retom

This repair will be very expensive and the only sensible solution will be probably to replace the engine. Therefore, the dealer or Porsche will do everything to prove your fault and reject the warranty claim.

If I may advise you:

1/ Order an analysis of the fluid found in the oil pan. This is crucial.
2/ Manage a printout of the full car scan. All faults and data such as engine parameters, time, temperature, pressure, etc. are recorded in the car's controllers.
3/ Manage a photographic and written documentation of investigation..

Good luck!

chassis

^agree^ Demand the above-listed information by way of a letter from your lawyer to the dealer. Copy the owner of the dealer (wife of your client).

Ericson38

Having worked for pay in the marine industry around tugs/ships/yachts/small boats since 1972, I have never encountered a story like this on an inboard marine engine, let alone a land lubber engine. And I would have had to look up how to spell 'bizarre' also (credit to the OP).
There are cases of inboards ingesting water while running for sure (busted exhaust hose/raw water pump seal spaying, high water in bilge, etc.), but never ran to the destruction of the engine. Just no 1st or second hand knowledge.
I'll bet there is not a similar story on any audi/porsche board like this either.
The most common marine engine fiasco I have seen or heard of is an outboard motor that gets submerged for an hour or two, and is brought back to running state before the rusting starts.

Ericson38

Oil cooler failure?

Mike Murphy

My guess is that someone forgot to put coolant in the cooling system, and instead, used pure water. Over a short time, this caused the water pump to fail, because pure water lacks lubrication of a coolant mix. The water pump failed, the engine temp rose, rose, and rose, and bang - now the cylinder cracked and coolant mixed with the oil. Except it wasn’t coolant, it was mostly water, remember.

Alternatively, let get back to the vehicle being parked at the airport. Was there a rain event that happened while you were away? Do you always lock your car? Don’t forget that some punk could have tried to mess with your car while you were away.

chassis

^plausible^

It seems like water pumps on the EA825 and EA839 are one of the weak points. A few reports of failed water pumps, and a few reports that could be attributed to failed water pumps.

Seems like a good one to put on the list for 80k-100k mile preemptive maintenance.

.dot.

I went to pick up the in laws and her grandparents at the airport. drove straight home after getting them curbside. I have ez pass time stamps entering the turnpike at 8:11 exiting 8:23. Then again scanned on the turnpike at 8:47 and exiting at 8:57. I called Porsche Roadside at 9:06pm. I called 911 at 9:27pm.

Based on the shop foreman, there's no way that much water could get into the engine without the engine ON. At the same time, he also didn't think an engine could run for as long as it did WITH that much water and it would fail immediately.

Ericson38

Why would they be replacing the coolant, it's not in the service schedule that I can find.

Need to find a path for a lot of water to end up in the oil pan, which ended up lowering the viscosity (foaming) to cause oil pressure alarms.

If the oil cooler failed (production defect), then depending on which circuit had the higher pressure (water side if at idle in traffic, oil side running down the road once past 16 lbs), these fluids will exchange freely. It would be good to request a running log for the last hour (or however deep the ECU engine parameter log memory is) the oil pressure/temperature and coolant temperature and active coolant pump RPM.

If the engine compartment was an oily/watery mess also, then the cooler (under the turbo in the V) could have leaked outward, and or, also likely, the overfilling of the oil sump overcame the PCV system's ability to control excess vapor.

Mike Murphy

Only thing I can think of maybe they did the flush as part of the CPO, and for that, they’d have to screw it up pretty badly to forget the coolant part.

Another explanation is that it was losing coolant after the CPO and a different party filled with water.

I guess one piece of information I don’t have is: is there any coolant found anywhere on this vehicle? Or is everything just pure water? Seems strange if we cannot find coolant anywhere.

Ericson38

Right.

Also, being an S, it has intercoolers between each turbo fresh air out and respective intake manifold (plastic parts on the outer side of each head), which is a part that could fail in a way to cause the engine to gulp a 50/50 mix.

retom

I have not heard of a case where the water pump failed due to the use of water instead of coolant.
I would like to remind once again: a full car scan can tell a lot about the causes of the breakdown. Modern cars have very extensive electronics with sensor systems and a lot of information is recorded in the car's controllers, including the exact time of the failure and the mileage at which the failure occurred. Looking at the data stored in the controllers and interpreting them logically can help. It can explain what the first fault was and what the further consequences of that fault were.

retom

Hi .dot.,
Any news? I think that all participants of this thread are interested how your problem was solved.

.dot.

Thanks for everyone's advice/suggestions.

As many alluded, PCNA was zero helpful. They checked the dealer and basically sided with them w/o seeing any pictures videos. I tried escalating this a bit more to no avail. PCNA told me to tow it back to the dealer who sold me the car to try and get a different analysis. PCNA was able to finally force the dealer to send me all the pictures/videos. Will upload some of the pictures I received, but the video of them draining the oil/water is too large.

After having a car forensic look at it, it was determined to in fact be water that was in the engine. Given the large volume of water (~2 gallons), they said it would've been impossible for me to drive through any body of water and for the engine to ingest that much water without the car dying on the spot. The most likely culprit or cause could have been some type of sabotage/tampering. I know I did not pour any water into the coolant/oil etc, but as the car was a CPO, I don't know what the prior owner did. It is suggested that most likely somebody had poured water into the coolant at some point. Perhaps the previous owner had overheat/coolant issues and did it to address it short term. Then during the CPO process, additional coolant was added but never checked. Unfortunately, there are no porsche service records prior to the CPO certification.

I spoke to a handful of lawyers who agreed that I could prove I didn't drive in rain or into a lake via GPS, car data. However, it would be nearly impossible to prove HOW that water got there. It also didn't qualify as a lemon because no warranty repairs were ever attempted. I don't know if I can fully blame the dealer who sold me the car but I still feel wronged.

Fortunately, I was able to resolve this matter with my insurance. I was honest with them and told them the story. They sent their own team to investigate and the car was deemed a total loss. The repair bill was $59k :-O

I guess ultimately, the least minimal cost for me but not the most satisfying outcome because I still do not know how the water ended up in the engine and I probably never will.

The question now will be do I look at another CPO S/GTS or opt for a 2024 refresh.....

retom

Thank you for the update. The most important thing is that the problem was solved positively.
However, this is still a mysterious situation for me. I've never heard of such a case. Adding water to the coolant should not cause such consequences. Coolant consists of at least 50% water and diluting it should not completely destroy the engine. Well, unless someone deliberately added water to the oil, but then the car would indicate that the oil level was too high. In every other case, there are no miracles - in some mysterious way, water got into the engine cylinders and the oil pan. If the problem with repair costs still existed, any experienced mechanic would be able to find the location of the leak after disassembling the engine.
In any case, the most important thing is that your insurance covered the costs of the total loss. However, we will still remain in a state of lack of knowledge, long discussions and more or less credible hypotheses.
We wish your next Porsche to be trouble-free

Mike Murphy

Tampering is one of those possibilities that is very real and plausible.

Everyone on this thread ask yourself this question: at any time in your life, either as a kid or teen or adult, have you ever tampered or been witness to any tamper situation with a vehicle? And did security cameras pick that up in every case? That’s what I thought…lol.

In any event, glad the insurance company pulled through for the OP!