turbodogs02

So, I've been enjoying my car since it's purchase in January of this year. Relatively low miles (41k and change as I recall), all the major service issues taken care of (IMS, water pump, etc. etc.), plus a known local history, including the maintenance work done at the independent shop that's right down the street from me. I had a 2013 Panamera GTS at the time, and as I like to now say, I accidently washed it in hot water and it shrunk and lost two doors.....voila, I now have an '05 Carerra S. It came with 20" Carerra Classic wheels that at first I liked, but I decided to go back to 19's and put on a set of OZ Leggera HLT. Love the wheels, love the way the car rides now, and couldn't be happier.


Before...

After...



So all is great, enjoying the car, did some AX events, yadda yadda. Fast forward to about 4 weeks ago and I was accelerating onto the freeway from a metered onramp, in sport, shifting from second to third, when......BANG! A huge noise, followed by misc. strange sounds, and then every light on the console is on and I have no power....dead car. I coast over to the side and tried to restart....nope. Towed to shop, and after a week of sitting she finally gets evaluated.....skipped timing. Initial diagnosis says the main chain rail broke first and then that started the dominos to expensive repair bill land. Good news is the motor is getting rebuilt so, in theory, it should be really good to go once the car comes back home. The heads went out for analysis last week and just came back today. I don't have the full report yet on those, or the total repairs needed yet....but needless to say, for my sweet little car with less than 50k on the clock to go boom, I am severely bummed. Not to mention dreading the final total on the bill...…$$$$$$$


Fancy new wheels getting a ride

doclouie

Nice car. That is a bummer about the engine especially with the low mileage. Keep us posted.

Chris M.

Sorry to hear it. Should be good to go for a long time with the new engine. 4.0L?

turbodogs02

Negative....just rebuilding the 3.8. At this point it's already expensive enough, and I don't need the temptation of the extra oomph

CT944

19's look so much better. Good choice.

Scottc714

Great looking wheels. Im wondering if the previous owner over revved it enough to stretch the chains. You wouldve needed to put about 50 hours running time on it after purchase to be safe and rule that out. Have them run a DME report and then youll know. Real bummer. Sorry to hear.

T4S

Sorry to hear TurboD.
Charles at LN Engineering who rebuilds many of the blocks failing was quoted saying 99.9% upgrade displacement in the February Panorama mag. Its a no brainer to me - think merely for resale value alone. Was also told its barely more money and definitely not cost prohibitive. Make sure you're getting the best information out there. . .

sandwedge

Starting with the positive. I agree with those who like the 19" wheels better than the previous 20's. Much better, both in looks and proportion to the car. As for the engine, you're not describing it as an IMS failure but still some major work to be done. Do you have an estimate yet? With an IMS failure your car would be worth between $7K and $8K now so I assume the work needed on your car doesn't reduce its current value to anything like that. Good luck!

MexicoBlueTurboS

My heart sinks anytime I hear of a kaboom. Hopefully, you can share more of your experience and help prevent others from having the same heartache.

Did you PPI - look at overrev - etc ? Please keep us updated as to what comes up in the post mortem for the engine. There is a wealth of knowledge here that can help
offer advice to your best options.

You definitely have a car worth saving and I would seriously check out Charles Navarro for the 4.0 and his root cause analysis.

Many with his 4.0 engine look back and state publicly - the kaboom was the start of the best decision of their lives. I think the value is there and will more readily reflect in the resale price later.

But more than likely - you'll never sell. GLWR (good luck with rebuild)

Speed2k

Sorry to hear about this! I agree with others, I think it's worthwhile to at least explore the cost to upgrade the engine. If you intend to keep the car you wouldn't want to go with a barebones build anyways.

Zettinger

You new wheels look great. IMO 20" look too big on a 997.

Sorry to hear about your engine. Are you going for an 4l approach or repair what grenaded?

mrdeezy

I am curious to know if cam deviation on the durametric would have picked this up beforehand?

turbodogs02

Thanks to everyone for the "condolences", as that is seriously what it has felt like since it happened (even just posting the pix of the car made me miss it!). I honestly never even thought of going to the 4.0 upgrade, as I was simply thinking time+damage=I want my car back and so much $$$. I think I'll discuss the option with my mechanic now that I have at least the good news that the heads, along with the rest of the motor, are rebuildable and hopefully it won't be as bad as first suspected. Initial worst case scenario was a quote of 18-19k, but that was for an entire catalog worth of parts based on best guess of potential damage. This was prior to the heads going out, and so I'll be interested to have the conversation now and see where we stand, and what the thoughts are on doing an upgrade. To be honest, I don't really know much about the 4.0 upgrade as I always thought it was for "other people" that had motor issues.....little did I know I'd someday be one of "those people". I guess I have some researching to do....I really appreciate everyone's comments and inputs and for sure will be posting any and all info that I can get from this....

Also this car will definitely be in my possession for a very, very, very long time. As my wife has been very patient with my automotive proclivities over the past few years, including the thought that the Pan was going to be around a little longer prior to finding the Carerra, this little mechanical hiccup pretty much seals the deal on it's place in the driveway now.

T4S

Right on, glad there's some positive news flowing for you. And good on ya for being open to opinion/suggestion of the board.
Hope you find your silver lining in all of this [hint 4.0]

turbodogs02

*** minor update ***

Heads came back and are looking good! In fact, the whole thing is turning out to not look as bleak as first suspected. Rods, pistons, cylinders are ok. Exhaust valves are ok, some bent intake valves. That's all I can remember for now, I'm certainly no mechanic so speaking "engine" isn't my first language, but I can usually follow along. At this point the decision was made to simply get it all back together and back home, so no 4.0 for me at this time. Waiting on just a couple more parts to arrive and ETA is about 2 weeks longer to completion. Once I get the final analysis and work up from the mechanic I'll be sure to post it all up.