK

I agree. Car is brand new, engine blows at 2459 miles??? WTF?? Then that new engine blows up too??? Sounds like another Christine to me but at least that car repaired itself.

Kalashnikov

What? I will attribute your lack of mathematical aptitude to a long 3 day weekend hangover.

02APR2003 - 2,459 miles, engine replaced (Engine #2 goes in)
03MAY2006 - 22,961 miles, RMS fixed
25AUG2009 - 34,167 miles, engine rebuilt due to IMS failure. (Engine #3 goes in)

ditto

If the third engine was replaced instead of rebuilt I would have no qualms. The way to differentiate the two is to use the engine serial number. It will look like m96/03SAT665 where the AT means rebuild and the 5 means rebuilt in 2005. If it is engine #2 the last digit will be either 2 or 3, if engine #3 is a factory rebuild it will be 9. There is nothing wrong with buying an old car with a fresh engine unless you are paying for a numbers matching hemi.

To read the engine number take a picture of it with a phone. It can be done without jacking the car up.

Mark I

I'm with the naysayers, Josh. Too much kale for a pig in a poke. Lots of fish in the sea. Tuck your insurance cash away and look patiently for your next car.

DTMiller

Reminds me of a great exchange from "Sports Night"

I'm fluent in four languages you know.
Four?! You speak French, Spanish and German.
I do pretty good in English as well.
Oh, yeah.

KrazyK

My brother claims the correct phrase is "Too much sugar for a dime". Not sure why that makes sense to him but he says it often about my projects.

DCJosh

I'm not sure what kale, pigs, sugar and dimes have to do with anything...

But,,,,,,

The temptation is so strong....

Like I said, I am still learning about the car so it is great that I am getting feedback from both sides on what I may be in for.

As an Engineering Automotive Technology major here at Minnesota State, we are encouraged to work on our own cars. I figured, what better way to fill my love of Porsche while at the same time, progressing my knowledge of Automotive Systems?

I have a lot to consider, I will keep you all informed as I go.

Again, thank you for the feed back, it is worthwhile.

Regards,

DC Josh

onewhippedpuppy

Actually I may have been drunk when I posted that. They don't teach us that complex math in engineering school. But I would still buy the damn car if I liked it, they're all a crapshoot.