Bruce In Philly

All car companies provide design specs to their engineering groups. I don't know the Porsche spec, but I have a friend at Ford who told me that going back, Jack Nasser ordered engineering to design to warrenty.... pretty awful. He also tore out QA functions and others as he drove up margins and profits... he got his big bonuses but hurt the company in the long run. Bill Ford, when he took over, quickly ordered the truck division to design for 200K miles. My friend said it takes about 6(?) years for the new specs to work its way into all the components and systems.

Further, suppliers are held to similar specs and should defect rates over that period clime beyond a particular, preset threshold, the supplier foots the bill... or pays some serious penalty.

So, what is the Porsche spec? That has to be a very closely held secret at Porsche and that number may differ for subsystems.

My gut tells me they build to 200K miles.... this is my pure speculation, based on 14 years reading the boards and hanging with Porsche folks. My 2000 Boxster S's 2nd motor lasted 150K and then blew but I had 197K miles and 13 years on the chassis and it was really fine and solid. I went through the usual stuff like control arms and coolant tanks, but that car was solid. The engine design was a compromised design to save the company from failure...... so I think we can discount that design as not "normal".

I purchased an '09 DFI car in the hopes the new engine is back to being a real Porsche engineered solid design. My expectations is that I will get at least 200K miles on the entire system. Given that I take detailed care of my stuff and this car, I am hoping for many more miles.

To summarize: Yes, car companies build to a mileage design spec. No, I have no idea what Porsche's spec is. Yes, I suspect it is longer than most average car companies... but that is speculation.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

BIG smoke

first post? please see part number 997 88566-22257-troll

utkinpol

chassis in 997 family cars is (almost) same as on gt3 and cup car, nearly non-destructible.

wheel bearings and steering rods will fail eventually on any car, it depends upon usage.

IMS bearing is a big culprit, who knows how long it will last, it probably depends solely upon issues with its installation, if it was installed properly then it should last as long as its spec says and it should be longer than an average 200k miles street use.
as of cylinders - that is what compression test is for. cylinders can get scored and develop oval with time. so, it means a rebuild or a new motor.

hi revving maxed out sport engine is not a truck motor, it is very difficult to speculate here. put on a ECU tune and you probably cut off that life expectancy in half. who knows? one good track day is about of 10k miles of a street use or so for a motor, or may be even more than that depending of level of neglect. go figure.

hot nikon

First post, throwing rocks already? Good Luck.


Do you own a Porsche?

jhbrennan

Not only first post, but only post to date. Guess he got his answer.

Fred R. C4S

Actually, the best criteria for engine life is not hours, but the amount of fuel burned which represents the engine's load factor while in service. An hour cruising the interstate is not the same as an hour at the track or pulling a trailer up long grades.

An engine designer I once worked with gave me a good analogy to understand what's going on. Imagine a dry cell flashlight battery. It comes with a fixed amount of charge. How long it lasts depends upon how quickly you deplete the charge. Substitute engine life (wear out, not mechanical failure) for the battery charge and you will see how load factor determines the overall longevity.

Now if you fail to protect the engine components by ignoring proper maintenance and operating practices, you chance premature catastrophic failure of the components and are headed to engine failure, not wear out. This can occur on any day from day one to just one day before the engine wears out.

chris.hanle

I am no engineer nor do I have inside knowledge on engine building, but I think car companies these days make the engines last as long as the fiscally possible. I am sure that most car companies from kia to porsche would much rather you buy a car for the "new version" rather than catastrophic engine failure (you probably would not buy the same car if that happened). Simple logic would say "new" and "new style" are leading factor in buying cars.

jumper5836

Exactly. I can't see the .1 997 engine lasting that long, many have been failing way prior to 150k. I have hope that the .2 engine has been improved over the weak m96/97 engine but only time will tell.

jhbrennan

While we don't see many of the 150k plus we also don't read "many have been failing way prior to 150k". What constitutes "many"?

jumper5836

Do a search for blown engine and 6 on just the first page. That is too many considering rennlist is a very small percentage of owners. I know personally 3 friends with 997.1 that have blown engines. I know at least 4-5 996 owners personally who have suffered blown engines. I don't know anyone personally that has a normal car that has ever blown an engine.

Ynot

And of those 6, how many of them actually owned a 997? People just clicking away for the sake of causing hysteria. 3 friends with blown 997 engines? I like you to have them post with proof. My local mechanic works on Porsches everyday and he said IMS are really rare. So you know 8 owners total with blown engines? I call BS. Porsche mechanics who works on Porsche 6 days a week don't see 1 or 2 cars with blown engines and you know 8 people with it. Rennlist is indeed a small percentage of owners but they are also the most vocal. You do know most people signed to find solutions right?

Para82

No it's true! They have a little self destruct device in the engine. It's red and big like dynamite. They light the fuse at the dealership right after you sign the papers. It's a really really long wick though (about 150,000 miles) long.

Dadio

Might as well cool it guys as abc1 hasn't checked in since he posted. Figuring him for a troll looking to see how much trouble/excitement he could stir up. Wasted energy at this point.

gripshifter

This is nothing more than LN attempting to profit from more fear mongering.

Redline911

Exactly. Has anyone who doesn't directly profit from an IMS bearing replacement recommend one?