MoeMonney

Whats year is your 996? Is it a 6spd?

DBJoe996

Look, you're getting some good suggestions on here, but...you need to have your situation professionally diagnosed by a very good knowledgeable Porsche shop. Why not talk with Vertex, figure out how you can get the car there and see how it goes from there? Everything else is speculation, which is not bad, and we are only trying to help you out.

5CHN3LL

Before selling it as a roller, maybe verifying what Jake suspects would be prudent...

bpu699

From looking at the Vertex site, the rebuilt motors seem reasonably priced. But from the fine print, the core motor has to have reusable cylinders, crank, etc...

Would the crank be reusable in this case? Cylinders/pistons?

TheMystro

Do be to quick to make any decisions yet. Get the car to a professional that can give you real world options.

DBJoe996

Car was running when you drove it into the shop for a PM bearing replacement. No whining, no squealing or the dreaded marbles in a can sounds prior. In my opinion, and only an opinion, I think the shop *dicked* up the job royally and there may be a reasonable core left. The internal destruction of the engine as Jake has described might have occurred, or not, if the engine had been run, but it wasn't. So it leaves it as anybody's best guess, and in the end only a knowledgeable Porsche shop is going to be able to tell you after they tear into it.

And a word to the wise - get your engine number and write it down...now! I'm not as paranoid as Gnat, but he has a good point. Not sure of the reputation of the original shop that had your car, and showing you a busted up engine instead of yours would not be beyond some really shady shops, then telling you you need a $$ replacement engine. And it could be that PCNA could have a record of the original VIN/Engine number match, unless it was replaced at some point in time by someone other than a Porsche dealer. Basically, I doubt you'll find out but it's worth a shot.

porschedog

Get it on a flatbed and away from that shop as fast as you can.
There are plenty of talented indys out there who can set your car right.

Jason 996

It is a cabriolet with automatic transmission. From what I have seen on here the automatic transmission cars are not very desirable. I would probably have to agree with a earlier poster, by the way Jake Raby used his terminology in his post the engine sounded like it would not be rebuildable or at the very least would be needed more than a standard rebuild would need. As far as shipping the car for further analysis, that seems like it may just be another expense to validate what the shop said and confirmed by the poster Jake Raby on here that seems to be highly regarded. The poster that remarked on the financial deficit made very valid points using financial logic.

Ahsai

Everything in this thread is not intuitive. Too many things don't add up.

If the engine failed like Jake described, the oil filter should be full of metal flakes. A normal shop would have saved that smoking gun to show the owner. Seems like oil filter was never mentioned?

docmirror

Sell it as a roller, sell the engine on ebay noted with IMS issue, buy a Miata with auto, and enjoy life. You got ****ed this time, you aren't the first, won't be the last. Sorry for your loss.

Gonzo911

The shop replaced the IMS...screwed it up. Took it for a test drive. Engine blew. Now they are covering their tracks.

That's my theory...

docmirror

I think the OPs original good engine is in one of those cars on the lot for sale and the IMS failed engine from that car was shown to this owner. So, the 911 on the lot has his good engine, and he's got a pile of melted metal goo. Running fine when brought in is highly inconsistent with seized IMS bearing. I've heard a LOT of bearings fail, and never had one go without plenty of noise. Marbles in a can, death rattle, howl, whine, hum, bugle -- something.

5CHN3LL

The conjecture going on here is...impressive. A shop (possibly) botching an IMS is one thing; a shop defrauding a customer by stealing his engine and installing it into a different chassis is another.

As much as I find it almost always irritating when someone mentions Occam's razor...it's applicable here. "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."

The fewest assumptions to be made in this case: The engine is OP's, and it's broken for some not-entirely-known reason.

Ahsai's theory is that the cams might have been improperly locked. Raby's theory is that the bearing managed to fail tragically and coincidentally with arriving at the shop. Doc's theory is that grand larceny is involved with swapping OP's engine into their own for-sale vehicle. Regardless of who is right, OP has the option to (a) take the shop at face value and dump the car, or (b) elicit a second opinion before acting.

JimmyChooToo

I read all the theories and that's the simplest one and the one that makes the most sense.

Sorry about your loss. I would still be highly suspicious of the shop and take legal action if possible. If they screwed it up and know it, they would be more inclined to settle. At least most people would.

A botched job should have the new bearing stuck in there or obviously used/damaged.

gnat

I agree that a shady swap isn't likely, but it's not impossible.

I think too many things just don't add up here which is what leads to the wilder speculations. Engine sounded fine when it was pulled into the bay, told the bearing was found to be seized, told there was debris but no evidence shown, customer shows up and finds the motor out when there was no call for it to be out. It just smells too fishy to be a coincidental/unknown random bearing failure.

OP is definitely nicer than me. I would have be apoplectic if I showed up and found my motor out when there was no call for it to be so and they couldn't produce the debris laden oil.

I'd really love to see the results of a trusted competent mechanic looking into this motor to find out what it's real state is and if they can deduce what happened.