JMon

Anyone unlucky enough to have to get a rebuilt engine from Porsche?
If so, how bad was the damage to your core? What core charges did you pay? What total price did you pay?
Anyone do the Porsche exchange/rebuild with a cracked block?

Spokane5150

The dealer told me $15k crate motor comes with everything but the AC unit and a few bits. Installed less than $18k I suspect.

JMon

Did they mention anything about a core charge and if the core had to be in good shape?

RollingArt

My friend's shop just had a 996 in with a blown motor due to IMS bearing. Crate motor was approx. $17.5k + $19K for the core charge. Due the math and it comes to $36,500 if your core is rejected when it arrives @ the Porsche factory. Add labor on top of that.

I'm fairly sure your core will be rejected.

Your best bet is to take your car into the dealer to see if they can get any goodwill warranty help from Porsche. The above 996 was taken to dealer after the worthless after market warranty declined coverage. Porsche stepped up to the plate and helped out the owner.

utkinpol

you need to find/buy a used good core first somewhere from a wreck prior to any deals with a dealer on a new/remanufactured crate. nobody pays $19K for core charge.

go to 996 forum, search for my and other threads on engine rebuilders. there are many shops on both coasts that do that. call them all. LN Eng web site has list of 'recommended installers' - call them all too. M96/M97 motors do show up from time to time. you do not care now what to put in, 3.6L or 3.8L, anything will work fine, plus a properly rebuilt 3.6L with big bore has 40-60hp more than a stock one anyway.
i would not put new crate sh$t from a dealer as it is no better than old sh$t that blew off. those engines are crap until they get rebuilt by people who know what it is they are doing. that means shops that work for Koni cars, GrandAm cars and other series that feature 997.1 based racers including Caymans.
that Koni car motor you missed was the kind of a thing you need to look for. be patient, sports car is not a #1 priority in life, search for a good motor across racing shops, you`ll find one. If you get new crate motor from a dealer it is a $10K job on top of that to do all required rebuilds on it to make sure this M97 will not blow like old one. performance costs money.
as least it is not like a $40K to rebuild a cup car engine or gt3 engine, so, it is all relative depending of what to compare with, as new gt3 crate with no core costs $60k.

Quadcammer

that may be the first time in history a good core is worth more than the new engine.

RollingArt

Yep.

The current pricing is staggering.

utkinpol

it all cries for a good lawyer to put together a group suit. pricing on replacement gearboxes went up 2x overnight, aisin syncros now cost 2x more than gt3 syncros, they do everything they can to prevent people from repairing those older cars as they want folks to dump them and buy into new 991 line.

f-ng engine blows due to bad design as they replaced forged bolts on rods with cast ones overtorqued during install to cut costs, now when those stretched bolts get torn apart under load and rod goes out through the block wall they say 'no, this core is no good'.
basterds. any rebuilder out there does not 'change' this design, they simply use better proper parts that cost $4K-$5K more than 'stock' parts and that engine works perfectly fine after that under any load. it is a total scam.

Macster

Within the last year I priced -- just for grins -- a factory 2.7l engine for my 02 Boxster.

With a suitable core I was quoted just under $17K. Without a suitable core the quote climbed to around $27K.

Suitable core is from what I gather an engine that can serve as a rebuild candidate. If the engine block has a hole in it...but check with the dealer/parts department to be sure.

The number of available engines drops over time and suitable cores can only become more valuable if the info I obtained is still applicable.

Sincerely,

Macster.

alexb76

Hmm, I found you two engines on eBay and posted the link on your other thread. One had 50K, one had 22K miles, asking 14K and 15K, the 50K engine didn't ask for core, while the other asked core or 3K.

Your best bet is to negotiate and get one of those. Not sure where are you located, but might even be able to go see them.

Suns_PSD

It seems like there is unusually high number of cracked Porsche blocks. Especially considering the usual low mileage and the relative few numbers of them.

Is there a problem here? Are there years that I should avoid?

Thanks.

perryinva

1998 through 2009 non turbo cars.

Suns_PSD

...should all be avoided?? Is that what you are saying?

Furthermore are you also saying that when they went to 997.2 that the problem went away w/ the DI engine design?

I'm still in the shopping faze so I'm still trying to understand which model offers me the most value.

Thanks

alexb76

Engine changed in 2009... also there was an upgrade in 2006 updating the weakest link of all non-turbo/GT3 cars from 98-05 engines (IMS).

So, skip 2005, and get a well maintained LATE 2006 to 2008 cars, or goto 2009+.

Suns_PSD

Thank you for that.

By 2006 production I take it you mean 2007 MY and newer?

I'd like to spring for a 997.2, but really it's out of my budget at this time.