Sgt Angus

I bought my 2008 C2S cabrio a little over a year ago. Last summer was road trips and cruises- good fun. This year I decided to make a run to California and do some laps at Mazda Laguna Seca while there.
Last month I drove it down (2 days) tracked MLS for a day, cruised the PCH and drove it home. My wife and I had a blast for 3400 miles. Odometer at 58000 miles.

Caught the track bug so last week I trailered it down to Spokane and ran the track for two days.

Second day, fourth gear about 4500rpm, puff of smoke from rear, warning lights aplenty and I'm killing the engine and pulling over.

Oil coming from top of engine and left exhaust. Did not try to restart. Back on the trailer and homebound. Dealer put a scope in the plug holes and says longblock replacement needed.

Over rev report says last summer I hit range 4 for 0.8 of a second and range 5 for 0.6 of a second. But not on the track days which were this year. The car has never hit range 6.

No mods, dealership oil changes, second owner. I was told looked like cracked head and severe piston damage on one cylinder. Core might be OK? Car is out of warranty.

I'm going to keep this car for 15 years and am looking for advice.

Option 1: New 3.8L from dealership. $23K / $2.2K Parts/labour

Option 2: 40,000 mile 3.8L from wrecker $16K

Option 3: Beefed up rebuild? Suggestions for who?

I'm not trying to turn a cabrio into a track monster, but would like to not worry about going out for some lapping sessions and pushing it a bit. I've never missed a shift in this car, I think the over revs were from showing a buddy the difference with PSE on and off in the driveway.

In a perfect world I would find an X51 3.8L engine and go with it. Anybody got one for sale?
shawnm911 (at) gmail.com

jumper5836

If your block is good Flat6 Innovations can make your 3.8 into a 4.0. Probably end up costing slightly less then a reman engine but you'll have a much better engine at the end of the day. Sounds like your going to keep it so this would be the choice I would take.

The cheapest is picking up a 3.8l from a wrecker but buyer beware.

Mspeedster

That's a real bummer! You mentioned severe piston damage in one cylinder, was it cylinder number 6? While these scored cylinder issues seem fairly rare, when it does happen, it's often cylinder 6.

In any case, I'd try to get Porsche to provide some type of "goodwill" help, if you've always used their dealership for maintenance and warranty work. I also like your perfect world idea and would try to work in an X51 engine. I'd be willing to spend a little more for the X51 engine, I expect the labor involved would be about the same regardless.

GSIRM3

Being the second owner and having range 4 and 5 over revs, I doubt Porsche goodwill support will be coming his way.

Redline911

If this happened to me, and my plan was to hold the car long term like you, I would replace with an upgraded engine. Can you find a Mezger? Or, I like the 4.0 conversion idea. Have the internals beefed up. Even if you wind up spending 30k you'll have something more unique and enjoyable for the next 15 years.

Spiffyjiff

yeah put something good in there. beware tho, with a beefed up engine comes other potential issues with tranny, ECU, etc. when mine grenades (currently 54k miles, ~10% on track) i will prob go the same route.

Targa Tim

Agreed with putting brand new engine in.

alexb76

Can dealer get you an X51 replacement instead? If not, maybe rebuild? Who knows what condition is that wrecked engine in. Unless you can get it thoroughly inspected.

This also raises a question. What if you had extended warranty? Would those cover blown engine?

alexb76

This is such BS, basically excuse for not covering it. Almost every car that has been driven hard, even not on track may have some over-revs on downshifts.

user 72902

I'd go with jumper 5836 route at Flat 6. The Stage II is the 4.0 package and is beefed up for DE events; Jake Raby is a stand up guy.

user 72902

Agree and if you have been a long time customer having this car serviced at the dealership don't be too quick to assume Porsche won't help. Perhaps they will cover part of the repair for a loyal customer.

blake

???

Range 4/5 is some serious engine speed above red line... Range 3 is the gray area with PCNA, and Range 1-2 appear to be okay under warranty. Are you saying that Porsche needs to support engine speeds above red line?

To the OP - this does suck. I vote for a new engine.

kkswow12

sub'd, like to see where you go with this, good luck...

jhbrennan

I'd choose a GT (Mezger) replacement over the X51 - pretty stout and proven engine, true dry sump, etc.

Sgt Angus

I have asked if I could do that. They said Porsche will only let you have a fresh X51 if you give them an X51 core. You can't pay extra to 'upgrade' your replacement engine.

Thanks for the responses guys, I wasn't expecting any special warranty or goodwill treatment- but they said I was getting a bit of a break on the parts.

The tech said cracked head and mangled piston, I'm checking tomorrow if the block is OK. If so my hail Mary pass now is if I can get an X51 kit and use the parts to rebuild my 3.8 with new pistons/rods/bearings.

I'm emailing Jake Raby but his site says they want the whole car. VERY far from Western Canada...