997 carrera S problem
 

This will be my first post in this forum, long time Lurker of course but never needed to post. The purpose of my post is to keep the 997 community informed of issues, breakdowns, words from Porsche NA and my dealer experience.

March 2014
Finally saved up some money, sold my M3 and bought my dream car. She is a white 2007 carrera s. With 74 thousand miles on the clock and a good Porsche inspection ( not to mention impeccable records all from the one owner and dealer) I really thought I had a good deal and until now it proved correct.

Headed up the interstate on one (of not too many yet) enjoyable rides to the dealer to get a strange sound checked out (rattle when I give it gas) and all of a sudden that sound turned into a catastrophic engine calamity! Got it pulled over and on to the tow truck delivered to the dealer.

A couple days later I am given a 30 thousand dollar quote on a new engine as my original engine has spun a rod bearing. After a short period of rather deep depression I came out of it with a lengthy discussion with the dealer and Porsche to attempt some sort of explanation as to why a car that had everything maintained at Porsche, checked out and had only 75,000 miles would end up with a 30 thousand dollar repair bill. I realize stuff happens but a 100 thousand dollar car should last a lot longer than that. My ford Lightning had close to 200 on the clock when it was sold and still pulled like a race horse out of the gate.

Classic sales tactics from the dealer turned into distrust and all out lies on the part of the dealer and Porsche. I don't expect Porsche to give a car that is out of warranty a new engine but I would think that they would want to help out a little seeing as it is a representational issue as this car was treated by the book since 2007. No track days, no over revs, no miss shifts as per the computer and yet there response was well the dealer might do something, dealers response was well, the Porsche might do something. In the end the dealer marked up the price of the engine, wanted to charge 9000.00 in labor and gave me 5,000.00 dollar discount making the total repair bill at 25,472.61. Keep in mind, this was from an oil analysis only.

Disheartened, with the whole thing, it was time to look at positives... ok, I didn't want to upgrade the engine first as I had other mods in mind, but here we are and not far from me is Flat six Innovations. Contacted Jake Raby, told him of the issues I am facing and with in 5 to 20 minutes had more confidence in his abilities than two weeks of dealing with I don't knows from the Dealer. Now, I am no idiot, I will not just trust a phone call and blindly be lead with the heard to the next watering hole. My decision cam from you the people of Rennlist that all speak out and post your mind on the Indie dealers around the country. I read nothing but praise about the guy on this board and others so it helped my decision.

Realtime update is as follows, Jake has my car, delivered yesterday the 27th of August, on the back of tow truck number two in my short life as a Pcar owner. We will see what he has to say about the engine and I hope to keep this post alive with updates for those that are interested. Lets wait and see......

how long after the purchase did the engine fail?

I would also check w/ your state to see if you have any recourse.

In some states a short term warranty is included.

Lastly, if you have to rebuild, I'd definately shy away from these "parts changers" and go w/ a proven shop, like Flat 6.

Good luck

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Sounds like you are making the most of a bad situation.

I am not surprised that Porsche and the dealer held firm. Its unfortunate, but once it is out of warranty we are on our own.

I 2nd this. Unfortunately thats why I wouldn't buy a 911 unless I had some warranty due to the low % that this may happen to my engine. I agree you figure that even with 75k miles on the car, an engine wouldn't need to be replaced - especially from Porsche but it happens.

I wish you the best on car and will follow this thread.

If the dealer left you hanging after selling you the car, and it grenaded. Then presents you with a 30k bill, I'm assuming 1/2 the price of the car? I would be pissed. Do check your local state laws. perhaps there is a 30 day, or millage allowance?
On a " I'm miserable and bitter note", there is no way I would spend my money for that repair at that dealer. Why reward them, for a possible piss poor inspection job. I would prefer to ship the car to Tuktoyaktuk, before I support them again. Get a second opinion, make sure you get a good new engine or rebuilt engine warranty. I can only begin to understand your frustration.

My condolences. I've heard good things about Jake Raby but haven't dealt with him personally.

:corn:

Jake has worked on my car and he is awesome.

I am curious to know how long the noises had been present and how long the car had been driven before the decision was made to bring it to the dealer.

Sorry to hear....

I think the best way to purchase a used Porsche is to buy a CPO. This thread may enlighten future purchasers that there are plenty of CPO cars which go through a 100+ checkpoint & puts the onus on Porsche for an extended period.

I bought my car in Nov. 13' & have had two repairs covered under warranty this summer. Priceless.

I wish you success in your resolution & will be rooting for you.

The reason independent Porsche shops exist is because of the behavior of the Porsche dealerships.

I also believe that Porsche should be held accountable for engine life when the car has been driven by the book and maintained by the book and yet it fails so catastrophically at such a relatively low mileage. Porsche moved away from bullet-proof engines some time back when they ventured into water-cooled engines and produced more of a consumer level Carrera. The GT3 has a serious engine in it but who really wants that ride just to get that engine?

Porsche AG will ultimately pay for your engine loss in reduced future sales when people hear these tales repeatedly. They may think they are on top of the world but in today's linked in populace, it's amazing how quickly bad news can travel. For example, look at Malaysian Air--they are going to fail within the year because no one trusts them any longer.

Did you contact Porsche North America?

The dealer is a gate keeper to them. I would call their consumer 800 number and get a regional manager... they are the ones that make decisions and instruct dealerships to do work or not. Porsche then compensates the dealer for their work.

Porsche lost a class action lawsuit for the IMS failures in these engines. The IMS is just one failure mode of these engines so Porsche should be sensitive. I suspect if you get the correct person at Porsche North America, you may have a different outcome.

I feel for you dude.... I had two engines fail in my 2000 Boxster S. Now, young people are buying their first Porsche on the used markets and don't realize the chance they are taking. Darn.

FWIW, I spoke to Jake Raby about rebuilding my 2nd engine and came within a hair of doing it. I personally spoke on the phone to two of his customers and got nothing but praise. The reason I didn't is that I had 197K miles on my chassis and figured it was just time for another car. I purchased an '09 just to avoid that class of engine.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

We have the car in the air now and should know the root of the failure in a few hours. Gadgettboy is very lucky, as he is local to us… We are lucky too, because having cars here from 30 states and never being able to meet people and always having to ship cars to and from gets pretty old.

Time for Jake's 4.0 or 4.2 :).

My 4.0 is the simple way to go.. BUT we may be able to repair this engine, which we won't know until we identify the root of the issue and determine collateral damages.

My 4.4 engine is the newest developmental beast.. But to this point its not as efficient as the 4.0 or 4.1 as the factory head castings don't support the port flow requirements. Bigger isn't better- big enough is just right and thats why I develop.